The story of the Prodigal Son is one of the most familiar of all of Jesus’ parables. However, when we look more closely at the historical setting for this story we see that, for Jesus’ original audience in the first century, it would have been a shocking story. Do you know why?

Like the “prodigal son,” let’s “return to God with all our heart.” Then the father will gift us the robe, ring, shoes and fatted calf. So, in today’s Eucharistic Meal, feel at home! No place like home! And let us CELEBRATE!

At this midway point in our Lenten journey, today’s readings show us the Exodus, the great journey of the Jewish people out of Egypt. What are we to think of this amazing drama as Moses defied the King of Egypt, risking everything to obey God and lead His people out of their slavery?

Today, as people of repentance, let us become the “gardeners” of the world. Let us cultivate in our hearts the core values of peace, hope, faith and generosity; then let us fertilize them with the virtues of love, compassion and mercy. That perhaps, the single honorable and desirable fruit is what we can become – the “visible signs of God’s love!”

What an amazing experience it must have been for Peter, James and John to witness an event few humans can imagine – the glory of Jesus! And yet we experience a similar miracle at every Mass as the glory of Jesus is shown to us in the Eucharist. The three Apostles didn’t take their experience for granted. Why should we?

Let our trust craft a transfiguration bridge that connects us to God and to one another. Become catchers of broken lives! Be spiritual companions in making shattered lives be whole again. In God we trust!

As we begin the season of Lent, we join Jesus in the desert where he is tempted by the devil in three ways, each representing the same three tactics he commonly uses for us today. Can you identify the three?

LENT is here! It started last ASH WEDNESDAY by the imposition of ashes on our foreheads in the form of a Cross. The Cross on our forehead isn’t an amulet; it’s a reminder that God is alive in our hearts. We need the Cross to clean our hearts, and we need our hearts to love the Cross. At times, when we promise something, we always say: “Cross my heart!” In short, I describe LENT as #crossme-lovemeforgiveme season!

Ash Wednesday, March 6th Is a day of Fasting and Abstinence

Imagine that you and Jesus are standing in today’s Gospel reading under a fruit tree, loaded with ripening fruit. Jesus points to the fruit and says, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit . . .every tree is known by its fruit.” In prayer, ask Jesus to show you areas where you are not bearing good fruit—perhaps in your friendships or family life or in your moral life.

Jesus’ words are expressed in one word: “reconciliation.” Reconciliation erases the wooden beam in your own eyes, and wipes off the splinter in your brother’s eye. In the spirit of healing, it works this way: be reconciled with your self first – simply put, accept your fault, even though how painful it is. Then, in good conscience, you can bravely face the person whom you have hurt, and honestly say, “I am sorry, please forgive me!” And at the end, both of you, the offender and the offended are able to live a reconciled and reconciling way of life.