Question of the Week: When did you experience being forgiven in your life? How did it change you?
Jesus teaches us much this Sunday about the attitude God our Father has toward us when we are in sin, and the very reason Jesus has come. We see the merciful Father giving in to his younger son’s demand for an early distribution of his inheritance, and then that son wastefully spending it on a life of dissipation. For this, he is known to us as the prodigal son. Then he finally comes to his senses when he cannot even eat the food he is giving to the pigs. In a Jewish context, it can get no worse! He is the slave of unclean animals and they are better off than he! In our modern language, he has hit bottom.
This is often the case with us. In our willfulness, we go our own way and do our own thing. When the consequences of sinful choices take hold, they lead us down the road of pain and self-destruction. Hopefully, we wake up and come to our senses before we actually hit bottom and die.
The prodigal son has the grace of coming to his senses. He knows his sin! His conscience has been enlightened! This is a huge grace for us, and it is one of the wonderful workings of the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth. We need God’s truth to see ourselves properly, for sin itself can blind us from seeing ourselves and our actions correctly. Repentance begins with knowing our sinfulness in the light of God and the commandments of God.
Then the son makes a very important decision, which is the essence of repentance. He is going to turn back and return to his father. He will change his life and get out of the circumstances in which he finds himself. For many of us, this is not an easy thing. The pattern and habits of our lives make such a choice difficult. We realize we have fallen down and to turn around means climbing up what we perceive at the time to be a big hill. The devil makes it easy for us to fall and hard for us to climb out of the pit we have made.
Fortunately, God has provided us with a big rope in Jesus Christ and the sacraments. The Sacrament of Reconciliation helps free us from our sin and, by God’s grace, enables us to change. It is not only a washing away of sin, it is also a blessing and empowerment to help us be free of the sin. On our part, we need to have contrite hearts and a willingness to make amends, to turn away from the sin. We cannot expect much grace if we go to the sacrament still firmly grasping the sin! Repentance means we let go of the sin and turn away from it.
This is where the big grace of God comes. When we turn to God and then cling to the Lord, he will break the inner bonds and attachments we have to the sin. It is something we must pray for and persist in praying for! Virtue eventually forms where formerly there was vice. Life begins to fill the person, rather than the poisonous death the sin brings.
As the father in the parable recognized, his son “was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” That is our story in Christ!
Our sins have been forgiven by Jesus. He took them to the Cross. Sin brings death and complete separation from God as its final punishment. Jesus accepted our punishment of death, but being innocent, there was no separation from God his Father. Still, on the Cross, Jesus will cry out, echoing the pain of Psalm 22, “My God, my God… why have you forsaken me, far from my cry…” Our merciful Lord took my sin upon himself! He took our sin and nailed it to the Cross. Our sin meets its end in Jesus, and simultaneously our new life begins in him there. His death on the Cross is the seed of our new life. In his resurrection, we rise to life. Our sins have been forgiven!
Come and be reconciled to God! Our Lenten Communal Penance Services begin Tuesday, April 1, here at St. Thomas at 7:00 p.m. On Wednesday, April 2, the service will be at St. Francis of Assisi at 7:00 p.m. And finally, the third service will be at St. Mary Student Parish also at 7:00 p.m.