The ever-present phenomenon of the “prodigal son” (Luke 15:1, 11-32)
To personally experience your sin before the face of your kind God the Father.

If we were to describe it, our life would make a pretty thick book. And what about its contents? For example, relationships, views, attitudes, opinions… We find it hard to admit that we are wrong. Others harm us, don’t wish us, don’t wish us, envy us… We are indulgent towards ourselves; we talk about being entitled, we say that we belong… But we seem to have different eyes on others, we also speak differently about others, we are no longer so gracious, kind, forgiving… And when we examine our hearts, how much love is there for God and neighbor, and how much for ourselves? We reflect on ourselves! Let us be honest with ourselves, and we will be surprised. Let us do something similar today on this fourth Sunday of Lent.

For the Pharisees and scribes murmured over Jesus’ behavior: “This one receives sinners and eats with them.” (Lk 15:2). “A certain man had two sons.” (Lk 15:11).

This pericope is one of the most famous parts of the Gospels—several biblical scholars, e.g., A. Julicher or scholars, have called this text “the gospel within the gospel.” The parable of the prodigal son has always been a focus of attention, not only in the spiritual, spiritual, mystical realm, but also in the artistic, sculptural, and so on. What is so brilliant about this parable? It can also be expressed like this: The Lord Jesus compared our God to a “good father.” That is why many call the parable the parable of the “best father.” The fact that two sons are featured in the text is an age-old problem of all time. That is why the parable continues to have our attention today. The fates and characters of the two sons serve only to bring out the greatness of the “good father.” Nowhere did the Lord Jesus show us God the Father so clearly and now. Whoever pays just a little attention to the words of Jesus discovers again and again what he has learned and recognizes even his reality of life. In this Gospel, our destinies come alive, and love begins to come alive in us. The parable sums up the whole history of man. Jesus introduces his Father and our Father and tells of the two sons that we humans are.
When the younger son thinks that his father’s thresholds limit him, the principles of family life seem difficult and unpleasant, and life itself not attractive enough, he wants to leave. Interestingly, the father does not restrain the son too much by retreating from moral principles, making promises, making excuses, and plotting something for him. He doesn’t even say goodbye to his son as if they were never to meet again, but as if they would be together tomorrow. And that without anger, cursing and insults. As he leaves his son, the father says My son; if you get sick, if the world makes you sad, if something terrible occurs, you can always count on me. I will be waiting for you even if you compromise yourself, become wholly despised, even if everyone abandons you… even then, you remain my son and I your father. Come! The father senses foresee what will follow and gives him a portion of the property that belongs to the son. The son goes where he does not return quickly and easily. He has gone to a strange environment, among strange people. There is a picture of sin in the son’s distance from the father, as man distances himself from God when he sins. “Home is only home,” says the proverb, but “there” means far from home, where life is hard. Without God, life is hard, even if one has everything: friends, material goods… One remembers “father’s house” when there is nothing left of what one considered valuable, necessary, beautiful in the world. When all the people have left him and his health, his achievements… For many, this is the moment before death. Many call it grace. Man, in his resistance to God, will try anything and everything. He does not want God. The loss of love, and especially pride, prevents man from returning, from acknowledging his mistake, his error, his fall… …and so he gives himself to a new and further service to evil and sin, and finds himself in even greater filth, more filth, more filth, more filth… He does not realize it, but there is total humiliation. The Lord Jesus describes this condition with the son’s image being put into service as a herdsman of swine. But as if that were not enough humiliation, he has nothing to satisfy his hunger. To the Jews, the jerk symbolizes the greatest wickedness, both physical and moral. Here the turning point occurs. What until recently, he understood as happiness brings incredible pain. These words point to the reality of what and where sin brings us. Only now does one begin to realize what he has lost, what he has not valued at home, what he has despised. He realizes his guilt and experiences remorse that he no longer deserves to be called a son because he is reliving what he did to offend his father when he left him. And it is the father’s love that is to be understood as his gift: inside, in the son’s heart, it will evoke the strength to return to the father. Although the son’s reason and compassion say that he has no right to call himself a son, at least he will be close to the father. The proximity to the father’s house will provide what he did not value. Thus, returning to the father is a change of the previous life, of the philosophy of life. This change must touch the bottom of the soul of man. What Jesus goes on subtly pronouncing becomes a light and a warmth, which cannot. keep the boundaries of the world growing up to the Kingdom of God. A father’s behavior outgrows the greatest and boldest expectations. The father waits impatiently for the son’s return. The father does not greet the son with shouting, anger, or reproach. On the contrary, already in the distance, he sees the son. The closer the son is, the more the father’s forgiveness towards him grows, which he does not yet know. The son thinks that he is going to the father, but the father is running, hurrying to greet the sun. The father will do everything he can to make it as easy as possible for the son when they meet. The father embraces the son and kisses him, which is a sign of forgiveness, forgetting, not remembering what was, and all for the father’s love. The son began his prepared confession, “Father, I have sinned… I am no longer worthy of being called your son.” (Luke 15:18-19), but the father did not allow him to finish because he gave the order to the servants, “Quickly bring the best clothes and clothe him! Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet! Bring a fated calf and kill it. Let us eat and feast merrily…” (Luke 15:22-23). The father restores the lost rank and accepts him into the family as a son to the son. The command to feast tells how the father evaluates the son’s return. He does not blame or remind him of anything; on the contrary, an atmosphere of jocularity is created, and he rejoices in the son’s return.

