HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT YEAR B (1)

HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: GOD’S LOVE FOR THE LOST

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Lk. 15:1-32)
Saturday of the Second Week of Lent (Day 18 of Lent)

In the day’s Gospel Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son (or Prodigal Father to others, or the Jealous Brother to some). This parable is so rich that it tackles almost every aspect of the love of God and forgiveness. All three characters, the prodigal younger son, the loving father and the jealous elder son, depict the story of our life. The parable is so touching and so natural that it is everyone’s story.

We are the prodigal son in the sense that we have been gifted by God with so many things. But what have we done with them? What have we done with our talents, riches, strength, mind, etc? What have we done with our lives? We have squandered them by not using them at times. And when we use them, we use them against the very will or reason God gave them to us. We use them to sin! But we stop there. We fail to imitate the son in humbling ourselves and realizing that we have sinned against heaven and against our neighbor. If only we would!

We are the elder jealous son. We envy and at times resent the return and forgiveness of others. We see the love they are getting and forgetting the goodness of being away from sin and being with God. We just could not fathom and accept the love and mercy of God. We feel justice is not being served. Focus, the suffering of a sinner is not enough. We want them to be dealt with in our own terms. And we want God to regard and give importance to our faithfulness. We must get out of that attitude. We just have to be happy for our returning brothers and sisters. Let our being with God and having everything He has be enough to make us generous in forgiving and loving.

We have a loving Father. Many times we fail to appreciate that. Many times we forget that. Many times we underestimate that. Many times we lose faith in that. And many times we do not understand that. It is the will and plan of God to have us all be with Him. Loving, forgiving and saving are the very nature of God. They are what makes Him God. It should be our joy God is God and being God. We must compliment it with our being His creation. He created us. We came from Him. We must also be loving and forgiving. We start with ourselves.