Evangelical Reflections - Saturday of the 2nd Week of Lent - March 6, 2021

March 6, 2021

Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent


Ah, the Prodigal Son. I’m sure we have all heard this story so many times throughout our lives. I used to tune out after awhile of hearing this story time after time, but as I’ve drawn closer to God and He has brought my heart closer to Scripture, I’ve been able to see this story in new ways every time I read it.

Jesus gives us enough detail in this parable that we can look at each character and see what He is trying to tell us about Himself and us. Again, the story is known as “The Prodigal Son” but it could also be called “The Loving Father”.

We’re not sure of all of the reasons that the younger son goes to his father to ask for his inheritance early (which in that time was basically telling your father that you wished he were dead), but the father’s reaction is one of patience and kindness. He does not lash out at his son, he allows him to take the money and leave. I’m sure the father’s heart is broken. He loves his son but he respects his free will.

The son goes off and wastes his money and is quickly living in poverty. He decides to come back home to his father. The story tells us that “while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and ran to him”. “While the son was still a long way off”… for the father to have seen his son from far away must have meant that he was looking for him. He was probably waiting, praying, hoping that his son would return home. When he embraces his son, the son can hardly get a word of apology out before his father calls the servants to throw a party. He is so happy that his son is home. There is no guilt trip laid on him, nothing but pure love and joy.

In this parable, Jesus is trying to show us that this is exactly how God the Father sees each one of us. When we sin and turn our back on God, we are the Prodigal Son, telling our Father that we want to go and do things our own way. When we return, when we ask for forgiveness, especially in the sacrament of Reconciliation, God is not putting us on a guilt trip; He has been looking and waiting every day for us to come back to Him. And when we do, even if we are a long way off, He runs to us and embraces us. He is so happy that we are home.

Let us run back to the Father today. If you have been away from the sacrament of Reconciliation or the Church for a long time, do not worry or fear. God the perfect Father is waiting for you. All He has is love in His eyes and He longs to embrace you and celebrate you. Come home to Him. Allow Him to love you.

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - First Sunday of Advent

By John Putnam • December 2, 2025
Today we begin the beautiful season of Advent — a season of preparation. For what are we preparing? The celebration of the birth of our Savior, and the anticipation of His second coming. These are weighty tasks with eternal consequences. So, let us as Christian stewards make the words of the Prophet Isaiah our motto for the season: “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths.” In the weeks leading up to Christmas, it seems everywhere we turn we are pushed to spend more, do more, entertain more, and generally rush around at a frantic pace — all to create a “perfect” Christmas day. In contrast to this worldly pressure, the Church’s guidance to use these weeks as a time to focus on our spiritual lives can indeed seem like a mountain climb. But the intentional and wise use of the gift of time is exactly what the Christian steward is called to do, and with even greater intensity during Advent. How can we use our time to prepare for a holy celebration of Jesus’ birth on Dec. 25 and for his second coming at a date we do not know? We can push back against the world’s pressure to have the “perfect Christmas.” Scale back on the material kind of gift-giving, the complicated menus, the unessential trappings of the season so that we have more time for the spiritual preparations: Confession, weekday Mass, adoration, family prayer time, lighting the Advent wreath, acts of kindness. It may feel like a mountain climb, but in the end, we will be prepared to celebrate a truly meaningful Christmas, we will have become more like our Savior, and we will be ready for Him to come again. Let’s go climb the Lord’s mountain! © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 From the Pastor Advent brings a time of new beginning. A new liturgical year is upon us, but it is also a time to prepare our hearts for something – for the coming of the Lord. The first weeks of Advent focus on the Lord’s coming at the end of time, and the latter weeks of Advent focus on preparing to celebrate His coming at the Nativity. Both, however, are interconnected. The first coming of the Lord facilitates His coming into our hearts, which, in the end, facilitates His second coming to judge the living and the dead. The “in between” of these two comings is where time and eternity come together. We are called to live each day in expectation of His coming. We are called to hope for His coming and to expect it even when it seems long delayed. It is in this expectation that we must learn to live our lives. Daily life is messy and unpredictable. We must deal with disappointments, sickness and loss. Yet, we do so as people of hope who know that in these crosses, there lies ultimate joy because of the love of the Father who sent his Son to love us to the end. As we begin a new journey in a new liturgical year, let us do so with joyful expectation. Knowing that the end of the journey, if we are faithful, is paradise.

From the Pastor - Solemnity of Christ the King

By John Putnam • November 21, 2025
On this Feast of Christ the King, our readings show us that we serve the greatest of Kings, who is at the same time the humblest of Kings. Christ is the perfect model of servant leadership. And what an indescribable privilege that He has called us to be servant leaders — stewards in the work of advancing His Kingdom. In our second reading, from St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Paul describes the great power and dignity that characterize Christ the King. “All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together.” It makes you want to stand up and cheer. That’s our King! Yet, what a contrasting description of the same King we find in our Gospel passage, from Luke. Now we see our King nailed to the Cross. Everyone from rulers to soldiers, to the criminals on either side of Christ is mocking, sneering, and reviling him. They tauntingly urge him to prove His kingship by coming down from the Cross to end his suffering with a great show of power. “if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.” But He does not. Amazingly, it is in this moment of seeming-weakness and humiliation, when all appears hopeless and lost, that the full breadth of his greatness as king is displayed. Though all things were created through and for Him — Christ chooses to live entirely for others, for us! What does this mean for us as his followers and stewards of His kingdom? It is precisely that our lives are not about us. They are about Christ and others. And we will advance his kingdom to the extent that we embrace this mindset: my life is not about me; it is about serving the King of kings. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025