We have all more or less found ourselves in about the prodigal son. By sin, we have distanced ourselves from the father. The father was still waiting for us. Even when we walked away from him, Father did not give up on us. In the same way, he helps us when we return. And we are to remember what awaits us when we return. Isn’t this a timely thing for us in Lent? It is the desire of God that we should forsake sin and return to Him.

We feel the significance of the parable even in what cannot be put into words: Have you sinned? Sin no more! Yes, we have betrayed, so we want to be faithful no longer. We have left God, but we want to stay with him permanently. We realize the greatness of God’s love that the Father will wait for us until the last moment to return. He reminds us with a parable that we will not escape his love.
In the same way, we realize that we must not behave like the second son who is offended by the father’s goodness. Though he has not fled bodily from his father, his heart is not like his father’s heart. We need to be careful of our behavior so that we do not condemn anyone whom the father forgives. On the contrary, we want to follow the father in love. We must not forget that we do not know when the last minute of our life will be. We must not presume to rely on the mercy of our Father. It is fitting that as a former prodigal son, I want to rejoice again in the symbols we have received: the ring, which symbolizes that we are sons again the shoes symbolize that we are free again, we are no longer enslaved to sin the clothes represent that we are in the right place. The return on our part is to be marked by our conviction that we no longer want to renounce the Father and want to live in His presence permanently. Then the new life brings us more of God’s grace.
A Spanish proverb says: “If your house is on fire, warm yourself by it.” May it mean that having understood today’s parable, we would like to implement it as faithfully as possible in our lives.
We may also be reminded of this in a passage from The Sower Sows Seeds – A Memoir of Thomas Edison, whose laboratory was destroyed by fire in December 1914. Although the damage amounted to more than two million dollars, the building was insured for only $238,000 because it was built of concrete to be fireproof. Most of Edison’s life’s work ended up in a massive fire that December night. In the heat of the flames, in the smoke and debris, Charles, Edison’s twenty-four-year-old son, is searching for his father. His father stood wordlessly watching the whole scene when he finally found him. His face was alight with fire, though, and memory, and his white hair blowing in the wind. “My heart aches for him,” said Charles. “He’s sixty-seven years old-he’s not the youngest any more-and the fire has taken everything from him.” When he saw me, he screamed: “Charles, where’s the mother?” When I told him I had no idea, he ordered me: “Look for her and bring her here! She’ll never see anything like this again in her life.” The following day Edison looked at the ruins and said: “This misfortune is of great value to us. All our mistakes have burned in the fire. Thank God, now we can start anew. Three weeks after the fire, Edison handed in his patent for the first phonograph.
God showed us in a parable that we must take advantage of the new grace of forgiveness. It is a remembrance.

Our lives can be compared to a novel. However, when we meet God the Judge, we must end it that we will belong wholly and entirely to God. To be God’s and God’s alone.

God chose as the human mother of His Son a humble Nazarene girl – the Virgin Mary. Surprised at this announcement, Mary asks the angel: “How does this happen?” The angel explains to her that it will happen by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Highest, “to whom nothing is impossible.” The Virgin Mary knows from Isaiah’s predictions that the Messiah will be a man of sorrow. And for his sake, she will have to leave her Nazarene home to grieve for him and with him. She knows that this exaltation will be great but very painful at the same time. But when God asks for it, he gives his consent without hesitation. I am the Lord’s servant: “I am the Lord’s servant, let it be done to me according to your word.”

How important are these words of Our Lady! The eternal plan of God’s will was the redemption of humanity from sin. For this purpose, God chose the nation of Israel, from whom the Redeemer was to arise. He sent prophets to awaken in their faith in the coming of the Messiah who was to come “for the enlightenment of the Gentiles and the glory of the people of Israel.” And when the fullness of time had come, God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to announce to her the Incarnation of the Redeemer of the world. And the Virgin Mary takes the right attitude, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word!” These words of hers, spoken in the quiet house of Nazareth, foreshadowed the fulfillment of God’s will throughout her life! Faithful to her word, she accepts without reservation every manifestation of God’s will and every circumstance that God permits. From the birth of the Savior to the cross of Calvary. The Lord entrusted her with the task and therefore gave her the strength and the abilities she needed. That is why God, through the mouth of the angel, utters the assurance, “Do not be afraid, Mary … The Lord is with you!”

Each of us has our perspectives, our plans, and our dreams. But we also have our annunciations by which God intervenes in our lives from time to time, and He wants us to conform to His plan. He doesn’t use an angel to do that. Often it is our conscience, a book, a friend, an event. He announces and waits. We can decide. We can also refuse. But we can’t make the excuse that God has to choose someone else; as long as it’s us, He’s asking. The Lord God may find another man to fulfill His purpose, but we will not find another God for our salvation … And that is why the Virgin Mary is an excellent example to us in doing God’s will.

