Fourth Sunday of Lent (C)
"Your brother here was dead and has come to life."
The Word This Week
As today we hear the familiar parable of the Prodigal Son (or the Forgiving Father), the message is Reconciliation - the making new of relationships, the healing of past wrongs and the opening of ourselves to the "new creation". This is just as the Israelites opened themselves to the New Creation of the Promised Land, when under Joshua they ended their sojourn in the wilderness after forty years of hardship, and began to eat of the produce of the country. It is all God's work: it is God who calls us back, and God who welcomes us into the Promised Land of his mercy when we return. So today, let us think not so much of sin and offences, as the new creation God offers us, if we but turn back to him and embrace him as our Father.
Notes for Readers
First
This is significant as the account of the first celebration of Passover in the new Promised Land. It is an important mile-stone in their history, not just because it relates the greatest feast of Israel, but because on this occasion it marks a transition, from wandering in the wilderness, being fed on the manna, to becoming a settled people in a land of their own, eating the produce of that country . It's only a short reading, so you dont have to rush: try and "get into the mind" of the writer, and understand how important this event was for
Second
This is one of those "opposites" readings that
Wordsearch
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