Calling for Compassion

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to ponder the compassion, steadfast love, generosity, and mercy of God for us.

Compassion generosity in crisis 

The reading from the Prophet Micah celebrates God’s compassion and steadfast Love.

 * [7:18–20] The final lines of the book contain a hymn of praise for the incomparable God, who pardons sin and delights in mercy. Thus the remnant, those left after the exile, is confident in God’s compassion and in the ancient promises sworn to the ancestors.1

Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness is a theme of Psalm 103.

 * [Psalm 103] The speaker in this hymn begins by praising God for personal benefits (Ps 103:1–5), then moves on to God’s mercy toward all the people (Ps 103:6–18). Even sin cannot destroy that mercy (Ps 103:11–13), for the eternal God is well aware of the people’s human fragility (Ps 103:14–18). The psalmist invites the heavenly beings to join in praise (Ps 103:19–22).2

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the Parable of the Prodigal and his Lost Son.

 * [15:1–32] To the parable of the lost sheep (Lk 15:1–7) that Luke shares with Matthew (Mt 18:12–14), Luke adds two parables (the lost coin, Lk 15:8–10; the prodigal son, Lk 15:11–32) from his own special tradition to illustrate Jesus’ particular concern for the lost and God’s love for the repentant sinner.3

Eileen Burke-Sullivan asks how might we approach this wonderfully rich text and the liturgy that it is embedded in today to hear more clearly how profoundly God cares for us?

 Whether our imagination recalls a parenting figure who fathers or mothers(or both) – that is the place of home, says this story.  The place where there is no fear for tomorrow because mercy and justice are the practices of the household – a household of love, a place of the fullness of life.  The Prodigal parent, father and/or mother, is the image that Jesus gives his hearers today – the one who runs out to meet the sinner and rejoices because the child has come back to life.
Lent is the time to remember or imagine this place of God’s utter compassion.  God as loving parent, not judge or punisher, not one ready to say “See, I told you this would happen”, but ever eager to say, “Welcome home, welcome home, I have missed you so much.”
Can we, in a time of fear and crisis, open our hearts and ears to the invitation here and now to come home to God’s Reign – to come to the place of thriving and joy even in the midst of world panic and dilemma, and begin to make choices from that place of confidence and security – good choices for ourselves and for others that collaborate to support new possibilities by the time Easter brings the hope of yet fuller life for all of Creation.4

Don Schwager quotes “Life through death,” by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 "Did you make it possible for yourselves to merit God's mercy because you turned back to him? If you hadn't been called by God, what could you have done to turn back? Didn't the very One Who called you when you were opposed to Him make it possible for you to turn back? Don't claim your conversion as your own doing. Unless He had called you when you were running away from Him, you would not have been able to turn back." (Commentary on Psalm 84, 8)5

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 shares the way that the father handled his wayward son was completely against the logic or tradition of first-century Judaism.

 The fact that the father ran to greet this son would also have been shocking to Jesus’ listeners. It was considered undignified for a mature man to be chasing after his son like that. As patriarchal as Jewish society was, children always came to their fathers, not the other way around! So it would have been scandalous for the father to humiliate himself before this ungrateful son.
Finally, when the father killed the fatted calf and threw a big party, he was indirectly using the eldest son’s inheritance. There was nothing else left to use. No wonder the older boy was angry!
Jesus used the father’s outlandish behavior to highlight the depth of God’s mercy. It’s almost illogical the way our heavenly Father forgives us over and over again. It’s scandalous the way he lavishes us with undeserved treasures. But this is our God, and his love for us is real!
Today, try to imagine God racing toward you: his robes hiked up, his face filled with anticipation. Doesn’t it make you want to run to him?
“Thank you, Lord, for your endless mercy towards me. Show me how to run home to you and receive my inheritance!”6

Friar Jude Winkler explains the image of God casting our sins in the sea from the Prophet Micah. Is God being made a fool in this parable? Friar Jude reminds us of our challenge to celebrate the forgiveness of one who has hurt us being healed.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, observes language is a powerful tool for understanding and connecting new ideas. Dr. Jerome Lubbe suggests that the names or labels that have been traditionally applied to each of the Enneagram types are not always helpful. Labels and poor word choice have made the call for compassion and generosity sometimes less visible in this Parable. May our time of acting to care for each other during crisis be guided by the Spirit to the attitude of the Prodigal Father.