Reflection for Vigil of the Fourth Sunday of Lent 2010
13 March, 2010

by Linda Herndon, OSB
Readings: Hosea 11:1-9; Luke 5:1-3, 11-32

“Laetare, O Jerusalem!”

Why does the Church choose to use these as the first words of the Entrance Antiphon for Mass tomorrow? In the middle of this penitential season of Lent, why are we called to rejoice? According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, our reason for rejoicing is that we are halfway through Lent (the midway point of Lent was this past Thursday.) To visibly show our rejoicing, traditionally the Church has us put aside the use of purple vestments and altar cloths and uses rose ones instead. And as most of you probably know (but I just learned) traditionally flowers, that were normally forbidden during Lent, could be placed on the altar for this Sunday and the organ, that was never played during Lent, could be used on Laetare Sunday.

I propose that there is a much more significant reason for rejoicing than simply marking the midway point of Lent. This reason for rejoicing is presented to us in the readings we just heard—we have a God who loves us unconditionally with extravagant love….beyond our wildest imagination.

In the first reading, Hosea describes God as a tender, caring parent. Carroll Stuhlmueller says of this passage, “If ever there was an Old Testament discourse wrapping God in the warm flesh of human parenthood, this is it—the supreme revelation of divine love.” The God Hosea describes here is so full of love for his chosen people that no matter what they do, no matter if they turn away and offer sacrifice to the Baals or incense to idols, God will still love them as a beloved child. God will love them like a parent who picks up her children to hold them to her cheeks, to feed them, to teach them how to walk.

And we hear of the same loving God in Jesus’s parable of the two sons and their prodigal father in what some have called the greatest short story ever told. The father’s love truly is wastefully extravagant for both of his sons. He willingly gives his younger son his share of the property upon being asked for it. And when this son returns having spent his inheritance, the father welcomes the son back as his “son” and not a hired hand, giving him robe, ring and sandals, restoring him to his place in the family. This son does not even get a chance to give his prepared speech and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness and acceptance is his before he asks for it.

The father also extends the same unconditional prodigal love to his elder son, even if the elder son does not recognize it. The father does not rebuke the elder son for being jealous of his younger brother or his frustration with his father’s response at throwing an extravagant party for his brother. The father simply reminds his elder son of his special relationship with him, “Son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours.” What more is possible for a father to give his son? What more could the elder son need?

And why on this Fourth Sunday of Lent do we need to be reminded of God’s great love for us in these two “supreme revelations of divine love” wrapped in “the warm flesh of human parenthood?” I propose that the purpose for these stories tonight are two-fold. One reason is to give us hope and encouragement on our Lenten journey. If we have faltered with our Lenten resolutions, have not made use of the first half of Lent as we could, there is a God who loves us with prodigal love, no matter what we have done or not done. As the younger son finally “came to his senses,” so there is still plenty of time for us to “come to our senses.” We can always return to our God whose arms are wide open and who loves us with extravagant love beyond our imagining. We are always one of God’s beloved children.

The second reason, I propose, for these stories is to prepare us for the great feast of the Triduum that is coming soon. How can we possibly begin to comprehend Jesus’ great love for us as shown in his passion, death, and resurrection if we have not experientially known of God’s love as a loving parent? How can we begin to grasp the love of our God who will give up his life for us if we have not personally known the extravagantly wasteful love of this same God that we hear about in Hosea and in Luke’s parable?

So what are we to do with this message of prodigal love? Let us rejoice! Indeed, “let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God” so that we can see God’s great love for us as shown in one another, in Scripture, in nature, and in all the events of our lives. And let us not forget that as Christians, we are called to witness God’s wildly extravagant love in our world. May we have the courage to love one another with the prodigal love with which God loves us. And when we fail, let us remember St. Benedict’s last of the Instruments of Good Works: “And, finally, never lose hope in God’s mercy. (RB 4:74)

© 2010 Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica
Atchison, Kansas