The Fourth Sunday of Lent

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

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March 31, 2019

Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 34; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

The parable of the Prodigal Son grips us each time we hear the story because we identify with one of the brothers, and sometimes our deepest hurts in life come from our relationship with our siblings or our parents. We spend a lifetime working out our childhood issues. The two brothers have a lot of work to do, and so do we, if we are going to grow and mature spiritually and emotionally. I would like to take a look at this parable through the lens of emotional intelligence because that is the quality that allows us to handle life’s challenges more effectively.

We pay a lot of attention to the intellect, academic degrees, awards, and honors, and, by and large, society honors the development of the thinking person who has regard to the common good. However, we have seen that being a valedictorian does not always equal success. For a person to be successful, the whole person has to be engaged, and one’s success can be measured by one’s emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence has several components to it: self-awareness to know one’s strengths, weaknesses, drives, values, and its effects upon others; self-regulation to control disruptive impulses and moods; motivation, to achieve for its own sake; empathy to understand other people’s emotional makeup, and social skills to build sustaining relationships with others.

In the parable, the father has emotional intelligence in spades. He is the one who is not concerned with his own unresolved interests but can see above it all to recognize that his dear son has returned home. The prodigal son acquires emotional intelligence the very hard way. After following his impulses and selfish desires, he recognizes the folly of his ways and comes home to seek forgiveness and to offer restitution, and he gets it. The dutiful son, the one after whom we are taught to model our lives, has the lowest emotional intelligence, because he succumbs to resentment, unreconciled anger, and jealousy. The ones who acquire this type of intelligence are the ones who live happy, meaningful lives. If we are stuck with resentments or grudges, if we host petty grievances and annoyances, if we are always finding fault with others, if we feel like we are always dishonored and no one respects our contributions, then we might want to find ways to assess our emotional intelligence and find ways to acquire new skills.

Making ourselves vulnerable to Christ in prayer and through our faith helps us achieve greater emotional health. Prayer puts us in a place where we become more mindful of others. Prayer is a place for healing our memories and having Christ give us his views so that our perceptions are more complete. Prayer is the place where forgiveness begins and moves forward. The good news is that we do not have to stay in the place of either of the two brothers. There is a way forward, but it involves getting to know and respect our feelings; it involves understanding the roots of our suffering and acknowledging that others suffer too; it involves reconnecting with ourselves so we can listen more deeply to the plight of others; it involves giving the merciful Father space to be in our lives.

We do not know what happened to the older dutiful brother, but we are a people of hope and goodwill. We can presume that his father’s magnanimous love brought about a change in his attitudes so that he could achieve greater emotional intelligence and to know the wide-ranging effects of forgiveness, welcome, and a positive, loving judgment. We can presume the two brothers learned how to live together once again and to love one another. We can likewise presume that we can do the same in our families and with our friends. God’s love has a power we do not understand, and the rest of the story has not been written. We have to take the first step back to God and to one another with outstretched arms and heads held high.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Isaiah 65) The Lord is about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered; there will always be rejoicing and happiness.

Tuesday: (Ezekiel 47) The angel brought the prophet to the entrance of the temple where life-giving water flowed forth and bringing life to all.

Wednesday: (Isaiah 49) The Lord finds favor with Israel and promises help on the day of salvation. The Lord will help Israel keep the commandments because He cannot forget her beauty.

Thursday: (2 Samuel 7) The Lord said to David: Your house shall endure forever; your throne shall stand firm forever. 

Friday: (Wisdom 2) The wicked said, “Let us beset the just one because he is obnoxious to us. Let us revile him and condemn him to a shameful death.”

Saturday: (Jeremiah 11) Jeremiah knew their plot, but like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized they were hatching plots against him.  

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 4) Jesus returned to Galilee where he performed his first miracle. Some believed in him. A royal official approached him as his child lay dying, but at the hour Jesus spoke to him, his son recovered.

Tuesday: (John 5) Jesus encountered an ill man lying next to a healing pool, but when the water is stirred up, no one is around to put him in. Jesus heals him and he walks away. The Jews protest that Jesus cured on the Sabbath. The Jews began to persecute Jesus.

Wednesday: (John 5) Jesus explains that he is the unique revealer of God and cannot do anything on his own. He judges as he hears and his judgment is just because he does not seek his own will.

Thursday: (Matthew 1) The birth of Jesus came about through Mary, betrothed to Joseph. In his dream, the angel tells Joseph to take the pregnant Mary as his wife.

Friday: (John 7) Jesus did not wish to travel around Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him, but he went up during the feast of Tabernacles where he was spotted. He cried up in the streets, “You know me and you know where I am from.”

Saturday: (John 7) Some in the crowd said, “This is the prophet.” Some said, “This is the Christ.” A division occurred because of him because they could not settled how he fit into Scripture. Nicodemus interjected, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” The crowd dispersed to their homes.

Saints of the Week

No saints are remembered on the calendar this week.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      March 31, 1548: Fr. Anthony Corduba, rector of the College of Salamanca, begged Ignatius to admit him into the Society so as to escape the cardinalate which Charles V intended to procure for him.

·      Apr 1, 1941. The death of Hippolyte Delehaye in Brussels. He was an eminent hagiographer and in charge of the Bollandists from 1912 to 1941.

·      Apr 2, 1767. Charles III ordered the arrest of all the Jesuits in Spain and the confiscation of all their property.

·      Apr 3, 1583. The death of Jeronimo Nadal, one of the original companions of Ignatius who later entrusted him with publishing and distributing the Jesuit Constitutions to the various regions of the early Society.

·      Apr 4, 1534. Peter Faber (Pierre Favre) ordained a deacon in Paris.

·      Apr 5, 1635. The death of Louis Lallemant, writer and spiritual teacher.

·       Apr 6, 1850. The first edition of La Civilta Cattolica appeared. It was the first journal of the restored Society.