Fourth Sunday in Lent

Praying with the Sunday Gospel
Fourth Sunday in Lent – year C
Luke 15:1-3,11-32
“The prodigal son”
The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to
hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This
man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable
to them:
‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the
share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the
property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together
everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his
money on a life of debauchery.
‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and
now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local
inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly
have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered
him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s
paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger!
I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back
to his father.
‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with
pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then
his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer
deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick!
Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals
on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going
to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has
come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew
near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants
he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant
“and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him
back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father
came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these
years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you
never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But,
for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”
‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.
But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother
here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”
Hearing!
“Speak Lord your servants are listening”
Slowly read the Gospel passage; listening carefully to the story. Read it
intentionally, so as to perceive the small details we can miss on an initial
reading. These small details might be the bridge between the Gospel Story and
the story of your life.

Happening
Through the lens of the Gospel we now look with compassion at the story of
our lives
Having listened to the text of the Gospel now let it speak to the text of your
life story. Become aware of where this Gospel story is already alive in your life
or in your community. Or maybe you notice where it is absent in your life?
Where might this Gospel story be inviting life and hope into aspects of your life
that long for resurrection and new life?

Hoping
What do I want to say to the Lord in light of what you have shared or
because of what others have shared?
The Gospel always leads us to places of hope, possibility and new beginnings. It
awakens us to where and what we should be grateful for. It leads us to where
God is waiting and inviting us to grow in freedom, in inner peace and maturity as
a disciple. What prayer is in your heart as you draw to a close in this period of
prayer?