It is said that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. The saint of the day, St. Theresa of Child Jesus, also had bitter days when she was a child. She felt fragile, both physically and psychologically. Even simple things made her emotionally upset and cry aloud. In 1886, when she was 14, she had a profound God experience. After the midnight Christmas Mass, she felt that the shadows of self-doubt, depression, and uncertainty lifted from her. He felt that she was blessed with a calm and serene inner disposition. Thus, her ten-year struggle came to an end. She expresses this personal transformation in these words: “My heart was filled with charity. I forgot myself to please others and, in doing so, became happy myself.” Her desire to enter Carmel was kindled all the more in her. In 1887, she had a vision during the Mass: standing at the foot of the cross, she collected the blood of Christ and gave it to the souls. She felt that her prayers and sufferings would bring souls close to Jesus, and she asked Jesus to give her some signs, and he did it.
There was a criminal, Henri Pranzini, condemned to guillotine for killing two women and a child. As per the police report, the convicted man did not show any sign of remorse or repentance. Therese started to pray with fervour for the conversion of Pranzini. She prayed for weeks and offered her Mass and little sacrifices for the conversion of this man, but apparently no external changes were reported. The newspaper La Croix, in describing Pranzini’s execution, noted the man refused to go for confession. On September 1, 1887, as the executioner was about to put his head on the guillotine, the condemned man, according to the police report, seized the crucifix offered by the priest and kissed the sacred wounds of Jesus three times. Theresa wept for joy when her first child received God’s mercy.
In todays gospel we reflect the parable of a father and two sons.These two sons represent two different styles of relationships with Abba. In the parable, the father represents none other than Abba, just like in the parable of the prodigal son. The first son represents the so-called sinners, such as the tax collectors, the prostitutes, etc. Though they disobeyed Abba by failing to fulfil the commandments, when Jesus came with the Good News, they recognised their failures, repented, and came back to Abba.
The second son denotes the religious leaders who had agreed to all the commandments and teachings but whose hearts were far away from the Lord. Externally, they appeared to be pious by their external shows; in fact, they did not have a personal relationship with Abba Father. They fulfilled certain obligations, but neither out of love nor out of conviction. They manipulated it according to their convenience. Therefore, the lives of the tax collectors and prostitutes became acceptable to God because of their sincerity of heart. Whereas Jesus constantly revealed and challenged the hypocrisy of religious leaders as they failed to repent and responded to the invitation extended by Jesus. In the first reading taken from the book of the prophet Ezekiel, we see God’s assurance concerning a wicked person who repents over his evil ways and will be restored to a grace-filled life. However, these religious leaders remained stubborn and failed to recognise the Son of God and his opportune time of grace.
The second reading taken from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians speaks to us about the self-emptying of Jesus. Though he was in the form of God, he did not think of equality with God; he emptied himself. Jesus could have very well continued in his comfort zone of eternity, but he emptied himself so that we may experience the good news that the Lord loves and accepts the sinners. God always awaits sinful humanity, like the Father of the parable of the prodigal son.
As we reflect on this gospel passage, let us reflect and see if our spiritual life is influenced by the attitude of the Second Son. Do we have a personal relationship with God? Do we recognise the need for repentance in our spiritual journey? Let us renew our own selves through our daily conversion and grow closer to the person of Abba through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master.