GOD never closes his heart to anyone of his children. His love and forgiveness are prodigious—immense like the ocean and the universe. It’s no wonder that his Son, Jesus, showed this kind of love to us by dying on the cross with open arms.
God’s love for us is prodigious that no matter how big our sins are and how long we have committed them, he’s ready and willing to forgive them if we repent and return to him. We see this attribute of God in this Sunday’s Gospel, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a story which we are never tired of hearing about. (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)
One wonders how the father in this parable could still treat his younger son with love and affection after squandering all his inheritance. He runs to his son as soon as he sees him from afar and embraces him. He tells his servants to clothe him with a festal robe, put sandals on his feet and the family signet ring on his finger. And to top it all, he tells his servants to kill a fattened calf and hold a party to celebrate his younger son’s return.
For some people, the father’s gesture in this parable is unbelievable. Why would he still shower him with affection after wasting all his inheritance on a wild and crazy life? If they were the father, they would chastise him right away and shame him for showing his face again.
But it’s precisely what the father has seen in his son—yes, shameful and remorseful. So, he’s ready to forgive him and give him another chance. Moreover, no matter how much tough love he wants to show his son, he could not bear seeing him wasting his life away and being far from him.
To be back in his arms and household! This is what God wants for each of us. No matter how many times and how long we have strayed away from him, he wants us to return to him.
For he knows that life without him would always be empty and never peaceful. He knows that nothing of this world would ever satisfy our longing for wholeness. And so, he desires that we come back to him again and again.
We may shy away from God every time we fall into sin. We need to be careful when we feel this way. It may be the voice of the devil telling us that we’re not worthy of God’s love anymore and that we don’t have the right to his love and mercy. It’s precisely what the devil wants us to feel: worthless and undeserving of God’s love and forgiveness.
As human beings, we’re weak, and we’ll continue to struggle with until the day we die. But we need to keep hoping and believing that the immense love, mercy, and forgiveness of God would triumph over any sin that we have committed.
God’s mercy and love are open to the worst sinner in the world even if that person fully repents only at the time of his last breath. God showed this when Jesus was dying on the cross and told the repentant thief that he will be with his Father’s Kingdom. This is not to say that this message is a passport to anyone to keep sinning. But this shows how mind-boggling God’s mercy is.
St. John Chrysostom said it right, “All that God looks for us is the slightest opening, and he forgives a multitude of sins (On Repentance, Homily 1, 3-4L PG, 49, 282-283, liturgy.slu.edu).
In her Diary, St. Faustina Kowalska wrote this similar message:
“All graces flow from mercy, and the last hour abounds with mercy for us. Let no one doubt concerning the goodness of God; even if a person’s sins were as dark as night. God’s mercy is stronger than our misery. One thing alone is necessary, that the sinner set ajar the door of his heart, be it ever so little, to let a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest.” (No. 1507)
May this time of Lent be a momentous time for all of us to feel the extravagant and immense love and forgiveness of God. May it be a time for us to return to the arms and home of our Father! Amen.
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1991-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
