THE PRODIGAL SON LUKE 15:11-24
A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger.
I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”‘
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’
REFLECTION:
‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me
This son has no right to any inheritance he might receive after his father’s death. Do we make demands for things we have no right to?
he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
Do we squander the graces we receive from God?
Coming to his senses…I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you
REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL! Turn back to god.
While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion
The Father in this parable is longing for his son’s return the same way God thirsts for us.
the Father clothed him in the finest garment and ordered a feast for this son who was dead and has come to life again…he was lost and has been found….
so it is with God when we turn from sin and return to the Father…He places a wedding garment on our shoulders and welcomes us to the feast….
THE SOWER AND THE SEED MARK 4:2-8
In those days Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve.
Jesus taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
REFLECTION:
Jesus sows the word…those sown on rocky ground receive it at once with joy… but when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away….
Those sown among thorns are the people who hear the word, but the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit…
but those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold…
Does the word bear fruit in my life? … How?
What must I do to enrich my soil…that I may bear fruit?