4th Sunday Lent :: C 03-18-07

4th Sunday of Lent (C) 03-18-07 Scripture Readings First Joshua 5: 9, 10-12. Second 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 Gospel Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 Prepared by: Rev. Stephen Dominic Hayes, O.P. 1. Subject Matter •

This parable of the prodigal son is told by Jesus specifically to the scribes and Pharisees, and implicitly reproaches them for their lack of repentance compared to that of the sinners and tax collectors who have responded with to his preaching with fervor (15:1). These Jesus personifies in the parable as the prodigal son; the scribes and Pharisees who specifically reproach Jesus for his table-fellowship with sinners, are identified with the elder brother. God in turn is personified as the selfless, merciful and loving father. At the end of the parable, the elder brother, who has been refusing to come into the banquet, is confronted by the father, but we do not hear any response of the elder brother to the father's pleading; in this sense, the parable is left unresolved, challenging the religious leaders who have been confronted by Jesus with this parable to make their own response to the Father’s loving invitation.

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The parable may be read as a discussion of the patterns of sin and conversion; the both of folly of the prodigal son and his rake’s progress away from his father’s love, and his return, penitent but wiser, illustrate the famous theme of the Two Ways , the patterns of wisdom and folly illustrated by Genesis chapters 1 through 3, Proverbs 8-9 and the teaching of the Didache.

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The parable is aptly used for illustrating Christian conversion in the context of the sacraments of initiation; the palpable signs of the father's welcoming of his prodigal son are the robe, the ring, and the feast of the fatted calf, corresponding to the sacraments of initiation: the prodigal’s robe recalls the white garment symbolizing grace and innocence given to the baptized after their passage through the baptismal waters; the ring, with its customary seal, signifies the son's renewed participation in the father's authority within the household (cf. Genesis 41:42), and recalls the seal of the Holy Spirit given in Confirmation; and the feast of the fatted calf recalls the table fellowship on the Eucharist based on the sacrifice of the Cross, in which the saving blood of Jesus opens the door of salvation to sinners. It is to this feast that Jesus invites the scribes and Pharisees.

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Since the parable lays out the basic spiritual structure of sin and conversion, it is also apt for illustrating the structure of sacramental Penance and its parts: contrition, however imperfect, in the heart (vv. 17-18); confession of one sins on the lips (v.21) willing acceptance of an appropriate penance (vv. 19-20); and the perfection of repentance through absolution from sins by one having authority to give it (vv. 22-24) , leading to the renewal of the graces originally given in baptism (symbolized by the gifts of the robe, the ring, and entrance to the feast) through the service of the apostolic ministry (i.e. “ .. the father said to his servants, “Bring forth the best robe..etc. “)

2. Exegetical Notes •

The parable of the prodigal son is material unique to Luke; and is found together with two preceding parables, that of the lost sheep (15: 3-7; cf. Matthew 18: 12-14, John 10, and Ezekiel 34: 11-16) ; and that of the lost coin , 15:8-10, also unique to Luke). All three parables speak of the shape of the divine mercy, and are aimed at the right selfrighteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and their contempt for sinners.

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V. 12: “ My share of the property… “ An inheritance can be divided before one's death( 1 Kings 1-2); however, this places the father in a condition of dependence on his children, and is apparent foolishness (Sirach 33: 19-23). The younger son’s request to his father is therefore dishonorable and extremely selfish; he cannot wait for his father to die to receive the benefits which he deems he is worthy of inheriting. Hence, when he comes to his senses, he realizes that he has sin against both his father and against God (v. 18, cf. Hosea 2:9), who stand behind the Fourth Commandment ( Exodus 20:12)and from whom the blessings he has received from his father have come. The remembrance of these blessings awakens the boy’s hope and compunction and spur his return.

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V. 13: “ Zōn asōtōs.” The Greek bespeaks a dissipated and degenerate life. The Prodigal’s conversion begins as he finds his unclean table fellowship with his false friends gone with his money; his only dinner companions are literally swine, whose swill he would gladly eat, but even that is forbidden him. This involuntary fasting becomes the moment of his conversion, however imperfect, and he “comes to his senses” (v. 17 – “eis heauton de elthōn ephē); literally: “When he returned to himself he said…” Awaking from the folly which had possessed him, he begins to walk back towards his father, whose presence at journey’s marks the place of forgiveness, however undeserved, and a life of renewed human dignity.

