SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I will leave this place and go to my father and say:

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’ LK 5:18

MICAH 7:14-15,18-20 ©

Abba, Father, 

My Lord, and my God, we are living in incomprehensible times - evil, corruption, loneliness, violence, apathy, coldness, indifference, and sin has made a home deep in the hearts of multitudes. It seems hopeless and the final end appears to be annihilation for it seems impossible for the human spirit to withstand the weight of iniquity that is oppressing the world. 

In this time of affliction Lord, we ask You to turn Your merciful gaze on us once more. You are our Good Shepherd, there is no one but You who can rescue and revive us and lead us to pasture. 

You are God, with You nothing is impossible. You have overcome the world and we know that You will not abandon Your flock. We come before You in repentance, with a contrite heart and we beg You to look with pity on us, poor helpless creatures, who without Your help will be lost forever. Save us O Lord, as You have done so often in the past. With Your mighty hand, and powerful arm, come to our rescue and set us free from our iniquity, from the wiles and cunning of the Enemy. You are God and with You nothing is impossible.

Once more have pity on us,
tread down our faults,
to the bottom of the sea
throw all our sins.

Abba Father, do not forget that it is You who sent Your only Son, Jesus, into the world to take on Himself our iniquity, our punishment, and our death. We are faithless, Father, but You are always faithful, merciful, compassionate, and generous. You are slow to anger and abounding in love. For the sake of His sorrowful passion, Abba, have mercy on us and save us we beg You.

PSALM 103:1-4,9-12 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The most perfect, the most acceptable, the most effective way to open the way to the merciful heart of our Father is to recall all He has done for us and make Him a continual offering of praise, and thanksgiving. He did not withhold His only Son, but gave You up into the hands of sin and death to save us, miserable sinners. 

In and through You and Your passion, death, and resurrection, He forgives all our guilt, all our iniquity, He heals us of all the malaise in our souls. In and through You He offers us healing, forgiveness, perfection, holiness, and wholeness in mind, body, heart, and spirit. The Father will never run out of mercy and compassion for His poor, weak, frail, children because of the great price You paid to redeem us.

I shudder to think what would be my end if God remembered all my sins, all my faults, all my wickedness, and my propensity to fall over and over again into the dunghill of iniquity. Because of You, Beloved, I can count on His mercy, His pity, His compassion, and His infinite love.

How wonderfully reassuring are Your promises to us Lord, for they are promises that we can count on.

For as the heavens are high above the earth
so strong is his love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our sins.

LUKE 15:1-3,11-32 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Only divinity, only one who reposes in the heart of God, only one who is the Eternal Word of the Father could have such intimate knowledge of the heart of our awesome God as revealed in this parable that You narrated to the sinners who crowded around You as well as the Pharisees and scribes who only came to find fault with You and condemn You.

More than one parable begins with this sentence, 'A man had two sons,' the two represent the old and the new, the chosen people of God and those who do not know You as yet, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the non-Christian. Those who belong and those who are outcasts. This parable reveals that God thinks and acts in a manner that is beyond anything we can humanly conceive or imagine. 

This parable is addressed not only to tax collectors, and sinners but to every self-righteous, pompous bigot who looks

down on the poor, the weak, the marginalized, the habitual, helpless sinner who finds it impossible to give up sin.

The brazen, brash, callous younger son is clueless of the deep wound he causes his father when he demands his share of the inheritance which can only be his after his father's death, yet he unfeelingly importunes his father to give it to him right away. The father does as his son asks and without a word of gratitude, he gathers together all his worldly possessions and leaves his father's house. He puts as much distance as he possibly can between his father and himself. Free from every constraint he lives a life of debauchery with his newfound friends who encourage him in a life of dissolution until he is destitute. 

Without our Father's constant, loving protection, we are left vulnerable to evil, and the effects of sin. Soon the young man is left homeless and penniless in a foreign country that is facing severe famine. Life away from God is an arid desert. He has still not understood this and tries to survive on his own. All his fairweather friends have melted away and he needs to find a job in order to eat and the only one available is on a pig farm feeding pigs. He is a Jew who is prepared to work with unclean animals which proves the depths of his degradation. 

It is only after realizing he can sink no lower he remembers his father. Despite treating his father so despicably he also knew him to be kind and so he decides to return home. Aware that he could not return as a son he believes his father to be gracious enough to accept him as a servant. Once he decides to go home he goes in haste and on the way prepares and rehearses a suitably repentant speech. 

“How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.”

Only One who knew God as Father as You did, could paint such a beautiful picture of such astounding fatherly love. ‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms, and kissed him tenderly. Wow! The son begins his pre-rehearsed speech, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the joy of the father was so great that before he was done apologizing, the father ordered his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

The older son was surly, uncharitable, and unfeeling. He was furious at his father's generous welcome for his prodigal brother who in his opinion did not deserve such a celebratory welcome and refuses to join the festivities. The father goes out to him and hears him out as he complains self-righteously, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

The loving, generous, tenderhearted father responds, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”

In and through You, God, our Father guarantees every repentant sinner complete forgiveness, mercy, and pardon no matter how low he or she has sunk, no matter the multitude of the sins committed, or how grave those sins may be. You assure us that there is greater rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 who do not need repentance.