An old legend was recorded in the old readings about how God wanted to help a man who only fed himself by hunting and often went hungry. He, thus, showered him with wheat from heaven. But before the man could understand God’s gift, the devil pounced on the grain. He ground the grain furiously among the stones, and what he did not crush, he buried it in the ground and poured water over it so that it would rot. But the man took the wet flour from the grain ground by the devil, laid it on the hot stone, and baked the first bread. The buried and watered wheat sprang up, and the man learned to sow and reap it. And so, the devil, who wanted to destroy God’s gift, helped God’s purpose. The legend expresses what our people today lack and what our ancestors could do: believe in God’s providence. No one destroys or thwarts God’s purposes. Thy will be done! This is the strength, the courage that brings peace into our lives and in our every decision. Even when the intentions of God’s will are not immediately apparent and understandable to us, when we realize that God is always with us and by our side, that He is an invisible but practical helper in every task He calls us to, our decisions can be easy. “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”

One who embarks on a spiritual journey is constantly evolving, and he becomes aware of two contrasting facts over time: not the ultimate is distant and yet near. First, he experiences more and more that God is a mystery. He is entirely different, holy, invisible, incomprehensible, utterly transcendent, in all words, beyond the possibility of understanding. “A child just born,” writes the Roman Catholic writer Georg e Tyrrel “knows as much about the world and its ways as the most – wisest among us can know of God and the..who rules over heaven and earth, time and eternity.” A Christian living in the Orthodox tradition will be completely comfortable with this agreement. The Greek Fathers pointed out, “The God we can understand is not God.” For the God whom we would dare to comprehend exhaustively through the use of our reason will be nothing more but an idol, a thing of our imagination. Such a God is totally unlike the true and living God of the Bible. Man is made in the image of God, not in the image of God.
And then it is also essential that this God of mystery is still uniquely open to us, filling all thought. And always present in us, around us, and with us. We are not offered only in the atmosphere or by his power, but personally. God, who is infinitely beyond our understanding, is with us. He calls each of us by name, and we between the transcendent God and us is a relationship of love, similar to each of us to those dear to us. We know other people only through our love for them and through their love for us. The latter is also …with God. In the words of Nicholas Kabbalah..: God, our King, is more loving than any friend, more just than any ruler, more loving than a father, more a part of ourselves than our members, and more indispensable to us than our hearts.
These are, then, the two poles of the human experience of the divine. God is more distant and closer to us than anything, and paradoxically, we discover that these two poles are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, the more we are attracted to one, the more clearly we are aware of another. As we follow this path, we discover that God is becoming more and more intimate, but also more distant, more familiar, and more unfamiliar – familiar to a small child, not understood.
To the most brilliant theologians. God dwells in inaccessible light, and the man stands in his presence with loving confidence and addresses him as a friend. God is both the end of things and their beginning. He is the open arms that welcome us at the end of the pilgrimage and the companion who walks to guide us every step of the way. As Nicholas Kabasila describes, “God is the shelter in which we rest at night and the final destination of our journey.” God is a mystery, yet a person: look at these facts.

Who can count how many lives have been lost by, for example, overestimating the skills of a car driver? Who will calculate how much is added to the cost of underestimating safety regulations? It is often too late after an accident, after a mishap, so we must prevent it.
And this is not only true in the workplace on the roads, but we also have to be aware of this in the spiritual realm when it comes to our salvation, and this is what the Gospel warns us about.

A heavy accusation has been leveled at the Lord Jesus. He is suspected of collaborating with the powers of evil – with the devil.

A superficial glance at today’s Gospel text is not enough. We all feel that the Lord Jesus has a lot at stake in the Gospel, so let us reflect on his actions. It is an indisputable fact that there is a struggle between the power of good and the power of evil. This struggle has its roots in the creation of the first man. The devil triumphed then over the first men, and he desires to triumph over us. Our mission, however, is to overcome evil with the help of the Lord Jesus. So he tells us. He is interested in everyone, whether someone wishes him well or ill, whether someone loves him or hates him, whether someone wants to compromise him or show him respect.

The Pharisees of the gospel want to compromise Jesus. They couldn’t stand his popularity, so they were looking for a way to get rid of him. Therefore, they invent that he casts out evil spirits with the help of Beelzebul. This is also the main idea of the Gospel: that Jesus is working with the devil. Jesus supposedly gets his power and strength from him.
How did the Lord Jesus respond to this? First of all, we must realize that the Lord Jesus affirms that the evil spirit exists, and therefore, we cannot underestimate it. Just as it is good, there is also wrong. We see this in various events and forms. In paradise, the devil appears in the form of a serpent to lead man to sin. We do not know in what form the devil tempted the Lord Jesus during the forty-day fast. One thing is sure; he wanted to induce him to pride. We see how the Lord Jesus responded to this. He taught us that we must not discuss with the devil. We must follow him in what Jesus told him: “Depart Satan, for it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Mt. 4:10).

The devil does not stop acting. St. Peter instructs us in his First Letter: “Be sober and watch! Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).
Therefore, we cannot treat this lightly and rashly. If he cannot do something himself, he will use his resources and people to do it. He is very consistent and persistent. If we drive him away once, he comes back a thousand times and will undertake everything to take his sacrifice, to achieve his victory.

