Fourth Sunday of Lent C.  March 14, 2010.  Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30, 6PM.  Joshua 5: 9a, 10-12.  2 Corinthians 5: 17-21.  Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32. 

Jesus spent most of his ministry trying to paint a picture of God that we could understand.  His death on the Cross would be the most stunning portrait of God’s tender mercy toward us, especially when we are sinners. His prayer, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing,” for those who crucified him and his words of acceptance to the thief crucified with him deepen our understanding of the mercy and tender love of God.

Fathers work hard to support their families, provide for their own retirement and hopefully leave some money and property to their children.  Rembrandt’s famous painting of the Prodigal Son pictures an elderly father who has grown old and tired in raising his two sons.  More important than all the money in the world were the two sons that he held very tenderly in his heart.  When the younger son came to the old man and asked for his share of the family property even before the old man died, the loving father was not upset.  He gave the young man half of everything that he had.  When the young man left home with half his property the old man was not angry even when it meant parting not only with his money but with his son.  Having a son close at hand is often the joy of old age.  The son journeyed to a different land and wasted all his father’s hard earned money, throwing it away very carelessly on foolish pleasures even though his father had worked so hard to get it.  The young son was carefree and irresponsible.  When a famine came to the country he had traveled to, the son had no money. To support himself he had to feed pigs – a real insult to Jews who do not eat pork.  This is something his father would never allow him to do.  In fact the young man was tempted to eat with the pigs because he had no money to buy something to eat.

Then the young son decided to go to confession.  He would tell his father that he had sinned in wasting the family savings if only his father would let him live on his farm as one of the hired workers.  He planned to 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 workers.”  The young man did not know his father very well.  He did not understand how much his father loved him.  Jesus makes it clear that the old man had been waiting for his son to come home for a long time.  When the son was on the road to his father’s house but still a long way off – the old man was waiting and watching.  The old man saw his son coming in the distance.  When the son met his father the boy tried to begin his confession – but the loving old man would have none of it.  The father said, “Quick, bring out the finest robe for him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Kill the fatted calf – we are going to have a party in this family bigger than anything we have ever had before.”  All at once there was feasting, music and dancing – and the young son still hadn’t gone to confession. 

The father that Jesus is describing is somewhat like every father but even more generous and more loving.  In fact the father reeks with the tenderness of a mother’s love.  Jesus uses this amazingly generous father to tell us how God feels about us and acts toward us.  I grew up going to confession at least once a month.  All the way to church I would try to make sure that my confession was right, perfectly right – or God wouldn’t forgive me.  The fact of the matter is that you and I need to go to confession and we need to be careful and honest in what we confess.  We need to go to confession, but God does not need our confession to love us.  God loved us from the first moment of our existence.  God loves us totally even when we sin.  God is a very generous and even very foolish in his love for us.  The picture of God that Jesus paints makes it look like you could get by with almost anything with God. The young son certainly gets by with a very irresponsible life and his father still loves him.  We need confession – God doesn’t.  God loves us always and unconditionally.  Confession helps us live responsible and holy lives. It is a blessing.  It is not a condition for God loving us.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the Sacrament of God’s tender love for us.  When I was a teenager I was treated unkindly by a priest in confession once.  Now, I feel sorry for the priest. He was probably having a bad day. Some of the rest of you may have had a difficult experience in confession.  I am sorry.  I hope that you can let go of that experience and join the thousands and thousands of people who have experienced the Good Shepherd in this Sacrament.   Jesus gave us the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we could experience the tender love of God through another human being at some of the most difficult moments in our lives – Yes; God wants to be with us through the ministry of the priest when we feel alone with our sins and our weakness.  At this time of the year there are always people in Church who are testing the waters to see if they would be welcome home if they decided to come  back to Church.  Some have had very hurtful things happen in their lives.  Others have had a bad experience with a priest, a Sister or some other aspect of the Church. I invite you to be very welcoming to people who may look uncomfortable or alone.  In fact, be welcoming to everyone.  Your smile, kind words or handshake may show them the tender heart of God that brings them home.

At this time of the year there are always people at confession who have been away from the Church for 20, 30 or 40 years.  I always suspect that when they start their confession that way they expect to be yelled at.  When my first words to them are “Welcome home” there is often a flood of tears.  The fear is gone and the tension is broken.  They now know that they don’t have to go to confession to win God’s love.  Instead they want to confess their sins to be honest with themselves in letting God love them totally and completely.  Their confession is an expression of their desire to love God and to love other people as much as God loves them. 

God stands before us as an old and loving Father – a father who shares a mother’s heart, perhaps formed in him by his mother and his wife.  This loving Father wants nothing more from us then that we come home and accept the tender embrace of his love.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation would be good for our souls. It is a great gift that God wants us to receive, but he doesn’t need our confession to love us.  God loves us now with a foolish tenderness beyond belief.  This is the picture of God that Jesus paints for us today.  This is the meaning of the Cross that he will soon endure.  For tender love may God be praised.

Come back to Me with all your heart.  Don’t let fear keep us apart. Long have I waited for your coming home to Me and living deeply our new life.   (sing)