4th Sunday of Lent
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: March 30, 2025
If someone was to ask you about Jesus, what would you tell them? What about his teachings or his life or his identity would you share? One thing we could tell them about Jesus is what the Pharisees criticize him for in the Gospel today. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” We could say to someone who wants to know about Jesus, that he “welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
When someone criticizes the church saying that they do not go to Mass because there are hypocrites there, or when someone says certain people should not be at church because they are bad sinners, this line about Jesus stands out for me. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
In fact, it should be a compliment if someone accuses us of welcoming sinners and eating with them! In fact, that is what we are doing right now. During this time of Lent, throughout the world and in our parish, there are many adults who are preparing to enter the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.
What should someone know in order to become Catholic? Perhaps they should know certain common prayers, know about the sacraments, Catholic moral teachings, the bible, key doctrines such as the Trinity, to know about Jesus, and so on.
I would say that knowing all of these things is important but useless unless they know one key thing in their heart. That they are loved by God, that they are a beloved child of God. Also, that all their fellow human beings are their brothers and sisters. Have they embraced the vision of God that Jesus reveals in this parable of the Prodigal Son? Jesus is saying that God is like the loving, merciful father in this parable who is always ready to receive us. We are to live as beloved children of God and as brothers and sisters to one another.
Some of you will plan to go to the Sacrament of Confession during Lent, before Easter. If so, go there being ready to meet the mercy of God in the Father revealed in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Before Confession, usually people will prepare by doing an examination of conscience. There are many different types of these. But, one basic question for an examination of conscience is rooted in this parable. Is there any person that you refuse to see as a brother or sister? Is there any group of people that you are unwilling to see as brothers and sisters?
The Pharisees criticized Jesus, saying that he “welcomed sinners and ate with them.” It is a good thing if people say about us, “They welcome sinners and eat with them.”