Nowadays, evil is so often offered under the guise of good. For example, you buy a good quality product and find that you have been deceived. The result? Vigilance!

Some people can even say that what the Church teaches is not valid in our faith. Supposedly, each person can have their morals and does not have to keep the Ten Commandments. Some even claim that whatever is good for us is good. How perverse such thinking is! The devil hides what the Lord Jesus said: “He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, wasteth away.” (Mt. 12:30). It is impossible to be a friend of Christ and the devil simultaneously. Everyone must choose one or the other. But we must be able to choose Christ in every situation and act as Christ would work in our place.

In His conversation with the Pharisees, the Lord Jesus used logic in practice. First, He showed them that His works were vehicles of good, that He wanted to save people not only from physical death but also from spiritual death. An evil spirit will never enrich us with interest. And therefore, Christ cannot act in his name and therefore by his power. He is, after all, more powerful than the devil. For we also know from the words of St. Mark: “… when the unclean spirits saw him, they fell before him and cried out: Thou art the Son of God!” (Mk 3:11). They saw in Jesus both the Messiah and the Son of God, but unfortunately, the Pharisees did not notice this. And maybe they did notice, but they wanted to avoid acknowledging it. It’s hard sometimes to know the absolute truth when it doesn’t match our thinking.

That was and is the case today. The Pharisees ceased to exist long ago, but even today, their idea lives on, an idea invented by them that leads to erroneous views. This gospel, then, leads us to one and proper knowledge, and therefore we accept it. In the next part of Jesus’ discussion with the Pharisees, Jesus was concerned to make clear to them the error of their reasoning and use an example from life. He told them: “Every kingdom inwardly divided shall descend, and house upon house shall fall” (Luke 11:17). However, they wanted to avoid understanding. Perhaps they did understand, but they did not wish to accept this teaching; they did not dare to take his education.

Therefore, the Lord Jesus was for them a crucible of unrest. They wanted to avoid humbling themselves and avoid confessing their error openly, so they chose a pretense, deceit, falsehood instead. That is why they turned away from Christ. Hardheartedness became for them a hotbed of sins against the Holy Spirit. And this is consistent with the teaching of the Lord Jesus that this sin will not be forgiven either in this life or in the life to come.

Not because the Lord Jesus wants to avoid forgiving, but because those who commit it are so caught up in their hardness that they do not accept God’s mercy, forgiveness.

A priest told of a parishioner of his who was a good, honest man, but he attacked the Church very much, although he had convinced himself many times that he was doing wrong. He often told his wife that he regretted it, said that he would confess, and committed suicide. Several knew that he couldn’t cope with himself and was worrying himself, but he wanted to avoid admitting that he was wrong.

Let us acknowledge the power of the Lord Jesus, bow our knees, and ask for strength for the rest of our lives.

Many people have fallen prey to underestimating the teachings of Christ. Let us not underestimate his teachings, the sacraments, the value of the Holy Mass! Those who mock or publicly attack, and are not truly convinced of their truth, let them beware and let us pray for them.

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Knowing God by reason does not mean having faith in the Christian sense of the word. Knowing God is only a prerequisite for faith. Faith is a gift we receive. Faith is an act of the whole personality. The Christian faith presupposes that one asks questions about the meaning of life, where we are from, where we are going. The basis for faith is in the person himself. Religion for man is not something external but something internal. Man is first open to faith, questioning, and searching; only then can he find answers to accept truths and grace. Religion always points to God as the ultimate foundation and meaning of our life. Complete religion, and such is Christianity, lives than with a supernatural faith. Before faith, however, there already exists in us specific knowledge and awareness that God exists. This knowledge that precedes faith is the pre-Christian heritage. Neither Christ nor the apostles wanted blind faith. Christ counseled to search the Scriptures to see if the prophecies are fulfilled therein. John 5:39. St. Paul encouraged believers to examine all things, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and urged reasonable faith.

We live in a time when new laws are being made almost daily, or yesterday’s laws are being amended. New groups of experts are emerging to explore different sectors. New laws, rules, and regulations are being invented. Everything is acceptable to the extent that it serves the well-being and satisfaction of all of us, not individuals or smaller groups. This is also true of religious activity.

The Lord Jesus says in the Gospel: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them” (Mt 5:17).

According to the Evangelist Matthew, we are to understand the Law as an expression of God’s will. In this sense, the Law cannot be abolished but only realized. The Law and the Prophets mean that God’s commandments rest on the commandment of love for God and neighbor. Therefore, where love is taught, the Law is rightly interpreted, which is why St. Paul says that love is the fulfillment of the Law.

We know from the Gospel that Jesus taught us that all the commands and laws and ordinances in the sphere of religion express only one command: To love God and neighbor. Those commands and regulations that lead to this are good and cannot be abolished, but on the contrary, rules that move away from love or make it more difficult to exercise it must be abandoned.

