Introduction
When
we forgive those who have hurt us, often some scars remain and take
a long time to heal. Even if we have not personally suffered from
a crime, we cry for blood and vengeance in the name of society, and
we don’t treat a released prisoner or sinner who has made up for his
failure as if he had done no wrong. But God does. He remains faithful
to the love once given. He comes forward both to welcome the returning
sinner and to invite the brother or sister who has a hard time to
welcome his lost brother or sister to share in the joy of forgiveness
and his return.
Opening
Prayer
Faithful
Father, you are our God
of grace, mercy and forgiveness.
When mercy and pardon
sound paternalistic to modern ears,
make us realize, Lord,
that you challenge us to face ourselves
and to become new people,
responsible for the destiny of ourselves
and for the happiness of others.
Make us responsive to your love
through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Liturgy
of the Word
First
Reading: Mic
7:14-15, 18-20
Shepherd
your people with your staff, shepherd the flock of your inheritance
that dwells alone in the scrub, in the midst of a fertile land. Let
them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old, in the days
when you went out of Egypt.
Show
us your wonders. Who is a god like you, who takes away guilt and pardons
crime for the remnant of his inheritance?
Who
is like you whose anger does not last? For you delight in merciful
forgiveness.
Once
again you will show us your loving kindness and trample on our wrongs,
casting all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Show
faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our
ancestors from the days of old.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps
103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R
(8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless
the Lord, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
He
pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
He
will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
For
as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
Gospel
Reading:
Lk 15:1-3, 11-32
Tax
collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them
eager to hear what he had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes
frowned at this, muttering. “This man welcomes sinners and eats with
them.” So Jesus told them this parable:
Jesus continued,
“There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father: ‘Give
me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between
them.
Some
days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started
off for a distant land where he squandered his wealth in loose living.
Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine
broke out in that land. So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen
of that place and was sent to work on a pig farm. So famished was
he that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to
the pigs, but no one offered him anything.
Finally
coming to his senses, he said: ‘How many of my father’s hired workers
have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will get up
and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against
God and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat
me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind
he set off for his father’s house.
He
was still a long way off when his father caught sight of him. His
father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet
him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said:
‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer
deserve to be called your son…’
But
the father turned to his servants: ‘Quick! Bring out the finest robe
and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and kill it. We shall celebrate and have a
feast, for this son of mine was dead and has come back to life. He
was lost and is found.’ And the celebration began.
Meanwhile,
the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and was
near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called
one of the servants and asked what it was all about. The servant answered:
‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so
happy about it that he has ordered this celebration and killed the
fattened calf.’
The
elder son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and
pleaded with him. The indignant son said: ‘Look, I have slaved for
you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have
never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. Then
when this son of yours returns after squandering your property with
loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him.’
The
father said: ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have
is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to
life. He was lost and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and
be glad.’”
Commentary
WHO
is like our God who rejoices in the mercy of forgiveness? O God,
show us your mercy again, trample on our wrongs and cast our sins
into the depths of the sea. We cry out to God along with the prophet
Micah. And Jesus eats with sinners, calling those who think they
do not need to ask for forgiveness to come and listen to his Word
and to sit at table with the other sinners. It is the story of
two terrible sons, neither knowing the love of their Father, rejecting
him outright or pretending to obey until he gets his inheritance.
The younger who was brash and public about his sin comes back,
not terribly repentant but is welcomed and brought in again, but
the older son refuses, blind even to his own sin that dismisses
his father's love and hates his brother. Both do awful wrong to
the father and to one another and in witness to the town. We are
all sinners. It is time to call once again on God's goodness.
Father, show us your mercy again, trample our wrongs and make
us forgiving to one another, imitating your love for us. Amen.
General
Intercession
–
For priests, that in their pastoral of the sacrament of reconciliation
they may learn from the Father to be joyful, patient and uplifting,
we pray:
–
For those who have not yet learned to forgive, that they may discover
the joy and the peace that the feast of forgiveness brings, we pray:
–
For those who feel guilty, that they may find the courage to seek
forgiveness, we pray:
Prayer
over the Gifts
God,
our Father,
through your Son Jesus Christ in this eucharist
you come forward to welcome us
to the joy of forgiveness and peace.
May your Son give us the strength
to be merciful as you are,
that we may build up and welcome
rather than condemn and reject,
for we too are in need of your pardon
through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prayer
after Communion
Father
in heaven,
your love creates us anew when we have failed.
May our hearts reach out to sinners
and to all those in need
without any condescension.
Keep us carrying out our task
of reconciling and uniting
all races and tongues and social classes
and to build bridges of peace,
that we may go together
toward the joys of your home of welcome.
We ask this through him
in whose sacrifice of reconciliation we share,
your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
We
have to celebrate and rejoice when brothers and sisters of ours had
been dead and have come back to life through forgiveness; they were
lost and have been found. Rejoice, with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.