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Reflection by Tara Bau, Sacramental Coordinator, St Michael's parish Berwick and Member of the Diocesan Pastoral Life and Mission team. This weekend’s Gospel parable for the 4th Sunday in Lent is also used each time children are prepared to receive Reconciliation. The parables are lessons, stories that relate to everyday life, some harder to interpret than others given the time and place they are set. This parable, some might say, is an oldie but a goodie. A story that easily conveys forgiveness and the love of a father that becomes a metaphor of God’s unconditional love for us. The children are asked who the younger son represents, followed by the forgiving father. This is easy when the things that require forgiveness consist of kicking my brother and yelling at my mum. Placing our older selves in the story can be more challenging. For a long time, I struggled with this story as I identified quite strongly with the loyal and faithful older brother (as many do) and could feel his frustration and hurt when his younger wayward brother returns to open arms and a feast in his honour. It wasn’t until I became a parent myself, particularly during their teenage years, that I began to identify with the father and his love and acceptance of his child no matter the trials and tribulations that came with that love. So often a parent will feel our children are ‘lost’ only to have their hormones settle and something in their brain click and we ‘find’ them again.
After using this parable each year in sacrament classes, the older brother resonates once again, but for different reasons. Asking for forgiveness as the younger brother did, while difficult, can seem easier than the act of forgiving another. Our past, our history, can influence our perspective of the world and those around us. Judgement can lead to resentment forcing us to exclude another and put ourselves before them, placing priority on the rules and obligations that make us ‘good Catholics’, but what does that look like? The only real obligation Jesus asks of us is to love one another and the rest will follow, easy right…
Instead of criticism and a desire to try and change another we are asked to look inward, reflect and see more clearly the change of heart needed in ourselves, and ourselves alone. A change of heart to become more receptive and welcoming, challenged to make room for those who have returned looking for forgiveness.
We of course are not divine, but our humanness means we have a heart full of emotions that aren’t always on check, and that’s okay. Mahatma Gandhi has been quoted as saying,
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
You alone are called to share the love of the Father with everyone you meet. Through the action of sharing this love, you can embody the Gospel and reflect that which God wants and asks of you. Be the change in this world, open to a new attitude and mindset. This Lent shift your perspective and place yourself in each of the three characters in the parable and ask for forgiveness, accept forgiveness and run to embrace without judgement but with an open heart filled with love.
