20250330 RECONCILIATION AS THE WORK OF GOD AND HIS INITIATIVE
30 March 2025, 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)
First reading | Joshua 5:9-12 |
The Israelites celebrate their first Passover in the Promised Land
The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’
The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn, that same day. From that time, from their first eating of the produce of that country, the manna stopped falling. And having manna no longer, the Israelites fed from that year onwards on what the land of Canaan yielded.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 33(34):2-7 |
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Second reading |
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 |
God reconciled himself to us through Christ
For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.
Gospel Acclamation | Lk15:18 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
I will leave this place and go to my father and say:
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel |
Luke 15:1-3,11-32 |
The prodigal son
The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:
‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.
‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”
‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’
RECONCILIATION AS THE WORK OF GOD AND HIS INITIATIVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JOSHUA 5:9-12; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-21; LUKE 15:1-3, 11-32]
We are entering the second part of Lent. In the first part, the liturgy underscored almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Yet, some of us might make the same mistake as the Pharisees and scribes in the time of Jesus when they remarked, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
The Pharisees and scribes were not bad people. Rather, they tried to be good through their own efforts. They tried to be worthy before God, like the prodigal son’s brother in the Gospel who said to his father: “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”
Those who think they deserve God’s grace by their own merits are putting themselves on a par with God. They become self-righteous, judgmental, and intolerant of others, making themselves the measure of what goodness and holiness is. This attitude makes us slaves, like the elder son who told his Father how he slaved for him all those years. They cannot find happiness since pride fills them and alienates them from their neighbours whom they despise, and also God who welcomes sinners and eats with them.
The theme of today’s readings is clear: Be reconciled! In the first reading, God delivered the Israelites from the slavery of the Egyptians, led them to the Promised Land, and even fed them with manna in the desert. The Israelites were nobody, but God chose them to be His people.
In the second reading, Saint Paul says, “For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation.”
Reconciliation is not man’s initiative but God’s. St Augustine said if God had not found us in the first place, we would not have found Him. Yet, God turned the whole process around, reconciling us to Himself instead. Reconciliation and salvation are solely God’s grace. We have nothing to boast except His mercy and love.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son clearly shows it is the Father who reconciles. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.” Before the son could finish his request to be treated as a paid servant, his father restored him to sonship by putting on him “the best robe, a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.” For the father, it was sufficient that his son recognised his need to return to himself.
Our Father’s love was expressed in the death of his only Son. St Paul wrote, “For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.” This is God’s utter love and mercy for us. Christ is forgiving because he knows what it means to be separated from God and others. He experienced the suffering of the sinner and is therefore all the more compassionate towards us.
For this reason, the Fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday, the Sunday of rejoicing. The father said, “It is only right that we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found. So bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration.”
But how can this joy be ours? Only if we respond to His love and call for reconciliation. That is why St Paul urges us to be reconciled! What is needed for this reconciliation to take place? Only this – to see the mercy and love of God for us in Christ! This is why the liturgy in the second part of Lent focuses on Christ rather than on the spiritual exercises or our sins. From today, the weekday gospel is taken from John, a reflection on Jesus as the light and life-giver in the context of the growing hostility against him.
Our conversion happens only when we contemplate the crucified Christ. Until we understand the depth of God’s love for us, we can never change and be reconciled with him. So long as reconciliation is only on our side, we cannot be grateful since we achieved it by our own merits.
St Teresa entered the convent at an early age, living a life of self-discipline both in prayer and sacrifice. That would have made her self-righteous if not for a conversion experience she had. Entering the chapel one day, she noticed a picture of Jesus being scourged. It had been on the wall for years without her realising it. The thought of the love of Christ who was whipped for her, changed her life completely. All we need to do is be convinced of our sins and selfishness by contemplating on the love of God in Christ.
Lenten exercises help remove obstacles that prevent us from receiving God’s grace. Through almsgiving, we experience His love by serving the poor and needy. In fasting, we are conscious of the poor and of our spiritual hunger for God through our material detachment. Through prayer, we stir our hunger for His presence and love.
Of great importance is reconciliation. St Paul says the consequence of being reconciled with God is we in turn become ambassadors for Christ and become his reconcilers. “So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God.” This reconciliation must not only be with God, but with our fellow brothers and sisters. If fasting, almsgiving, and prayer do not lead us to reconciliation with our fellowmen, we have missed the point. Having reconciled with Christ, St Paul says, we are “a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here.”
We must now live by a new set of values, no longer submitting to our passions and natural instincts, but ruled by God and His Gospel. One day, the newly-converted Augustine was passing through part of town where a brothel he used to visit was located. A former mistress saw him and called, “Augustine, Augustine, it’s me!” Faced with temptation, he remembered his new status as a Christian. He took to his heels and ran away saying, “It’s not me! It’s not me!” He understood so well, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As we continue with the Lenten spiritual exercises, we must not forget that their purpose is to help us reconcile with God and our neighbours. We have the Eucharist to help us in this journey, just as God gave the Israelites manna. Let us then be filled with joy, for our joy is not that we are able to perform the spiritual exercises, but that God loves us and has forgiven us in Christ. This is the basis of our Lenten joy.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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