TOGETHER IN CHRIST COLLABORATIVE
Church of Saint Ann
West Bridgewater MA
Website: stannswb.com
St. John The Evangelist
East Bridgewater MA
Website: stjohneb.org
March 30, 2025
Today the Church, on this Fourth Sunday of Lent, “Laetare Sunday”. This designation marks the (approximate) halfway point of our Lenten Season/Journey. I once came across a little (adapted) poem that speaks of this:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
The vestments are pink,
So Lent is halfway through.
A silly rhyme? Perhaps. But it gets the point across that we are at the mid-point of our Lenten journey. It also points out the fact that we have the option, and are encouraged, to break out the rose colored vestments, as the word “Laetare” means “rejoice and rose is the liturgical color for rejoicing. But what are we rejoicing? Are we celebrating the fact that we have made it halfway through Lent and are still able to say that we have kept our Lenten sacrifice intact (which I hope you can say!)? Or, are we celebrating the fact that we are halfway towards celebrating the Paschal Mystery?
Today’s gospel ends in celebration, although it certainly doesn’t begin in that fashion. Jesus is giving a lesson to the Pharisees and scribes about welcoming the sinner (something with which the authorities of Jesus’ day had a problem), and He uses the “Parable of the Prodigal Son”. As we know, Jesus often spoke in parables, using them to teach a greater lesson. In the story of the Prodigal Son, a landowner’s son wishes to receive his share of the property now (before the father’s death); the father gives in to this request, much to his dismay I would imagine. After squandering the riches, and encountering a famine, the son comes to his senses. The son, however, is hesitant to approach the father, feeling unworthy to come home. After practicing what he will say (comparing himself to a hired hand, unworthy of anything more in the father’s eyes), he makes his way home.
The father does not even wait for his son’s speech, embracing and kissing him, thankful to have him home. He sets about to have a celebration for this prodigal son. It is at this point that the elder (“faithful”) son hears the revelry and inquires as to the cause. When the elder son is told that his brother has returned and the father has put together a celebration, the son refuses to enter the party. This elder son has been loyal, and is upset thatnothing has been done to reward this loyalty. The father tries to convince the (elder) son to join the celebration because this “brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Lk 15:32). We do not know the outcome of this conversation with father and son; one would hope that the elder son would join the celebration.
Where are you in this story? Are you the prodigal son, looking for a way home? Are you the father, praying for your children to return to their (biological or faith) family? Are you the elder (and loyal) son, resentful of those who have come into the family after turning their back on them? Wherever we find ourselves, let us rejoice that God is with us on our journey of faith – ready to restore our hope, renew our life, or reward our fidelity.
Have a (Continued) Blessed Lent,
Fr. Paul