Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C
A Gospel Enquiry
Introduction
I believe that we receive grace from the Holy Spirit to enable us to imitate Jesus and to share in his divine life. Theologians call this grace and its action “Theosis.” Baptism and the other sacraments, prayer and meditation on the scriptures all play a part in our commitment to imitating Jesus. The Gospel Enquiry, too, has a place in our spiritual life.
Joseph Cardijn developed a method to help young workers to imitate Christ. Many know it as the “Review of Life” method, with three stages: see, judge, act. The Gospel Enquiry is a particular form of that method.
The SEE stage is like recalling being called by Jesus to follow him. It is that part of the Gospel Enquiry during which we analyse the part played by Jesus in the scene described in the Gospel, his motives and the outcomes flowing from his actions.
The JUDGE stage provides us with the opportunity to reflect on our own lives and examine our own attitudes, beliefs and values as they come into focus because of the words and actions of Jesus. There should be some discomfort here because the Gospel challenges us to turn away from sinful ways and to be single-minded in following Jesus.
We don’t live in isolation from the world; it is true that we live in a global village. Reflecting on the Gospel is intended to help us recognise how far we have strayed from the path walked by Christ. In the ACT stage of the Enquiry, then, we identify the changes that have to be made for God’s kingdom to come. We ask ourselves, “Which action can we take that will help to bring about this change?”
Finally, the purpose of the Gospel Enquiry is summed up beautifully by Fr Mike Deeb OP, in his book Discovering God through Action and Reflection:
“… the Holy Spirit is to be discovered in a deep understanding of real life experience, through a discerning reflection on the Gospel, and through our reflective action aimed at transforming that reality.”
The Gospel
The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained, “This man,” they said, “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he spoke this parable to them:
“A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country, where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
“When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. 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! I will leave this place and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.”’ 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.
“Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. ‘Your brother has come,’ replied the servant, ‘and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.’ He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property - he and his women - you kill the calf we have been fattening.’
“The father said, ‘My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it is only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found’” (Luke 15:1-3, 15-32).
The Enquiry
See
What is the situation faced by Jesus in this part of Luke’s Gospel? Look at the people involved in this Gospel scene and determine why each group has been included. In which group would you put yourself? Why?
Jesus tells three parables in this part of the Gospel of Luke. Two parables have been omitted. Use a copy of Luke’s Gospel to find the other parables. What do they have in common?
Look at the actions of the three characters in the parable you have just read. Identify in the parable the evidence of what motivates each character to act as they do. What do the actions of the father and his two sons tell you about their perceptions of the purpose of life? What does each value?
Judge
Pope St John Paul II described the young son as “every human being: bewitched by the temptation to separate himself from his Father in order to lead his own independent existence disappointed by the emptiness of the mirage which had fascinated him; alone, dishonoured, exploited when he tries to build a world all for himself; sorely tried, even in the depths of his own misery, by the desire to return to communion with his Father” (Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 1984, #5).
What do you think about the view of the world conveyed in this story? And in the situation that prompts Jesus to tell the story?
Name the ideal/value promoted by Jesus through the story he tells about the prodigal son.
What does Jesus say that challenges you to seek to change your relationship with God?
Act
If you were able to reach every person alive through social media, what is there in the story Jesus tells that you want to share with everyone so that others might be moved to join you in making the world a better place for everyone?
So what action can you carry out this week that will contribute to the change you would like to see in the world?
Who can you involve in your action, when, how often and how?
Image source: Thomas Hawk (Creator), The Prodigal Son, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0
Worth reading: Discovering God through Action and Reflection, by Fr Mike Deeb OP