After the Second Vatican Council, many prescriptions were abolished to put love into better practice in life. Therefore, the traditionalists who reject the post-conciliar changes are not correct; in other words, they want to avoid putting the Law in a new spirit.
Let us remember Archbishop Lefebvre, who consecrated new bishops at Elkon without the permission of Rome, and the Pope, who, like him, are opposed to the fact that everyone can celebrate Mass and the sacraments in his language. He advocated that the Latin language should remain.
Yet we see that celebrating Mass in an intelligible language helps us love the Lord God more. On the other hand, the progressives who want to change everything for false freedom, who would like to abolish the Law, are not right either.
During the Vatican Council, there was also talk of a Church decree that does not allow married priests in our Roman Rite to celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments. That priest should not marry is not God’s law but the Church’s.
Before the Holy Father and the bishops, these progressives, especially in the Netherlands and the West, would consent or make any statement; some priests married in advance. Thus, they abolished the Law of Love because it was instituted by the Church, not for disputes of property, as the enemies of the Church teach and say, but so that neither the priest nor his wife, his own family, should stand in the way of the priest fulfilling his duties as a priest, who is to take care to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, the teachings of love. Thus, neither the strict traditionalists nor the neopagan-progressives are correct.

In the Church, Jesus Christ, represented by the visible head of the Church, the Pope, is correct. When our ecclesiastical hierarchy, guided by the Holy Spirit, decrees something, we accept it and trust that it will bring the appropriate blessing to us.

Therefore, let us all strive to fulfill God’s and the Church’s commandments so conscientiously and honestly as to spread the love of God within us. Consequently, we must not abrogate even the most minor commandment or bypass it out of the conviction that it is nothing because the Lord Jesus tells us: “Whosoever, therefore, shall abolish one of these commandments, even the least of these, and so teach men, the same shall be least in the kingdom of heaven” (Lk. 5:19). Therefore, we want to keep even the most minor commandment to obtain a higher degree of eternal bliss.

We want, therefore, to follow Jesus even more faithfully in this Lenten season so that we may learn from him, as our Master and Teacher, to truly love God above all things because love will conquer, and he who spreads love will also be rewarded.

Even though we live in a time of constant movement, when new laws are being created, let us always keep in mind that they will serve us for the salvation of our souls.

Forgiveness. One word – and what it can evoke in the heart of each of us. Is there anyone who does not need forgiveness? A man of years says to his wife, who reminds him of his confession, “I didn’t kill anyone, I didn’t steal anything from anyone, I’m faithful to you.” We quickly forget. We remember only what we want, what suits us, and we notice the worse in others rather than, the better.

The doctor discovers that the boy suffers from a strange disease: he is afraid of his father. The boy has everything, more than his friends, but the father punishes him for everything and at once. He has not yet heard, has not yet experienced forgiveness. For years, the wife has been throwing it in her husband’s face that his parents have not given him everything they promised. The neighbor has been pleading with the neighbor for years, even though he is older, to forgive their family for being willing to make things right. The unwillingness to forgive others for what they have done to us in reality, or only in our imaginations, acts as a poison that destroys physical and spiritual health, sometimes to incredible depths.

Why do we say: “I forgive, but I cannot forget?” Even at Mass, we will say to God and our neighbors, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive our trespasses.” Why is it difficult to say: forgive, forgive, forget, and in the same way: I forgive, I don’t think about it anymore, I have forgotten, it is all right now, let us love each other, after all, we are believers, we are siblings, friends, neighbors. Forgiveness. Is it still actual to be able to forgive and accept forgiveness?

Let us ask Jesus, together with the Apostle Peter, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Perhaps seven times?” (Mt. 18:21). Every person must pass the test of love, not only towards God but also towards his neighbor and himself. We do not deserve eternal life’s reward if we love only God and fail to forgive our neighbor and even ourselves. This is not the apostle Peter’s problem. He knows that he is to forgive his brother often. The number `seven times` is a number representing many. Jesus rejects this apparent good-heartedness. Jesus does not narrow or limit the obligation to forgive. Jesus’ answer is clear: “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Mt. 18:22). Jesus does not condition forgiveness on the number of the brother’s offenses. The numeral “77” means `constantly.` With the story of the two debtors, Jesus wants to show not only the method and principles of forgiveness but also that forgiveness must be done quickly. In the behavior of the servant and the fellow servant, Jesus wants to point out the love of God for people, how merciful God is to us, always willing to forgive our sins when we ask him for mercy. ***** also wants to point out that we should forgive one another. Jesus presents himself in the story as `the pure king’ and then as `the Lord’. “A `servant’ is each of us in relationship to God. “A `fellow servant’ is every brother and sister to us. What things we have already borrowed from God! Or do we have life, health, talents, gifts of our own? No! What are the numbers already, and how do we treat the borrowed? The servant in the gospel was indebted with ten thousand talents, which is about 360 thousand kilograms of silver. Who will say that this is not enough?