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Vv. 25-32. The elder brother, despite his apparent obedience to his father, nevertheless treats him with a like disrespect: he rudely refuses to address his father as “father”, and refers to his brother as, “ your son”, eschewing his own relationships with them. The father, the other hand, addresses this son affectionately as, “ [My ] child,” (Greek: “Teknon”). The father defends his celebration of the younger son’s return on the basis that he was “ dead and has now come to life”; the context of Jesus’ death and resurrection is brought to mind for the believer- the contrite path of the prodigal's return has been clearly and surely blazoned by Christ's passage through this world by the plan of the loving Father, who for our sake made Jesus “to be sin, who did not know sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, in today’s Second Reading).

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church •

CCC 545 Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners ." The invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them, and the vast "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents." The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life and "for the forgiveness of sins."

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CCC 1439 The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father. The fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father’s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation and finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, wanting to feed on the husks that pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy -- all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life -- pure, worthy, and joyful -- of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy and so simple and beautiful a way.

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CCC 1700 The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God (article 1); it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude (article 2). It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment (article 3). By his deliberate actions (article 4), the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience (article 5). Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth (article 6). With the help of grace, they grow in virtue (article 7), avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven (article 8). In this way they attain to the perfection of charity. [ References to “articles” refer to the construction of Section One, Chapter One of Part Three of the Catechism, “Life in Christ”, entitled "The Dignity of the Human Person ".]

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CCC 2839 [ On “And forgive us our trespasses…”] With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might always be made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a "confession" of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm, because, in his Son, "we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.

4. Patristic Commentary •

John Cassian, The Conferences of the Fathers, 11.7.1-3

1. “If a person is tending to perfection, then he will mount from we have properly designated as servile and about which it everything, say: We are useless slaves - to the higher level of Here the comparison is not with a slave, but with a hireling,

that first-degree of fear -- which is said: when you have done hope, progressing by a degree. because now the person looks

forward to the payment of a wage and is as it were untroubled by the absolution of his sins and the fear of punishment and is conscious of his own good works. Although he seems to strive for a war award for what is pleasing, he still unable to attain to the disposition of a son, who trusts in the generosity of his father's indulgence and who has no doubt that everything which belongs to his father is his.” 2. “To this even the prodigal, who had abandoned even the name of the son . along with his father's property, did not bear to aspire when he said: ’ I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ For after he was denying taking his fill of the husks of the swine - that is, of the filthy food of vice- he reflected upon himself and was struck by with complexion by a salutary fear, and he began to loathe the uncleanness is of the swine and two dread the pains of dire hunger. Having become like a slave, he thought now of a wage and desired the status of a hireling, saying: ‘ How many of my father's hirelings have an abundance of bread, and here I am perishing of hunger! I will return, therefore, to my father and I will say to him: father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hirelings.” 3. “But his father, hurrying to meet him accepted these words of humble repentance with the love the greater than that which they had been spoken. Not content to grant him less, he passed over the other two degrees without delay and restored him also to his former dignity of sonship. Hence, we also, mounting by the indissoluble grace of love to the third degree of sons, who believe that everything which belongs to their Father is theirs, must strive to be worthy of receiving the image and likeness of the heavenly Father, and have been able to proclaim in imitation of the true Son:’ All that the Father has is mine ” (John 16:25). •

St. Ambrose, quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas in the Catena Aurea:

“How merciful! He, though offended, disdains not to hear the name of Father. I have sinned: this is the first confession of sin to the Author of nature, the Ruler of mercy, the Judge of faith. But though God knows all things, He yet waits for the voice of thy confession. For with the mouth confession is made to salvation, since he lightens the load of error, who himself throweth the weight upon himself, and shuts out the hatred of accusation, who anticipates the accuser by confessing. In vain would you hide from Him whom nothing escapes; and you may safely discover what you know to be already known. Confess the rather that Christ may intercede for thee, the Church plead for thee, the people weep over thee: nor fear that you will not obtain; thy Advocate promises pardon, thy Patron favor, thy Deliverer promises thee the reconciliation of thy Father's affection...” •

St. Augustine of Hippo, in De Quaest. Ev. l. ii, q.33, quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas in the Catena Aurea:

“The best robe is the dignity which Adam lost; the servants who bring it are the preachers of reconciliation. … The ring on the hand is a pledge of the Holy Spirit, because of the participation of grace, which is well signified by the finger. But the shoes on the feet are the preparation for preaching the Gospel, in order not to touch earthly things. …The fatted calf is our Lord himself in the flesh loaded with insults. But in that the Father commands them to bring it, what else is that, but that they preach him, and by declaring Him cause to revive, yet unconsumed by

hunger, the bowels of the hungry son. He also bids him kill him, alluding to his death. For He is then killed to each man who believes him slain. And it follows, And let us eat. … For that calf in our Lord’s body and blood is both offered up to the Father, and feeds the whole house.” •

John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, 1980. Excerpt of a much longer meditation.

