Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20170212

On this third weekend of our preparation for the Great Fast, we hear readings from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and St. Luke’s Gospel. This weekend derives its name, Prodigal Son, from one of Jesus’ most profound parables.

The message from these two readings is, in my estimation, absolutely uplifting. It declares in a most elegant way God’s great love for us.

We hear this from St. Paul:

You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within – the Spirit you have received from God. You are not your own. (1 Corinthians 6:19)

When you think about the significance of these words, you realize that they proclaim that God is indeed within us, sharing His life-force with us. Astounding are the real implications of this statement! God is sharing with us His powers to imagine, create, think, freely act and love. He shares these with us out of love for us. We have the true potential to really be His children. It is only ours to desire and work to achieve, with His help. We are not slaves or mere objects in His creation. We are beings that can freely obtain, if we choose to cooperate with His grace, the status of sons and daughters.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son, which I prefer to see as the Parable of the Loving Father, recapitulates this loving relationship between our Heavenly Father and us. Think about the parable. It depicts the Father waiting day and night for the return of His son. He does not judge the son but, rather, welcomes him back with love into his household.

Now the interesting thing about this parable is that neither the prodigal son nor the older son really had any real comprehension of the father’s great love. Neither truly understood the love that the father had for them, even though the father tried to express his love for them.

Ask yourself this: Do I truly understand the great love that God has for me? Do I understand that all He truly desires is that I will freely return His love?

Over the years I have come to the conclusion that many Christians truly do not have a real understanding of God’s love for them. He has been cast, unfortunately, by many Christian leaders as a severe “judge” Who only desires absolute obedience and robot-like performance.

We often do Him great injustice, I believe. We try to make Him in OUR IMAGE and LIKENESS. I think we do this because we can’t accept His love is for us!

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