TASTE AND SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD!
4th Sunday of Lent Year C
March 10, 2013
TASTE AND SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD!
The first reading and the responsorial psalm both have to do
with the image of eating, celebrating, or partaking of food together with
others. The second reading, though not even remotely related to eating and
sharing of food, does give us the reason to eat together and celebrate – the
fact that we have become new creatures in Christ, that is, reconciled to God in
Him. The Gospel, for its part, although focused on the idea of forgiveness,
does refer, too, indirectly to a banquet given by the forgiving father upon
return of the younger lost son, who chose to follow a different path, until he
got back to his senses and returned.
This is a rich Sunday, readings wise, and we preachers are
hard pressed to make of all three separate readings a meaningful totality. But
quite apart from all this, today is Laetare Sunday, meaning “rejoice,”
for laetare is the first word in
today’s entrance antiphon.
Well, who does not enjoy eating? And who does not eat or
share a meal with others when one is rejoicing? We Filipinos know this very
well. Now that graduations are just around the corner, and many people will be
teary-eyed receiving their hard-earned diplomas, and as they sing their Alma Mater
songs, celebrations are not far from everybody’s mind. When we rejoice, we eat.
And we eat with others when we want to share that joy.
I can empathize somewhat with the father in today’s parable
of the prodigal son, or the prodigal father, or the resentful elder brother.
The father had a valid reason to put up a feast. His son was gone, and was now
suddenly back home. The feasting may have been overblown, but the elder brother
who resented it all acted very much like … well, a party pooper. He didn’t like
it one bit. And one who nurses a heart ache, does not want an additional tummy
ache, I guess. He who could not ingest a good deed done to someone “unworthy”
of it, probably cannot digest rich food either. When one is eaten up by
resentment, I guess, one cannot really eat to his heart’s delight!
The Israelites under Joshua had every reason to rejoice and
“eat of the produce of the land,” no … not manna anymore, but real food! We
heard it from the mouth of the Lord Himself: “Today, I have removed the reproach
of Egypt from you.” St. Paul was more theological rather than graphic and
earthy … We rejoice because “whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old
things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Joshua, the Jews of old, Paul, the younger son, the
forgiving father, why, even the elder son for all his resentment and initial
unhappiness … they all had reasons to be rejoicing. They all had valid reasons
to share the food of thanksiving and joy.
The question now has nothing to do with them. The big
question now is on our shoulders. Do we have reasons to rejoice? Do we find
enough motivation to eat together in joy and fellowship, and share this
Eucharistic sacrifice and meal? What brought you here to Mass today? Do you
really have reason to rejoice, as the entrance antiphon tells us: “Rejoice
Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her.”
Let me tell you what can be blocks to rejoicing and even
possible causes of indigestion or lack of appetite to share food with others …
Well, the first in the list is what the younger son did … he
sinned and detached himself from the family, from his father, from his elder
brother. But wait … don’t you think there is a second? Yes … and it has to do
with a heart unwilling, unready to soften up and loosen up a little. The elder
brother was too focused on the brother’s wrongdoings, and even saw malice in
the father’s compassion and abounding forgiveness.
And yes … there is a third … our unwillingness and
incapacity to see the good unfolding, the good emerging even from someone whom
we have judged and condemned to be a prodigal brother or sister – the refusal
to see what good possibly could be done even by a sinful person.
So may I suggest that we quit being such miserable party
poopers?
Maybe we need to change the lenses of our camera. We are too
fond of using macro lenses that make us see only from up close. We need a
wide-angle lens to help us see the bigger panorama, the bigger canvas, the
bigger picture.
And since I love to eat myself, that bigger picture I see,
is a banquet where the best dish, the best entrée, if you will, is that which
God Himself provides – no other than Himself. Like in this Mass, His own body
and blood, for us to share in peace, fellowship, and joy.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord!
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