A MERCIFUL EMBRACE FROM GOD

Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)

Jos 5:9. 10-12 / Ps 34 / 2 Cor 5: 17 – 21 / Lk 15: 1-3. 11-32

When was the last time that you received a very tight hug or a warm embrace from someone? Just as laughter is the best medicine, hugging therapy is also considered a powerful way of healing. The respected family therapist, Virginia Satir, has this to say, “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth.”

Our Gospel parable this Sunday is unique to Luke. Pope Francis in his document on mercy mentions the Parable of the Prodigal Son as one of the Gospel references on God’s mercy. Well, I guess every one of you here knows about this parable. This is as famous as Dolce Amore!

The story begins with the younger son asking for his share of his Father’s wealth that should come to him. Such gesture of the son was a great insult to his father. It was like wishing his father dead! Having received his share, the son went away and enjoyed all kinds of wine, women, and song. And since, material possessions are temporary, the son found himself in dire need. He was so in need of money that he worked in feeding the pigs. What the son experienced was a great insult to him. For the Jews, pigs are unclean animals. And so, feeding them makes someone even more unclean than the swine. Coming to his senses and take note not out of guilt and remorse, the son decided to go back to his Father. Then came the most moving scene of the Gospel, while the son was walking towards home, the father caught sight of him and ran immediately towards him. Upon seeing his son face to face, he gave him a very tight embrace, a warm hug from a father. No words uttered but simply an assuring embrace, a forgiving hug. What the father did was not a mere welcome but mercy at its best! Love seen in the most concrete way!

My dear friends, the story of the Prodigal Son is also our own story. Because of our sins especially our “favorite sins,” we insult God’s generosity. We all the while think that our sinfulness can give us the best brand of happiness in life. However, we are wrong. We must remember that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, to live in sin is a great insult to our identity as children of God. And so, we turn to God for mercy. We ask God for his assuring embrace and forgiving hug. All that we need to do is to humbly accept our sinfulness and open our hearts to the voice of God who has long been waiting for us.

However, my dear friends, you who have experienced God’s merciful embrace are also tasked to share such embrace with others. In this year of mercy, we are reminded of our call to be merciful like the Father!

After the funeral Mass of one of his priests who was brutally murdered by the fundamentalists, Bishop Lampon was asked by the media, “Will you not leave this place? You and your priests have been in hot and difficult waters already. You might lose your life anytime.” The humble bishop replied, “We will not leave this place. Rather, we will continue to extend our hands of forgiveness to those people who hate us even if it will cause our very own lives.” Indeed, there is no fear in the life of such Bishop because he has been assuredly embraced by the Father in heaven. Bishop Lampon simply was merciful like the Father.

“We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth” says a family therapist. But we only need one tight hug, one merciful embrace from the Father in order to live life in abundance. Amen.