Lenten Thoughts (Day 18): We're all prodigal, aren't we...

"Then he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger!’ … So he left the place and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to celebrate." – Luke 15:17,20-24

Sometimes when we read the parables, we begin to realise how clear Jesus was about issues of repentance and forgiveness. Here, of course, we hear Jesus talking about the prodigal son. “Prodigal”, of course, means wasteful, or refers to someone who is spendthrift; but it also means “giving profusely”, or “yielding profusely”.

Jesus describes an ingrate who basically implies his desire for his father to die (that’s what you imply when you asked for your inheritance in those days… and quite frankly, today as well!). When the young man squanders everything, he suddenly realises that he needs his father.

There’s no need to tell the story again. But the father not only ran to his son in a hurry. He was in a hurry to forgive him. The father was in no mood to be calculative to think “You’ve lost all the money I gave you, and now you conveniently come back”, or to think that his son could one day again, ask for another sum of money. The father, I think, was quite prodigal himself.

That’s the way God our Father is. As long as we “come to [our] senses”, and return wholeheartedly to Him, He’s doesn't calculate all the wrong we’ve done. In fact, He stands at the window everyday looking out for those who have asked Him to bless them abundantly, only to run away with all the riches. He hopes for their return one day. And He looks for one thing, repentance. There is nothing God asks for apart from this: 100% repentance yields 100% forgiveness – so great is the Father’s love that He has put forgiveness in our hands.

God our Father is the most prodigal of us all. He wastes His love on us even though we have taken His love for granted. In fact, our Father even sends our older brother to come and find us. It doesn't get anymore prodigal than that! Let’s learn to be like the young son, who comes to his senses, and returns to God. Then, when we commemorate the resurrection of His greatest Gift come Easter, we can truly be like the family in the parable, and begin to celebrate our new life - "this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found" (Luke 15:24).

Lenten Thoughts (Day 17): Do you suffer spiritual dehydration?

‘Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.’

‘Sir,’ said the woman ‘give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water.’

- John 4:13-15

I have heard sometime when I was much much younger that a regular human being can survive for weeks without food, but not without water. This would sure be the same with the spiritual life. We all know that our physical bodies would not survive without H20, yet many of us somehow seem to be too easily convinced that our spiritual lives need no water.

Are you thirsting spiritually? Are we suffering from spiritual dehydration? Have you sought out the Wellspring of Life? This period of self-denial gives us the perfect opportunity, not to inject ourselves with a 40-day holiness, but to kick-start (or re-ignite) a most important relationship.

Lenten Thoughts (Day 16): Self denial

"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" - Luke 9:23-25

Christ affirms that the way to follow Him is to forgo ourselves. This makes perfect sense, especially if we understand that our ways are not Gods ways (Isaiah 55:8). The way to goodness is to live like the One who is Goodness itself. Yet, our culture tells us otherwise, in so many ways. For the times we have "forfeited" our selves for the gains the world offers, let us truly turn back to God and commit to learning His ways, by means of our self denial this season.

Lenten Thoughts (Day 15): So what if we knew the end of the story?

"Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the way he took the Twelve to one side and said to them, 'Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.'" - Matthew 20:17-19

Jesus predicts His death and resurrection before it happens. Given the behaviour of His enemies, it couldn't be hard to believe that death was not far away from Jesus, but the astonishing thing is how Jesus also predicts His own resurrection; not only that, He even predicts when He would be raised back to life. If everything He ever said created doubts, this biggest of predictions promises surely would put His words beyond any doubt about His claims - His claims that He is God the Son, that He loves us, and that He has prepared a place for us in Heaven, and is ready to welcome us if we follow Him.

The reason we can celebrate Lent is because we know the story ends in glory. All suffering, in fact, can end in glory.

Unlike the disciples who had to listen to all this before Jesus actually rose from the dead (as He predicted promised), we know the story, and we know how the story ends. What then is keeping us from living our lives wholeheartedly for Him?

Lenten Thoughts (Day 14): A timely reminder

"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry." - Luke 4:1-2

Dear friends, today we mark the end of the first two weeks of Lent. Have we lived out the retreat well so far? Have we truly made a conscious effort to deny ourselves of certain good things?

If some of our non-Christian friends heard what you were doing (or what you intended to do), some might say that denying oneself of pleasures is a silly thing, even for a Christian, for if "God" gave those good things, surely we are meant to enjoy it.

Yet, if Jesus went into the desert for 40 days, not just by His choice, but "driven by the Spirit", then He must have shown us that a journey of self-denial, a period of suffering by choice, is not somethin silly. In fact, it is something good to be done.

Pope Benedict XVI shared last week at an address that "Lent is a long 'retreat', during which we return to ourselves and listen to God's voice to overcome the temptations of the Evil One and find the truth of our being. It is a time, we could say, of spiritual 'contest' to live together with Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the weapons of faith, that is, prayer, listening to God's Word and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our baptism." A timely reminder about our whole purpose for journeying together, don't you think?

Lenten Thoughts (Day 13): Nothing matters more...

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him." - Philippians 3:7-9a

Paul tells his converts that he has given up all earthly things for the sake of the Christian faith and promise. Later (vv12-14), he admits he is far from perfect but he continues to press forward on the road to heaven. As we give up little pleasures in life during this period, may we learn the attitude that all things here will pass away, and thus be able to treat nothing as more important than our life with God.

Lenten Thoughts (Day 12): Love one, love all

"But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’" - Matthew 5:43-48

The ability to love is a gift granted by God. If we are able to love someone who loves us, then we are able to love anyone. If Jesus makes it plain that we are to love even our enemies, then we can be sure that we already have the ability. If our love is not based on feelings, then we can choose to love all, just as God's love is for all.