DOA HARIAN

Fourth Sunday of Lent
Muslim celebrate the break of fasting at the end of Ramadan (Aid-al-Fitr).

First Reading

Joshua 5,9.10-12

Yahweh then said to Joshua, 'Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.' Hence, the place has been called Gilgal ever since. The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the plain of Jericho. On the very next day after the Passover, they ate what the land produced, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn. The manna stopped the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. The Israelites from that year onwards ate the produce of Canaan and had no more manna.

Psalmody

Psalm 34

Antiphon

I will rejoice in the salvation of the Lord.

O Lord, plead my case against my foes;
fight those who fight me.

Take u your buckler and shield;
arise to help me.

Take up the javelin and the spear
against those who pursue me.

O Lord say to my soul :
'I am your salvation'.

Let those who seek my life
be shamed and disgraced.

Lost those who plan evil against me
be routed in confusion.

Let them be like chaff before the wind;
let God's angel scatter them.

Let their path be slippery and dark;
let God's angel pursue them.

They have hidden a net for me wantonly;
they have dug a pit.

Let ruin fall upon them
and take them by surprise.

Let them be caught in the net they have hidden;
let them fall into their pit.

But my soul shall be joyful in the Lord
and rejoice in his salvation.

My whole being will say :
'Lord, who is like you

who rescue the weak from the strong
and the poor from the oppressor?'

Lying witnesses arise
and accuse me unjustly

They repay me evil for good :
my soul is forlorn.

When they were sick I went into mourning,
afflicted with fasting.

My prayer was ever on my lips,
as for a brother, a friend.

I went as though mourning a mother,
bowed down with grief.

Now that I am in trouble they gather,
they gather and mock me.

They take me by surprise and strike me
and tear me to pieces.

The provoke me with mockery
and gnash their teeth.

O Lord, how long will you look on?
Come to my rescue!

Save my life from these raging beasts,
my soul from these lions.

I will thank you in the great assemble
Amid the throng I will praise you.

Do not let my lying foes
rejoice over me.

Do not let those who hate me unjustly
wink eyes at each other.

They wish no peace to the peaceful
who live in the land.

They make deceitful plots
and with mouths wide open

their cry against me is :'Yes!
We say you do it!'

O Lord, you have seen, do not be silent,
do not stand afar off!

Awake, stir to my defence,
to my cause O' God!

Vindicate me, Lord in your justice,
do not let them rejoice.

Do not let them think :'Yes! We have won,
we have brought him to an end!'

Let them be shamed and brought to disgrace
who rejoice at my misfortune.

Let them be covered with shame and confusion
who raise themselves against me.

Let there be joy for those who love my cause,
Let them say without end:

'Great is the Lord who delights
in the peace of his servant'.

Then my tongue shall speak of your justice,
all day long of your praise.

Second Reading

2 Corinthians 5,17-21

So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see. It is all God's work; he reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. I mean, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's faults against them, but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were urging you through us, and in the name of Christ we appeal to you to be reconciled to God. For our sake he made the sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the uprightness of God.

Reading of the Gospel

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Luke 15,1-3.11-32

The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.' So he told them this parable: Then he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me." So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery. 'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch; so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them. Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, 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 hired men." So he left the place and went back to his father. '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. Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son." But the father said to 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 will celebrate by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate. 'Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound." He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in; but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, 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 loose women -- you kill the calf we had been fattening." 'The father said, "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." '

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Homily

This Sunday called Laetare (Sunday of Gladness) is an invitation to stop for a moment the severity of the Lenten time. The purple, sig of penance tine, give in to the pink colour, as if to make us taste ahead of time the joy of Easter. The gladness that is suggested by the Liturgy certainly does not emanate from the condition of the world. Indeed, it is difficult to find reasons to rejoice at the condition of our world. Yet, the liturgy exhorts us to rejoice. The reason is the approaching Easter of the Lord, hence the certainty of his final victory over sin and death. Publicans and sinners flock to Jesus to hear him. Someone had finally come who was able to speak to their hearts and communicate the hope of a new world. That is why they flocked to hear him: already condemned and without escape, they saw in that teacher a hope for their future. On the contrary, the Pharisees and scribes criticised Jesus for his merciful attitude and murmured against him: "He receives sinners and eats with them," For them it was a scandal to stay and especially to be at table with sinners. But Jesus' closeness to sinners, if for the Pharisees it was a scandal, for those sinners it was good news, it was Gospel.
In telling the parable we have read, Jesus wants to show that he acts like the Father in heaven. He, after all, came to do the Father's will. And we have experienced this, just as we can experience the hardness of the eldest son. The parable opens with the younger son's request for his share of the inheritance. Having obtained it, he leaves the family and departs. His life, initially full of satisfaction, is then hit by the violence of famine and the abandonment of his friends. And he is left alone. He is forced to work as a pig keeper: the only way he finds to survive. He realises that the pigs are better off than him: "He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything" (v. 16), the evangelist sadly notes. The younger son's life is broken, and it is bitter for him to remember the days he lived in his father's house. But it is precisely the low point into which he has fallen that brings him back to himself. For him, the time of return comes. It is the same for us. God is waiting, almost impatient. When the son was "still far off." the father was "filled with compassion, He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him." He does not yet know why his son is returning, nor does he know what he will tell him, but it does not matter. What matters is that the son is coming back. And he goes out to meet him. He goes out to save his lost son, as Pope Francis points out. As soon as he is near him, he does not allow him to say anything and throws his arms around his neck. The son's heart, at that embrace, melts and so does his tongue. He utters a few words, which his father seems almost not to hear, concerned rather to have him dressed in new clothes, with shoes on his feet and a ring on his finger, and to immediately prepare a great feast. The time of the return culminated in an extraordinary feast. Realising what was happening, the older son disputes his father's choices to the point of refusing to enter the feast hall. He lived in his father's house but was far from his heart. He was instead filled with pride in his supposed merits. And he remained outside, alone. He could not rejoice for others, not even for the returning brother who "was dead and has come to life." Differently from the older son, in the "time of return," we can rediscover the greatness of God's mercy and love for us and also rediscover the beauty of fraternity.