SERMON/HOMILY FOR SATURDAY SECOND WEEK OF LENT 2ND MARCH 2024

SERMON/HOMILY FOR SATURDAY SECOND WEEK OF LENT 2ND MARCH 2024

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Ps.103; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

The Father is the True Wealth

Like each and every one of us, the prodigal son had plans for his future. He was lucky to have been born of a wealthy father, but then, he wanted an independent life. The problem was not that he sought to leave home. This is something every man gets to do at a point in his life in preparation for the future. The problem was the attitude with which he left home.

The prodigal son thought to himself that his connection with the father was a problem; an obstruction to a brighter future for himself. He thought that he needed his father’s wealth but not the father himself. He may have also thought that the rules and regulation at home were making life uninteresting for him. He saw no connection between the rules and the wealth. He did not know that the father was wealth because he was disciplined. So, in living home, he was rejecting his father and all that the father represents. His father was the one who gave him all his money, but he stupidly took the wealth and rejected the father.

Beloved, we sin not only by acting against God’s commandments but also by upholding a selfish conception of God. When we begin to see God as someone we meet only when we are in need of miracles without the intention of entering into a relationship with him, we become prodigal too. Come to think of it, we are sometimes so demanding of God to destroy our enemies without considering whether we have become enemies of God ourselves.

Each time we consider that our lives will not blossom when we live by the commandments of God, we become prodigal too. I remember once when I gave a homily discouraging cheating in business. Some persons were not pleased because for them, cheating is normal and is the only way to make it as a business man or woman. These same persons wants God to surprise them with miracles. Like the prodigal son, they want the wealth but not the father.

It is true that this gospel speaks of God’s unquantifiable mercy but then we must not forget that this mercy was accessible by a soul that returned to his senses. Without acknowledging our waywardness, we cannot return to our senses. This is what lent wants to led us to achieve. We need to truly hate sin so that our repentance can be genuine. The sin we must hate today is that of taking the gift and rejecting the giver; of accepting bread but ignoring the baker; of desiring salvation outside the savior. This is the pride of life.

Let us pray with the “Man’s Response” in the 10th station of the Station of the Cross: “ _Lord, strip me off the craving for prestige, position, wealth and privileges. Root out of me all traces of envy of my neighbour who has more than i. release me from the vice of pride, my longing to exalt myself. Teach me that there is something called humility. May I be poor in spirit Lord_ ”.