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April 2, 2025Dear faithful, I am happy to be with you on this third pastoral visit to your parish in Sohar dedicated to Saint Anthony. It is a great joy for the bishop to be with his faithful. We are all children of God and we are called to form the Church of the Lord in the place where we are. Each particular church is formed by the faithful gathered in Christ around the Bishop. Even the priest who leads the parish is a sign of the bishop and his pastoral care. The bishop is the successor of the apostles. For this reason, his task is first of all to confirm the faithful in the Catholic faith, the faith of the apostles who first met Jesus on the banks of the river Jordan. In fact, we meet today in this church because Jesus met his disciples two thousand years ago. We all belong to a great history, the history of the Church. We form in Jesus, the one body, the mystical body of Christ, we are the people of God who live in this part of the world. The presence of the bishop is also a sign of unity among all the faithful who come from many different countries, with different languages, traditions and rites.
This year we celebrate the Jubilee of the Lord 2025; it is a year of grace to experience the forgiveness of God that makes us new creatures. Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Lent, this Sunday is called Sunday of Joy, and the word of God that we have heard gives us a great reason for joy: the mercy of God the Father through the parable of the prodigal son. We note that Jesus tells this parable to the people who listened to him, the scribes and the Pharisees, but criticized him because Jesus was with sinners and people marginalized by the society.
This parable teaches us first of all what our sin consists of. We all think that sin consists in the fact that the younger son squanders his money with prostitutes. Certainly, this is a sin. But it all begins when this son asks his father to have his share of the inheritance in advance. He no longer wants to have the goods in common but only for himself. Until then the father and the sons had everything in common. The inheritance is handed over when the father dies. While this son wants to have his goods immediately, as if his father was already dead. Our sins also begin when we isolate ourselves, we no longer want to be in communion with others, especially when we deny our origin, the Heavenly Father, who gave us life.
The sin that the son commits by squandering all his possessions is nothing but the consequence of broking the relationship with his father. However, this son, once left without any money, comes to his senses and understands that even the last of his father's servants has a better life than him. And therefore, he decides to return home. Even though this son prepares to ask for forgiveness, but the real reason for his return is that in his father's house the food is better.
But here comes the big surprise: as he is about to arrive home, his father runs to meet him and hugs him, not even letting him say the words he had prepared to ask for forgiveness. This son is overwhelmed by the love of the Father. We can imagine the feelings of the son when he experiences the love of his father at that moment. At the same time he also understood the evil in his behavior. The love of the Father has made him understand the absurdity of the sin he had committed. This son was dead and has come back to life and therefore, the father prepares a great feast, it is the celebration of God's forgiveness.
But his brother is not able to accept this celebration. He rather complains to his father saying he has respected all the rules; and yet, he never got to celebrate. He is offended to see the celebration the father has prepared for his sinful and repentant son.
Dear faithful, on which side do we place ourselves? On the side of the prodigal son who sins and who, returning home, finds the love of the Father, or on the side of the brother who is unable to celebrate for his brother who has returned to life? This brother had never left home, he had observed all the commandments but had never recognized the love of the Father. In this way he remains closed in his wounded pride. The prodigal son had the bitter experience of sin and has humbly rediscovered the path that leads to life. Dear brothers and sisters, in reality we are all sinners and God in Christ wants to reconcile us, as Saint Paul stated: God wants to make us new creatures through his mercy. The real problem is that many times we do not recognize ourselves as sinners; it is not enough to externally observe the law, we must love and be loved to be in communion with God. We must let ourselves be loved until our sins are forgiven.
A great Father of the Church, Saint Ambrose, expressed this profound truth: I will not boast because I am righteous, but I will boast because I am redeemed. I will boast not because I am empty of sins, but because my sins are forgiven. Innocence had made me arrogant; guilt has made me humble.
Beloved, if we recognize our sins, we experience God's forgiveness and we will find joy. We hope that in this time of Lent, in this holy year of hope we can experience the mercy of God that gives us a new beginning.
May Mary Mother of Mercy support us on our journey.