#5…In the parable of the prodigal son, the term "justice" is not used even once; just as in the original text the term "mercy" is not used either. Nevertheless, the relationship between justice and love, that is manifested as mercy, is inscribed with great exactness in the content of the Gospel parable. It becomes more evident that love is transformed into mercy when it is necessary to go beyond the precise norm of justice-precise and often too narrow. The prodigal son, having wasted the property he received from his father, deserves - after his return - to earn his living by working in his father's house as a hired servant and possibly, little by little, to build up a certain provision of material goods, though perhaps never as much as the amount he had squandered. This would be demanded by the order of justice, especially as the son had not only squandered the part of the inheritance belonging to him but had also hurt and offended his father by his whole conduct. Since this conduct had in his own eyes deprived him of his dignity as a son, it could not be a matter of indifference to his father. It was bound to make him suffer. It was also bound to implicate him in some way. And yet, after all, it was his own son who was involved, and such a relationship could never be altered or destroyed by any sort of behavior. The prodigal son is aware of this and it is precisely this awareness that shows him clearly the dignity which he has lost and which makes him honestly evaluate the position that he could still expect in his father's house. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jpii_enc_30111980_dives-in-misericordia_en.html •

John Paul II, 1984 Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia , #6:

The parable of the prodigal son is above all the story of the inexpressible love of a Father-Godwho offers to his son when he comes back to him the gift of full reconciliation. But when the parable evokes, in the figure of the elder son, the selfishness which divides the brothers, it also becomes the story of the human family: It describes our situation and shows the path to be followed. The prodigal son, in his anxiety for conversion, to return to the arms of his father and to be forgiven, represents those who are aware of the existence in their inmost hearts of a longing for reconciliation at all levels and without reserve, and who realize with an inner certainty that this reconciliation is possible only if it derives from a first and fundamental reconciliation-the one which brings a person back from distant separation to filial friendship with God, whose infinite mercy is clearly known. But if the parable is read from the point of view of the other son, it portrays the situation of the human family, divided by forms of selfishness. It throws light on the difficulty involved in satisfying the desire and longing for one reconciled and united family. It therefore reminds us of the need for a profound transformation of hearts through the rediscovery of the Father's mercy and through victory over misunderstanding and over hostility among brothers and sisters. In the light of this inexhaustible parable of the mercy that wipes out sin, the church takes up the appeal that the parable contains and grasps her mission of working, in imitation of the Lord, for

the conversion of hearts and for the reconciliation of people with God and with one anotherthese being two realities that are intimately connected. 5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars •

Born in 1550 Saint Camillus de Lellis began life as a soldier, fighting for the Venetians against the Turks. Wine service, he developed a repulsive disease in his leg, and was sent to a hospital for incurables at Rome; he was so quarrelsome, that he was thrown out of the hospital. He returned to military service, but destroyed his life by habitual gambling; by the autumn 1574, he had gambled away his pay, his arms, and even literally the shirt off his back. For his support, he began to work as a laborer in a new Capuchin friary at Manfredonia. On Candlemas day, 1575, the preaching that day of the Capuchin superior became the instrument of his conversion. As he went about the day's business, he thought hard on what he had heard, fell on his knees weeping, and cried to heaven for mercy for his past unthinking life. He resolved to enter religious life, but was not accepted by the Capuchin on account of the disease in his leg. Through the help and advice of Saint Philip Neri, he devoted himself to the service of the sick, was ordained a priest and eventually founded the nursing congregation that bears his name, the Camillans, properly called the Servants of the Sick. Even good people can be blinded by vainglory, and the desire for power and prestige, becoming prisoners of a spiritual poverty they do not immediately recognize. In his early life, Saint Alfonsus de Liguori was a brilliant lawyer; in eight years of practice he had never lost a single case. Although he tried to avoid mortal sin, a certain spiritual laziness was evident in him as well as an attachment to society life and the fashionable amusements of his age. God him called a complete conversion in a powerful way. A certain gentlemen of Naples was suing the grand Duke of Tuscany, concerning an estate worth in over £100,000. “Alfonsus was briefed for the case,.. and made a great speech on his client's behalf which much impressed the court. When he sent down opposing counsel coolly remarked, "You have wasted your breath. You have disregarded the evidence on which the whole case depends." "What do you mean? Where? How?" asked Alfonsus. He was handed a document which he had read through several times, but with a passage mark that had entirely escaped his notice… ; this clause made the point [at issue] clear, and decided against the client of Alfonsus. For a moment he was silent. Then he said, "I have made a mistake. The case is yours", and left the court. From that day, he ceased to practice law. He now knew the world, and the vanity alive in his own heart. At last able to hear the invitation of God, he went to the church of our Lady of Ransom, placed his sword upon her altar, and made his resolve to become a priest. Eventually, he became the founder of the Redemptorists, formally called the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. St. Augustine of Hippo of was a great sinner in his youth before his baptism; one of the factors in particular delaying his acceptance of baptism in the Catholic Church was his attachment to sins of unchastity. In his famous work, The Confession, he says, to God,” in the first dawning of my youth I had begged of you chastity, but by halves, miserable wretch that I am; and I said , ‘ Give me chastity, but not yet awhile ‘ for I was afraid, lest thou should hear me too soon and heal me of the disease, which I rather wished to have satisfied than

