Saturday of the Second Week of Lent (March 3, 2018): Experiencing the mercy of the Father

Thứ Sáu, 02-03-2018 | 15:50:12

Today’s Readings:

Micah 7:14-15,18-20
Ps 103:1-4,9-12
Luke 15: 1-3,11-32
usccb.org/bible/readings/030318.cfm

USCCB Podcast of the Readings:

ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/18_03_03.mp3


A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luca.

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So to them Jesus addressed this parable.
“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father,
‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’
So the father divided the property between them.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings
and set off to a distant country
where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
When he had freely spent everything,
a severe famine struck that country,
and he found himself in dire need.
So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens
who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,
but nobody gave him any.
Coming to his senses he thought,
‘How many of my father’s hired workers
have more than enough food to eat,
but here am I, dying from hunger.
I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”‘
So he got up and went back to his father.
While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
His son said to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;
I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But his father ordered his servants,
‘Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.
Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.’
Then the celebration began.
Now the older son had been out in the field
and, on his way back, as he neared the house,
he heard the sound of music and dancing.
He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.
The servant said to him,
‘Your brother has returned
and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf
because he has him back safe and sound.’
He became angry,
and when he refused to enter the house,
his father came out and pleaded with him.
He said to his father in reply,
‘Look, all these years I served you
and not once did I disobey your orders;
yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.
But when your son returns
who swallowed up your property with prostitutes,
for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’
He said to him,
‘My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.
But now we must celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found.'”


Good News Reflection:

While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. (from Saturday’s Gospel reading)

In Argentina we are facing a very difficult issue: “Can a woman choose to abort her child, before the 13th week of gestation, if she does not want to have it?” This is what our legislators will discuss during the coming months. The excuse is that too many women die because of illegal abortion.

My husband Fernando, a Religious friend Sister Liliana, and I were invited by the local television channel and by the local radio (what a coincidence, both on the same day), so that we could express our opinion about it. We tried to put the baby and his/her right to live in the foreground. We also wanted to talk about the mother and the painful situation that she must be going through, and why, instead of celebrating the gift of her child’s life, she only thinks about getting rid of him/her, killing the child to remove him/her out of her life.

The Gospel of the day on which we were interviewed (Monday, February 26, Luke 6, 36-38) says: “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.” So I asked the Holy Spirit to fill my heart with mercy for those mothers who could not see that their children were gifts from God.

The two journalists who interviewed us asked Sister Liliana about the position of the Church on that subject, to which Sr. Liliana answered clearly, leaving no doubt. But both, when they came to me and asked my opinion on the subject, broke: In one of them tears arose; in the other, the seriousness of her face revealed how touched she was. The Holy Spirit had put so much mercy into my heart for those anguished mothers that my words touched the most intimate fibers of these two lady-journalists and they felt the pain of the situation.

That same day, after the interviews, my husband and I went to the parish seeking the Sacrament of Confession. The priest told us both: “Pray a lot, asking the Holy Spirit to always assist you, because we cannot do anything alone!” The Holy Spirit had helped us to show God’s love and mercy to those people who, because of so much pain, cannot recognize their Father wanting to bring them closer to Him!

By Graciela Ramos, GNM’s Assistant Director,
Spanish Ministry Director

Betsy’s testimony of God’s mercy

In December 2016, my daughter, who has been away from the Church since her teenage years, became pregnant out of wedlock with her boyfriend with who she had been living for a short while. She works for a big banking group and her boss is very senior in the bank. When she told him that she was pregnant, he wanted to take her to the nearest abortion clinic. He told her that the problem could be solved in 20 minutes and life could get back to normal.

When she refused to have the abortion, he badgered her throughout her pregnancy, treating her like dirt, and then he made her continue working while she was on maternity leave, giving her work to do even late at night.

She gave birth to a beautiful girl on the 24th of August, and she returned to work this January – still with the same, unpleasant boss, who has not yet changed his attitude towards her and still treats her like dirt. Now my husband and I are looking after the baby while she works. We pray for her boss on a daily basis that he, too, will return to God, as he is also one of God’s own children, and I pray for his conversion.  

My daughter was not on speaking terms with my husband for more than 10 years. She would just greet him and never speak to him. Once she had the baby, that all changed – in an answer to our prayers – and she asked her dad to come to her every morning to help her and look after the baby so that she could work on her computer. God has the most mysterious ways of answering prayers, ways that we could not even begin to think of. He tells us, “My ways are not yours” – and when I see what has happened in our family, I can only thank God for the most incredible miracles he has worked in our lives. We are not yet a perfect family, but with our prayers and his grace, I am sure the future can only be better.

My son does not talk to his sister at all and just ignores her, but that, too, I am sure will change in God’s timing. For a long time, he would not even look at the baby. He would walk straight past her. But as the baby has grown bigger (she is now 6 months old), for some unknown reason (of course, God’s reason), the baby absolutely loves him. When he walks into the room, she cannot stop looking at him and smiling at him, and his hard heart has melted. Now he talks to her, plays with her, and even picks her up once in a while – God is AMAZING!

Unfortunately, my daughter suffers from depression, which has now turned into post-natal depression, and she refuses to seek help or take medication, which is a challenge, but we keep praying. This affects not only her, but the baby and us as well – it’s a vicious circle. All in God’s time, things will be sorted, I am sure of that.

All these crosses we have to carry certainly teach us patience, and I always tell my family that God never gives us a cross too heavy to carry. I look at my little granddaughter and often wonder what God has in store for her. I pray each day that she will become a very holy woman – and it makes one realize how vulnerable their little lives are and to think that we have the choice to either let her live or end her file. It’s heartbreaking and frightening at the same time. I can only thank God for giving my daughter the grace, even in her darkness, to fight for the life of her child against all odds and the constant badgering, which she endured even up to the last few weeks of her pregnancy.

May God Bless all the staff at Good News Ministries, and thank you so much for the wonderful work and uplifting teachings we receive through your good works.

By Betsy from South Africa

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