There is no Christianity without love and forgiveness!  There is no true Christian love that does not include mercy and forgiveness.  In the gospel parable of the so called ‘Prodigal Son’, Jesus reveals the nature of God as unconditional love and compassion.  And this revelation is what he incarnated in his life, death, and resurrection…He continues to incarnate this love now, within our hearts as they are converted, meaning changed, to being opened wider than wide!

Pope Francis said: “Let’s consider a big obstacle to change, the existential myopia that allows us defensively to select what we see. Existential myopia is always about holding on to something we’re afraid to let go of” (Let Us Dream, p.18). Repentance is about change, about turning from an attitude or a view that is short-sighted, rigid, filled with fear, that in the Pope’s words ‘allows us to defensively select what we see’…

There are two pericopes in today’s gospel.  The second is a parable and could be seen as a symbolic commentary on the first pericope.  Jesus taught most often in parables.  A parable contains metaphors, which communicate a deeper spiritual message. The metaphors Jesus often used to bring forth his teaching were images of farming and growth. 

Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Saint Apollinaris (martyr 1st or 2nd century)

Readings of the Day:
RB: Ch 41 The Times for Community Meals
Mass: Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8; Resp Ps (Is 38); Mt 12:1-8


Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord:'O Lord, remember how fa

Readings of the day: RB 23 Faults Which Deserve Excommunication; RB 24 Different Degrees of ExcommunicationMass: Jr 17:5-10; Resp Ps 1; Lk 16:19-21

I the Lord test the mind and search the heart,to give all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.(Jr 17:10)
The fo