extinguished." In September, 386, when Augustine was 32, he was standing in his garden when the grace of conversion came to him powerfully. “He was torn between the voice of the Holy Ghost, calling him to chastity, and the seductive memory of his former sins, and going along further into the garden, he threw himself on the ground under a tree, crying out, "How long, O Lord? Wilt you be angry forever? Remember not my past iniquities!... as he spoke these things and what with bitter contrition of heart, … he heard as it were the voice of a child singing from a neighboring house, which frequently repeated these words, Tolle lege! Tolle lege! “ Take up and read! Take up and read!” And he began to consider whether in any game children were wont to sing any such words; and he could not call to mind that he had never heard them. Whereupon he rose up, and taking up in silencea book of St. Paul's letters, which was at hand, his eyes fell upon the place that said: “ not in rioting and drunkenness; not in chambering and impurities; not in contention and envy; and put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences.” All his former hesitation was gone; and the grace of God confirmed him from that day for unswervingly in a path of new life in Jesus Christ. 6. Quotes •

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Culture and Truth: Some Reflections on the Encyclical Letter, Fides et Ratio, Address, February 13th, 1999, St. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park, California. Excerpt: Faith in Jesus Christ is of its nature a continual opening of the self: it is God's breaking into the world of human beings and the response of human beings breaking out toward God, who at the same time leads them to one another. Everything particular now belongs to everyone, and everything which belongs to others becomes also our own. The ' everything' referred to in the parable of the prodigal son, when the father says to the elder son, 'everything which is mine is yours,' later reappears in the high-priestly prayer of Jesus as the Son's address to the Father: 'Everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine.' http://www.stpatricksseminary.org/patwin99/ratzinger.html Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on St. Augustine : OSTIA, Italy, NOV. 16, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The "emptiness of ideologies" prompted St. Augustine to seek the Truth of Christ, says Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made that observation Sunday during a concluding event for celebrations marking the 1,650th anniversary of the birth of the great philosopher and theologian. During a solemn Mass in the Basilica of St. Aurea in Ostia, a city near Rome, the cardinal spoke about the "two obstacles" on the path to Augustine's conversion: "the spirit of independence and his intellectual pride, which led him initially to follow Manichaeism, a 'material' religion."

"Augustine experienced freedom profoundly to the point that he became its slave, as the prodigal son, who ended up by taking care of pigs and eating pods," Cardinal Ratzinger said in his homily. "If we are honest with ourselves, we cannot deny that that parable fully reflects our existential condition. Authentic freedom lies only in friendship with the Lord." "Words like eternal love and wisdom are not fashionable today. Augustine, who lived in an age very similar to our own, went so far as to describe wisdom as a 'foreign word.'" The cardinal continued: "Experiencing the great emptiness of the ideologies of his time, Augustine felt a great thirst for that Truth that opens the way to Life. He understood that no one is able to reach God by his own efforts and he discovered in the end that Christ is the true Wisdom." http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=62049

7. Other Considerations In the first reading, the “reproach of Egypt”; the Israelites’ condition of landlessness, servitude, and poverty , is taken away as the Israelites, crossing the Jordan River, begin to enjoy the possession of the promises which God had made to them in the Exodus. The present sign of this is their feasting upon the produce of the land; a sign which might be compared to the entry into the father's feast in the Gospel. Both of these signs demonstrate the faithfulness, mercy and generosity of God towards his wandering and erring people.

Recommended Resources Brown, Raymond E., S.S., Fitzmeyer, Joseph, S.J., and Murphy, Roland E., O. Carm. The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Two Vols. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. John Cassian. The Conferences. Trans. and annotated by Boniface Ramsey, O.P., Ancient Christian Writers Series No. 57. Walter J.Burghart, John Dillon, and Dennis D. McManus, Eds. New York, N.Y. and Mahwah , N.J.: Newman Press, 1997. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels Collected out of the Works of the Fathers. Volume III- Pt. II: St. Luke. Albany, N.Y.: Preserving Christian Publications, Inc., 2001.