From the responsorial psalm: “He pardons all your iniquities, he heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion. The Lord is kind and merciful.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32, today’s readings)
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.
The familiar parable Jesus addresses to them is the Prodigal Son. In demanding his inheritance, the son takes from the father what the father would generously give him. But as he squanders his inheritance and faces hunger and hardship, he decides to return home and work as a servant. His father sees him from a distance, is filled with compassion, and joyfully welcomes him back, celebrating his return with a feast. The older son is angry at what he perceives is the father’s injustice, but the father reassures him of his constant love for him and the need to celebrate his brother’s return. Jesus describes the same love of the father that we hear in Micah, one who delights in clemency and compassion, “treading underfoot our guilt.”
God, your mercy is constant. Contrition is a means of entering into reconciliation with you, of blessing you with all my being. Just as the psalmist praises you for the height and depth of your mercy, he names you as the one who heals ills and redeems life from destruction. Give me the grace to recognize that you alone are just, you alone see me from a long way off to reconcile me to yourself through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ your Son. Never let me forget the inherent dignity of free will you give to each of us in the choice to return to your love—your very being—and stay with you always. “Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.