Saturday of the Second Week of Lent Year 1 2023

Title

Call to Repentance versus Call Out

Outline

I get plenty of references to the call-out culture

Now there is something positive about this in that some groups, including churches, ignore the evil deeds of leaders and need the investigative reporter or the victim to make issues that have been swept under the rug public for the protection of further victims.

Yet there is something negative about this, for the demand is for punishment, not just for the principle offender but for all who might have known and have not acted. There is no strategy for bringing about repentance and then moving on.

I realize that repentance can be “cheap grace” and that restoring someone quickly to a place of official ministry is problematic. But I also realize that demanding a church or ministry close is also problematic - it does not sound like God.

Our readings confirm this

Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage

Micah was not blind to the evils of the people nor to the punishment that God was bringing

Yet he sees beyond punishment to God as shepherd, bringing the people back to the trans-Jordan area where they live in peace and security.

“Who is a God like you, who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance?” he asks.

There was divine anger and punishment, but once there is repentance there is “delight in mercy” and “compassion” and the “treading under foot of iniquities.”

That is what we are praying for, not destruction. That is why I have often used the image of “cast into the depths of the sea all our sins” in the confessional.

We see this in the prodigal son narrative

The younger son has sinned and has reaped the reward of his sin. The father did not punish him, but he foresaw the evil. And when the repentant son returns, hoping to be a hired servant, the father’s response is joy and celebration that he came back alive. The repentant is restored. He no longer has his inheritance, but he has a place of honor in the father’s house.

The real focus is on the older son. He has seen himself as a faithful servant in the father’s house, not really as a son. So he is upset at the restoration of his brother (whom he refers to as “your son” not “my brother”), even though the father says, “All I have is yours.” The older son wants vengeance. Even a restoration as a hired servant would be too much, for that is where he sees himself. Lacking a sense of sonship and lacking the father’s heart, he is left outside when he had every right to be inside at the right hand of the father.

That is where the scribes and Pharisees are. They cannot accept the forgiveness of the repentant tax collectors and sinners. They must always be outside. That attitude is what the parable is about: if one does not know that one is secure as a son, one cannot welcome back the estranged.

So, Sisters, that is the teaching for us

We welcome back the estranged, the sinners, the repentant, and treat them like sons and daughters.

That does not mean approving of their past deeds - they have acknowledged them, repented of them, and God has forgiven them, so let them stay buried in the sea.

That does not necessarily mean restoration to ministry - some sins leave a bentness, as Augustine would say, that preclude ministry - it would be too much temptation. We often mix up restoration to the family and restoration to ministry.

That does mean avoiding the call-out culture unless God is calling us as a prophet and then doing so with tears until their repentance allows us to join the party.

Truth can hide vindictiveness, and, what is worse, it can mask to us the fact that we are in need of becoming aware of our sonship or daughtership and thus sharing the father’s heart.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 3-11-2023: Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

FIRST READING

Micah 7:14–15, 18–20

14 Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock of your heritage,

That lives apart in a woodland,

in the midst of an orchard.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,

as in the days of old;

15 As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,

show us wonderful signs.

18 Who is a God like you, who removes guilt

and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;

Who does not persist in anger forever,

but instead delights in mercy,

19 And will again have compassion on us,

treading underfoot our iniquities?

You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;

20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob,

and loyalty to Abraham,

As you have sworn to our ancestors

from days of old.

Catholic Daily Readings 3-11-2023: Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

RESPONSE

Psalm 103:8a

8 Merciful and gracious is the LORD,

slow to anger, abounding in mercy.

PSALM

Psalm 103:1–4, 9–12

1 Of David.

Bless the LORD, my soul;

all my being, bless his holy name!

2 Bless the LORD, my soul;

and do not forget all his gifts,

3 Who pardons all your sins,

and heals all your ills,

4 Who redeems your life from the pit,

and crowns you with mercy and compassion,

9 He will not always accuse,

and nurses no lasting anger;

10 He has not dealt with us as our sins merit,

nor requited us as our wrongs deserve.

11 For as the heavens tower over the earth,

so his mercy towers over those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our sins from us.

Catholic Daily Readings 3-11-2023: Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Luke 15:18

18 I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

GOSPEL

Luke 15:1–3, 11–32

1 The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, 2 but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So to them he addressed this parable.

11 Then he said, “A man had two sons, 12 and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. 14 When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. 15 So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. 16 And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. 17 Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. 18 I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and went back to his father. 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. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ 22 But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. 25 Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. 27 The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. 30 But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ 31 He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. 32 But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 3-11-2023: Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2023 | LENT

SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT

YEARS 1 & 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Micah 7:14–15, 18–20

Response Psalm 103:8a

Psalm Psalm 103:1–4, 9–12

Gospel Acclamation Luke 15:18

Gospel Luke 15:1–3, 11–32

VIOLET