Our Lady of Carter Lake Catholic Church at 3501 N. 9th Street, Carter Lake, IA 51510 US - Embraced in Love

Fourth Sunday of Lent Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Several years ago there was a television program entitled Matt Houston. The show was about a wealthy Texan, turned private investigator. Matt's mother died giving birth to him; his father was so depressed that he gave up Matt for adoption to his closest friend. The father drifts away, eventually becoming an alcoholic and a criminal. Years later he finds out that Matt's life is being threatened and returns to warn him. As the story unfolds, their true relationship is revealed. At first Matt refuses to accept his father. But when the father steps in front of a bullet aimed for his son, Matt's eyes are opened and he realizes how much his father loves him. The story ends with the father dying in his son's arms -- forgiven by his son Matt and embraced in love. This story is really an adaptation of today's gospel, except that the roles are reversed. In the gospel story told by Jesus it was a son who went away and wasted his life, only to return and be forgiven by his father. Both versions show us what a magnificent love there is between parents and children, and, consequently, how boundless God's love is for us. In his book Rediscovering the Parables, Joachim Jeremias says that the Prodigal Son story tells us with impressive simplicity what God is like -- a God of incredible goodness, grace and mercy. Almost every detail of the story emphasizes the immense, reckless love God has for us: * the way the father looked every day for his son, ran with abandon to meet him and refused to listen to his son's well-rehearsed speech; * the manner in which the father dressed him with the finest robe, ring and sandals; and * how he threw an extravagant feast to celebrate his son's return and tried to persuade his older son to share in the joy. Every detail of this carefully crafted story is charged with symbolism to reveal the incredible, unconditional love God has for us. If only we could realize this, we wouldn't be afraid to approach our heavenly Father or hesitate to come to him. The Father doesn't wait for us. He runs out to meet us. He doesn't want to listen to a litany of sins when we pray but interrupts to tell us how precious we are to him, how glad he is to have us back and how much he wants to do for us. If only we could appreciate God's boundless love for us, we wouldn't pout like the older son and approach our Father as if we were a hired hand. We are not slaves, but children of God. We don't have to calculate our wages, but simply trust in his generosity. The Father doesn't want us to make snide remarks about our brothers and sisters, or to think that we are superior to them. Instead he wants us to forgive one another as family, share in one another's sorrows and joys, and celebrate the way he brings us back to life when we are dead and finds us when we are lost. Matt Houston realized too late the tender love his father had for him. While we know that the prodigal son came to this kind of awareness before his father died, we never really know if the elder son ever did. Before time runs out on us, pray that we may come to know, experience and respond to the tremendous love God has for us.

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