Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

My Dear Good People,

I think if there were only one chapter in the Bible left in the whole world, I pray it would be this one. Luke Chapter 15.

There are many things that Jesus wanted to leave with us before He left this earth, but as I read the entire New Testament, what fills my soul is the incredible goodness of God for sinners.  It’s hard to understand how that can be. The sins we committed as a human race, the times we chose our own way instead of His, the coldness with which we have too often ignored His commands have only found Him running to us to bring us home. This is beautifully shown in the parable of the prodigal (reckless) son. It is after all one of the best remembered, most loved parables of Jesus. The details are so graphic that many movies, videos and poems have reworked this for us into contemporary tales of a loving father waiting for his son who eventually comes up the road hoping, at most, to be hired by his father as a servant in the household. But the father, who has been waiting, runs to him to embrace the son who had been lost (Lk 15:20).

If you go to you tube music and Google When God Ran, you’ll find many small video clips of the song. Look for those that have a kind of story played out between father and son. These are heartwarming visualizations of what the parable of the Prodigal Son might have looked like in real life. You’ll never read this chapter in the same way again. I recommend it especially for youth groups, Confirmation classes, etc.  Above all, it will touch your heart as you reflect on what it means to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession) and the freedom it brings.

I spoke with a nurse today in our small local hospital who said she will be working this weekend at the vaccination clinic they have set up there. She told me they have 1600 appointments for Saturday and Sunday! And this is hardly a booming metropolis! I couldn’t help thinking wistfully about how wonderful it would be if we all desired the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Lent with the same fervor we Americans have about getting our Covid-19 vaccination in the next few weeks. If only more people could think of the safe embrace of love for our soul that the Sacrament offers us, with the same longing they think of the safety that vaccination will give them for their body. How the Heart of the Father would rejoice, and what peace of soul we would all experience, knowing that our God has been waiting for us and comes running to meet us as we enter the Reconciliation  room.

Today I’ll pray that 1600 souls will enter the Confessional this weekend.  Do you want to join me?

God bless your Lenten Saturday.