Today is March 22, Saturday of the Second Week of Lent.
In the readings today, we learn about God’s patience with us. In the first reading, Micah uses the imagery of the shepherd: “Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, that dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel” (Mic 7:14). Shepherding sheep takes a lot of patience! When one of them runs away and is separated from the flock, the shepherd patiently seeks it out and brings it back.
This reading from Micah provides an interesting context for the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The father is so patient with his son; he allows his son to take his inheritance early — a wondrous slap in the face on the part of the son. The father watches him leave and waits patiently for his return.
The father must have known he was going to return, or else his hope was extraordinary. Only someone who is looking for something will see it when it is still far off: “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.” The patience of the father paid off in the end.
A time of return
God is patient with us. Like a shepherd, he guides us gently and strongly as his providential plan for our lives plays out. Like the father of the prodigal son, he sometimes allows us to wander off — but he never loses sight of us. He loves us and, in that love, allows us to make mistakes, but he is always waiting for our return.
This Lent is a time of return. It is a time to submit to the loving guidance of the shepherd. Our Father embraces us as his sons and daughters. In one way or another, may we be found nearer to him at the end of this Lent than at the beginning. May his embrace be tighter around us as we accept him more resolutely as our Father.
Let us pray,
O God, who grant us by glorious healing remedies while still on earth to be partakers of the things of heaven, guide us, we pray, through this present life and bring us to that light in which you dwell. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
