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FAITH SHARING FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT March 14, 2010
INVITATION TO PRAY Pause for a few moments of silence and enter more deeply into the presence of God. Song: “Hosea,” Gregory Norbet, OCP
Proclaim the Gospel Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 As you listen to the gospel be attentive to a word, a phrase, a question, an image, or a feeling that emerges. Reflect on this quietly or share it aloud. (The other readings for Sunday are Joshua 5: 9-12; Psalm 34; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21.)
INVITATION TO REFLECT "Come home. Please….just come home. Forget the transgressions and the mistakes you have made along the way. Let them go. Don't let them separate us anymore. I want you home." What parent, who deeply loves his or her child, would not echo this sentiment of the prodigal father who heartily welcomes the return of his wayward son? Jealousy and resentment lock up the older son, who has generously given so much to his father in daily fidelity. But the father sees the errant young man and simply goes to the heart of the issue: welcome home!
We resonate with different characters of this story throughout our lives. In youth, we may understand the gambling young man who experiments with life and risks it all. Later on, after years of toil and sweat, we identify more with the older son, critical of the behavior of others. Finally, in our elder years, we stand in the shoes of a seasoned parent, who puts aside obstacles and merely wants loved ones close. God asks us to love always, regardless of circumstance.
Our experience of God may go through similar transitions. Our images of God can become transformed gradually in our human encounters throughout life. Gradually, we discover the generosity of God, the hospitality of One who yearns for us to come home. This can affect the way we treat ourselves, too. Slowly, if we let it, the experience will bring us gradually to forgive ourselves of shortsightedness in our choices, of resistance to reconciliation, and of distance from God. What is important changes. We want to rest in the arms of our Father. This is what matters. All we desire is to be at home with God.
INVITATION TO GROUP SHARING
INVITATION TO ACT Determine a specific action (individual or group) that flows from your sharing. The following are secondary suggestions. 1. Write, call, or visit someone with whom you need to be reconciled. 2. Plan a Reconciliation Service with a special outreach to alienated Catholics. 3. Bring families together for discussion on how to begin the healing process with members who are estranged from each other. Possibilities include: invite a guest speaker; hold a dinner before or after a Reconciliation Prayer Service. 4. Identify other religious groups in which there may exist historical tensions with your parish. Construct a plan for dialogue and reconnection with those groups. 5. Develop a relationship with programs that reach out to alienated youth, for instance, Covenant House, and begin financial and emotional support that brings the lost home.
INVITATION TO PRAY Give thanks to God (aloud or silently) for new insights, for desires awakened, for directions clarified, for the gift of one another’s openness and sensitivity. Conclude with the following prayer:
Loving Father, you are patient with our wanderings, understanding of our lapses in fidelity and desirous of our return. Lead us back, beloved, to the home which is in your heart, to the place of self-acceptance, tolerance, and forgiveness. Give us what we need to reach out to those who are alienated in confusion, pain, or misunderstanding. Teach us how to be as welcoming of others as we are always welcomed by you. We pray this, trusting in your magnificent love for us, in Jesus' name and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Adapted from PRAYERTIME, Cycle C: Faith-Sharing Reflections on the Sunday Gospels, Robert Heyer, editor. Copyright © 2001 by RENEW International.)
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