＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20

 

Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

The Lord is kind and merciful.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32*

^(….) 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:(….)  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. (….)  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 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.’”

 

Gospel Reflection：

In terms of freedom, the father in the story is the freest. His love for his two sons enabled him to navigate difficult situations without loss of dignity. His youngest son is imprisoned in a desire to explore the world on his own .

To decide and chart his destiny far from the guidance and loving intervention of his father. thus he did what is considered disrespectful at that time. He asked for his inheritance while his father is alive.

Then he squandered it in resolute living and comes back to his senses after all was lost and he is in dire need. Meantime the eldest is imprisoned in his desire to earn the love of his father. He stayed behind seemingly the dutiful son.

But his heart is wounded. And so the youngest son comes back to freedom when he returned to his loving father. The eldest was liberated from his idea that he is only loved if he performs when his father told him that all his father has is his to dispose.

He need not ask permission. The love the father that remained steady despite the rudeness of his youngest, and the outburst of his eldest saves them all.