Jesus wants to remind us by this that we are obligated to have a relationship of reverence, gratitude, and love towards God. The servant realizes this when he falls on his knees and asks for time to pay the debt. We, too, must behave responsibly toward God. Do any of us know when we will die? Is everything all right in our lives? We get warnings from God: accident, illness, failure… and then we know how to ask God, we promise to improve things. When we are serious about returning to God, we often experience God’s love God’s forgiveness. How quickly, however, we often forget what we have promised God. For example, after healing, success, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And how do we treat a fellow servant – a brother or sister? Do we appeal to truth or justice? We cannot forgive, we cannot forget, we want to avoid ignoring. We judge and condemn. When Jesus contrasts the ten thousand talents of the servant and the one talent of the fellow servant, he would like to point to God’s forgiveness and the obligation to be able to forgive. We want to make ourselves righteous, and we don’t know how to forgive. God not only wants us to have a heart for Him but also our neighbors. Our relationship of love for our neighbors is the most beautiful response to God’s love for us.

At the end of the parable, Jesus presents what we will not miss: the just punishment if we ask God for mercy, for forgiveness, and would not be merciful and forgive one another. Wasted grace provokes judgment. God’s grace turns into God’s wrath. How profound are Jesus’ words about forgiving one another! The petition’s reversal from the `Repentance’ prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our trespasses.” You, Lord, have forgiven us our trespasses. Therefore, we also forgive those who have become our debtors.

We often wish each other happiness and peace when we meet. It is natural because only in an atmosphere of peace and happiness can a person live an extraordinary life. However, we can take this idea even further. We know that peace, happiness, love are God’s attributes. Where we find perfect peace, happiness, love, we see God. Then, too, the removal of all that does not allow these qualities to enter into life is a journey towards God. The parable of the unmerciful servant touches on one of those obstacles that we can overcome by learning to forgive generously.
Forgiveness is not easy. People usually regard forgiving and forgetting an offense as something unnatural, something that dulls their dignity and honor. It is not easy for us Christians, either. We usually silence remorse in this way: “I have forgiven…but not forgotten!” But that is not the forgiveness God expects of us. We know this ourselves, for such forgiveness does not drive out anger and the desire for revenge from the heart. Generous forgiveness that forgets offenses is a sign of an excellent spirit. It is a sign of the Spirit of Jesus.

When Pope John Paul II was assassinated and lay in hospital with a severe wound, the first words he said were, “I forgive the one who shot at me.” When he recovered, he visited the assassin in prison. The great leader of the Indian people’s struggle for liberation, Gandhi, was shot by a Hindu fanatic. He was dying but still wanted to see his killer forgive him. As bystanders blocked his view, he touched his chest and forehead as a sign of forgiveness. In Bremen, a 65-year-old man visited the prisoner, the murderer of his wife, children, parents, and in-laws, to offer his hand in forgiveness. In Switzerland, a lady offered help to a woman whose husband had killed her husband. Because the family had lost its breadwinner by the imprisonment of the murderer, this lady generously took care of his family. The daughter, who had forgiven her father, with whom she had not communicated for eight years, said: “The moment I forgave my father and started talking to him, I felt a peace in my heart, a joy, a sense of release, a sense of well-being that I had not known for eight years.

To forgive in a similarly generous way, we need to remember two basic facts that emerge from today’s Gospel. There is a relationship between God and man. Indeed, God always acts correctly and lovingly in this relationship. However, man innumerably distorts this relationship by various sins that seriously offend God. Such a relationship would not have a long life among men. God continually forgives us all, provided we also forgive those who trespassed against us. We are to forgive completely, generously. Can our offended dignity and honor be an obstacle to obtaining God’s forgiveness? To forgive generously is a mark of the Spirit of Jesus. It is certainly not easy, but we can learn to do it. And we can begin right this minute. Let’s try to imagine the face of the person who has wronged us and forgive him generously right now! Let’s give him a new chance. Let us not heed the protests of our offended pride. For to forgive means: to have hope of forgiveness. We learn this from Christ on the cross. We want to follow him not only in his words but also in our actions. We want to follow his words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).

This was understood by the mother of the son, who committed an act to which the father reacted by not only throwing the son out of the house, disinheriting him but not wanting to see him again in his life: “You must never cross the threshold of my house!” The son proudly responded: “I’ll never ask you to!” The mother fell ill. A family friend, a doctor, told the man: “Your wife will die if your son doesn’t come back.” The man remained a rock. The doctor himself sent a telegram, “Come at once; your mother is dying!” The son’s face paled on reading the telegram. Everything flashed vividly before his eyes as he stood at the house door. He overcame himself and entered the room where his mother lay. The latter, with an effort, seized her son’s hand on one side and her father’s on the other and joined them over her bed. The two men’s palms joined, and the mother’s hand fell beneath them. She finished reconciling father and son. They forgave each other.

The saying goes that forgiveness is the best revenge. Parents forgive their children for the worst mistakes instilled in them by their upbringing. Never is a man so beautiful as when he asks for forgiveness or excuses himself. Forgiveness does not mark the end of a war, a conflict, when it is not the actual removal of all that has caused the evil. Only then is their true forgiveness, when peace love, triumphs. We realize that it is not enough to forgive and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness must not only be hidden in the heart. Forgiveness must be expressed concretely outwardly. Therefore, we are all aware of the meaning of Christ’s words: ‘If you, therefore, bring a gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first to be reconciled to your brother; only then come and offer your gift.’ (Mt 5:23-24).

Forgiveness from God is a commitment and a responsibility for us, so much so that the merciful God casts away from Himself the one who does not want to be compassionate and does not want to forgive his brother. Today, let us know to do everything we can so that God may forgive us, too.

