Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for March:
"For the martyrs of our day, witnesses to Christ".

The Holy Father emphasises that there will always be martyrs among us and that

"this is a sign that we are on the right path" as the courage and witness of the martyrs, "is a blessing for everyone".

Thus, Pope Francis invites all the faithful to pray for those who risk their lives for the Gospel.

“imbue the Church with their courage and missionary drive.”

 

 ＊＊＊ 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 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!' he said. '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 son, very indignant, 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. But when this son of yours returns, after squandering your property with loose women, you killed 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."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"God offers a familial relationship."

Whenever we fail to recognize our own giftedness, envying others due to the gifts endowed upon them, we fail to understand the kind of relationship God is offering us. God offers us a familial relationship. We are not strangers to him while we are often strangers to ourselves. Today's Gospel tells of the beautiful story which teaches a lesson about familial relationship:

 

The Parable of the Prodigal Son. We may focus our reflection on the reaction of the eldest son, who upon the return of his prodigal brother, became angry. His complaint addressed to his father reveals his state of mind. The kind of relationship he thought he had with his father was far from familial. It was merely transactional. He felt that he deserved to appropriate things for himself out of his own merits and not because he was also a son of his father, Lent is a season which prods us to enter into a familial relationship with God.