From the responsorial psalm: “Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32, today’s readings)
“’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.”
The verse before the Gospel draws on the words of the prodigal son: I will get up and go to my Father and shall say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. He has squandered all he has and finds himself exhausted in his attempt to take to himself all that he believes belongs to him. He said to his father, “Give me the share of your estate that should come to me.” Yet, having spent the whole share of his inheritance in self-indulgence, he hungers with a hunger that goes beyond physical starvation. With a contrite heart, he returns to his father, who runs off to meet him while he was still a long way off. Sharing this parable with the Pharisees who complain, Jesus invites everyone who hears it to return with contrite hearts to the Father’s merciful embrace.
God, strengthen my assurance in your boundless love for me. Although I turn my back to you, you never do the same to me. Your mercy goes out to meet me where I am, from a long way off. Give me the humility to recognize that all good gifts come from you, and that I can do nothing without them. The son who returns to the father “comes to his senses.” Lord, let me be reconciled to you and glorify you through your Son; in Christ, make me of me a new creation.
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.