Anyone who has worked with people knows that it is challenging work. For kindness, help, and love, often, one gets the opposite reward – hatred, reluctance, and many forget to thank you. It is said that an unreasonable animal can appreciate man’s love more than the man himself. Perhaps these words are full of pessimism. Yes, there are also thoughtful, grateful people…

Let us learn from the actions of the Lord Jesus in today’s Gospel.

The Lord Jesus sighed sadly in the town where he had lived his whole life when his fellow Christians misunderstood his words: “Truly, I say to you: No prophet is rare in his own country” (Luke 4:25).
The Gospel passage is a continuation of how the Lord Jesus came to the little town of Nazareth after the first successes of His public ministry, where He had spent His entire childhood, youth, and early years of manhood since His return from Egypt. He had recently left Nazareth to fulfill His mission.
A few weeks were all it took for him to become known throughout the region by his words and the deeds he performed. And with the name grew the town’s fame from which he came. Indeed, the natives were curious about their fellow citizens. But it was only human curiosity. Jesus did not teach and perform miracles for his glory, as people in general do. His mission in life was to teach people and prepare them for the way to new life. After all, the nation was waiting for the Messiah.

But Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath, as an adult Jew who had the right to read and interpret the text of the Law, was not going to stand out among his fellow citizens. When he read a portion from the book of Isaiah the prophet, he said only one sentence, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled which you have just heard” (Luke 4:21). The words he had just read spoke of the future Messiah the nation was awaiting, who was himself. He proved it in a short time by his words and deeds. These words were meant to ask them to be even more happy and proud of their native son, who is the awaited Messiah.
And the attitude of the people of Nazareth? The opposite. Although they rejoice at the kind words he spoke, they misunderstand and ask themselves, “Is this not the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4:22). They knew the parents of Jesus, but nothing more. God had not revealed the mystery to them. However, they had the opportunity to see the truthfulness of Jesus’ words for themselves, for he would point out to them an old problem. Although the nation now recognized Elijah and Elisha, when these prophets carried out the commands given by God, the government did not accept them. The country had no genuine faith, so these prophets worked their wonders among the Gentiles.

That is why the incident of how Elijah helped a Gentile woman from Zarephath, who showed faith towards Elijah by first baking him a cake out of the last of the flour and oil, is mentioned to them. Similarly, it was the faith of Naaman of Syria who, on the advice of the prophet Elisha, bathed in the Jordan River and was cured of his sickness. In both cases, faith brought benefit.

This lesson was not borne by the inhabitants of Nazareth from their native, for they lacked this very faith, and therefore not only did they not accept him, but they still drove him out of the city and wanted to kill him.

This is not what God wants. His hour has not yet come; he has not yet completed his mission. We should pause over this event, primarily the actions of Jesus’ ancestors. Why? The Gospel has been preached to us. We have received it; we glory in it; perhaps we are fore-saved, redeemed, but beware! Do we live by it too? If not, many things are rightly thrown before our eyes by those who do not believe in God. We can be indignant when our faith is dulled. What about our life? Does it speak of the love of Christ? They have not believed, they have not encountered the teaching as we have, that the teaching of Jesus is love. They see our beliefs as an ideological enemy; they defend their unbelief, so let’s not be so surprised. We must not only accept the teachings of Christ but live them.

A person who does not believe in God and rejects everything connected with God, who has reserved views about the Church, will change his mind when he sees how the nuns took care of his mother in the institution and when he wants to give them an envelope, they discreetly refused it with a smile. And this was what convinced him of something and more than what he had been taught.

Original sin had made love-hate. Cain kills his brother Abel right at the start. It was confirmed in the Old Testament: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! But Jesus taught: Thou shalt love… your neighbor as yourself…

Unless he believed in Jesus Christ, Paul the Apostle persecuted his followers. And yet, he thinks he’s doing the right thing. But when he meets Christ, he also writes these words to the Corinthians, “If I spoke with the tongues of men and angels, and had not to love, I should be as tinkling metal and a clanging cymbal.” (1 Cor. 13:1). In this way, Paul shows the perfect way of life he learned from Jesus and which Jesus’ fellow citizens wanted to avoid following.

To this, one of the most beautiful parts of Holy Scripture, we may give the title Hymn in Honor of Love.

The way of love truly surpasses all other forms. The truth is that love is the most necessary message for us humans. It is up to people how they approach it. We all need love. We want to give it to others and often do not have it ourselves. The way we are loved and how we can show love to others determines our inner balance and the quality of our spiritual life.

What Paul means to say in his words is what Jesus’ fellow citizens lacked and what he lacked after the gate of Damascus. It was love.
But love for Christ must fill our whole hearts. We must not save even the last corner for something else. Otherwise, it is only to our detriment. St. Paul says that we are to put our whole heart at the disposal of love. It sounds nice, but it must also be put into practice. It is not enough to show it in words; it is not enough to have a strong faith in knowledge. I would be nothing if I could carry even mountains and had no love. It is not enough to have compassion, to give away possessions; it is not enough to give my body because all this without love would not make me happy. Love will never cease.

