But now we must celebrate and rejoice

10 MARCH (Lk 15,1-3.11-32)

The true sin of religion is to make God a prisoner of the thoughts of man. Our God is supreme, infinite, eternal freedom in charity and utmost, infinite, eternal charity in freedom. His love and mercy have no limits. Reducing God in one’s power is the sin of sins. It is the sin father of every other sin.

When a man gets hold of God, in his name he commits the most heinous crimes, the most cruel atrocities, the most horrendous crimes. He comes to the point of sacrificing a mass of innocent for a silly thought of his heart, however, justified in the name of his God. This is the real sore of the religion of yesterday, today and always.
Today, this sin is covered with great obstinacy, stubbornness, infinite stupidity and ignorance. It is no longer God who is in some way imprisoned by the heart and mind. It is the mind and heart that are proclaimed God. Today, God is the thought of the creature, his desire, his expectations, his anger, his hatred, his envy, his jealousy, his cultural and social backwardness, his uses without truth and his customs without any freedom. This God is very sad because he is always against man.

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. Then he said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “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.

While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'”

The God of Jesus Christ, the true one, the one He revealed us, is the God who is always in favour of man. He is the God who died for the salvation of man. He is the God that does not kill man; he lets himself be killed by man for his eternal redemption. Great is the mystery of the true God. The parable of the prodigal son reveals us how different the love of God is than ours. Our love is called hate, jealousy, envy, stupidity, ignorance, self-closure, inability to get closer to the heart of the Father. Our love comes to the point of denying our brotherhood to the other person. It does not make us recognize the other as our true brother, to be redeemed with the gift of our life. Any religion that does not see in the other a brother to be redeemed, ransomed and saved, is false.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach true religion.