In this series of Lenten articles on our relationship to God as Father I have been trying to point out how much the Father desires that we know his love for him. I don’t want you to think of his love as an idea but rather I want you to experience his love.
When we repent, return, and are reconciled to God and the Church, the Father is filled with joy because we have allowed grace and our free will to choose him for whom we were created: “Our hearts are restless until we rest in thee.” We were created for him who is Love.
We see a glimpse of the Father’s joy in last Sunday’s gospel when the younger son returns to his father. The father has been waiting with great expectation and overflows with joy at the son returning to his presence. The older son in the story is unable to experience the joy of the father because he is harboring a grudge and envy against his brother. Though he is physically in the father’s presence the older son is trying to be a slave, a hired hand to the father rather than living as a beloved son. When one trusts the One who is good one is filled with joy.
As we soon enter into the somberness of Holy Week, let us recall what our God was willing to go through to ransom us, to set us free from our own blackholeness, selfishness, pride. Let us receive from him who is Love so that we might be filled with joy. Let us reject sin and be faithful to the good news Jesus brings us through the Church, Scripture, and the sacraments.