Paul writes: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I knew as a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I left behind childlike ways” (1 Cor. 13:11).
With these words, Paul speaks of his spiritual growth as he matured in the knowledge that if he would do anything but without love, it was of little value. Now he is a man because he has understood the meaning, the power of love, which moves mountains according to Christ’s words.
But Paul says that only a life affirmed by love, all that we do, all that we live, is entitled to a reward. However, he often experienced that people do not reciprocate love on the contrary. This must not frustrate us because we expect a tip from the One who is Love, whom we will one day see face to face. Though there are instances that we are rewarded for love already here on earth, that is only a partial reward. God one day wants to give the prize in perfect knowledge in His presence.

We must not act in our lives like the ancestors of Jesus of Nazareth. Let us not look at our faith with human eyes alone. Let us not regard our life as a matter to be ended only by death. We believe in life eternal. And we are to begin living that eternal life here on earth, in an environment laden with sin and unloved. By loving and fighting against corruption, we are to accept Jesus already here on earth as our God, our reward, our goal in life. How many times have we been convinced, like the widow of Zarephath, when we obeyed the words of the prophet-Church, that we were not only happy but prosperous. How many times have we been convinced in our flesh when, like Naaman of Syria, we plunged, not into water, but tears of remorse and repentance for our sins, that we were not only clean again but happier? Our motives, however, had to be imbued with love.

Faith is not the fear of God, as those who do not understand often think. Faith is the response of love to love, even though ours is very weak imperfect. Those who know the life of at least one convert, a person who has indeed found the way to God, can see the power of love for God.

The biography of André M. Ampère is undoubtedly familiar to students. He is a world-famous French mathematician and physicist. At the age of 18, he was one of the world’s geniuses. An explorer, a member of the Academy. His name is associated with electric current – the unit of the intensity of electric current – the ampere. But he had a tough life. Although he was a fervent Catholic in his youth, he soon lost his faith. Heavy losses, exile, and his father’s death, his wife… The internal struggle, mental contradictions. He writes: “I carry a real hell in my heart. No one even knows what is going on inside me. Nobody can comfort me.” And elsewhere, he writes again: “The world envies my fame. God lets me know that everything is vanity except His glory. The son Jean-Jacques has become a rogue and a pervert. Daughter Albine married an alcoholic and a psychopath. And God gives him the meaning of life. In the spring of 1836, in Marseilles, Ampère fell ill with encephalitis. When he was warned to receive the sacraments, he calmly said he had already done so in Paris before leaving. When they wanted to read to him from Kempenski’s little book On the Following of Christ, Ampère declared that they should not bother, for he knew the whole book by heart. He languished on his deathbed for a long time. He chose his inscription for his grave. Only two Latin words: “Tandem Felix!” – “Happy at last!” He deserves respect from us Christians. He showed us the connection between faith and science. What about us?

Ampère has not tasted much love from his children and surroundings, yet, even after difficult inner struggles, he has achieved that love has prevailed in him.
Let us learn from Christ to overcome evil hatred. Let us know to rise above those who have not grown in returning love. Jesus also died for his fellow citizens, though they wanted to kill him. Let us forgive again and again anyone who has misunderstood love. 

Justice has many duties. Because it balances sand guides, it takes even seemingly contradictory positions. Aristotle compares it to the pupil and the bedside table. It is the same star, yet it announces day at one time and night at another. Once asks that everything be divided equally (scholastic ethics calls it iustitia commutative), significant consideration must be given to the person, his past, the nature of the need (iustitia distributive). Social justice deserves particular study to maintain the right balance between conditions and classes of human society and those who work there.
According to Plato, justice is primarily needed to balance the inner spiritual life so that one virtue is not detrimental to another. Without justice, even Christian love. It is said that love is more important and higher than justice. Conversely, the poorly paid workers in the last century cried out that they did not care for the pet of their employers, that they wanted justice, and they refused extra pay in the form of gifts. No Christian doubts that perfection is in love. Justice, however, is a way of loving one’s neighbor to realize. It is undoubtedly impossible to be unjust and still want to “show love.” Both Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas understood this. Both put justice before other virtues because it benefits other people. It is an expression of love for one’s neighbor.
Therefore, justice was pursued above all by those who had the welfare of society, of the state, in mind. Thus, e.g., Emperor Alexander Severus is said never to have dared to pronounce a decision before twenty legal experts …had given his judgment. When he learned that some judge …he is said to have blinded him with his hand. To encourage the youth, an example was read of a Greek legislator of Leuki Zephyr, who prescribed the punishment of blinding for adultery. However, his son was caught. He was to be overwhelmed. But the people rebelled; they didn’t want a blind heir to the throne. Finally …the ruler softened enough to have one eye gouged out of his son and the other out of himself. However, even the Romans were aware that this would go too far. A proverb arose: “The greatest justice is usually the greatest injustice” (Summum ius summa iniuria). If we rigorously apply just laws, we show love to society. Unfortunately, in our social order, it quickly happens that the good of the whole is to the great detriment of the individual. Laws that mercilessly apply could make the state a monster that devours its children. If therefore, justice is supplemented by mercy, as it is said, it is not harming justice but helping it be better carried out.