Lent 4 (Year C)

In today's Gospel reading, Luke 15:11-32, Jesus taught the parable of the Loving Father, to convey the long lost message that God is Divine Love, forever seeking to manifest His abundance and glory in every human life. In His Divine Love, Grace and Truth, God has endowed each person with the gift of choice. We can each choose to follow or reject God's eternal plan for our lives. Whatever the consequences of our choices, God is forever ready to reveal, create and manifest the hidden spiritual kingdom of heaven and abundant life within us and in our midst.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus shares the image of Our Father, God as an extravagant father, welcoming home his humble and repentant younger son, who had squandered his inheritance. Jesus of Nazareth not only taught but also fully modeled this outpouring of God's love, forgiveness, grace and truth in a human body, throughout his earthly ministry. Through living the Paschal Mystery as revealed in Jesus Christ, we can all regain and recover our lost Divine Heritage.

During Jesus’ lifetime, God as Christ, the Image of God, was fully incarnated and manifested in Jesus as the Son of Man. In other words, the Father handed over to his son the full portion of the inheritance. Through listening, humility and obedience, Jesus of Nazareth chose to fully embraced and manifest God gift, throughout his earthly life. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus maintained a state of Christ-centered Spiritual mindedness and total dependence of the Father. He declares of myself I can do nothing. It is the Father in me who does the work.

How often, like the careless, reckless and disobedient prodigal son in today's parable, do we reject the idea that we are all created in the Image of God? We have chosen to neglect and reject the spiritual dimension of our lives, where Our Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit forever live and reign as one God [Luke 17:20-21]? How often have we rejected and denounced the intimate relationship we share with each other as spiritual beings, eternal sons and daughters of God, going through temporary, incarnate human experiences?

Jesus’ teachings in this parable refute many deeply engrained false religious teachings and carnal minded belief systems. Like the prodigal son, our choices, beliefs, attitudes and actions bring our experiences of lack, sickness, pain, suffering and separation from Our Father, God and each other. As a whole, mankind has chosen, consciously and unconsciously, to reject our normal spiritual nature, spiritual potential and our divine spiritual heritage in Christ. We have chosen to feast on the deceptive husks of intellectualism, materialism, mortal, carnal and worldly mindedness. We have chosen to despise God’s unconditional love, forgiveness and unification, which are forever available to all people through our spiritual bodies and cores.

Spiritual health and wealth, the balanced life and a secure position in the spiritual kingdom of heaven are forever available here and now, to all who choose to repent and return to God, through Christ. It is in the spiritual dimension of our lives that our Father shares the lavish acts of unconditional love, forgiveness and re-creation in body, soul, mind, emotions and spirit. Like the loving father, Spirit counts all our errors and sins as worth nothing compared to the joy of welcoming home Spirit’s “lost” sons and daughters. We are all eternal sons and daughters of God.

What would our lives be like if we would simply embraced the fact that we are each outrageously and extravagantly loved by our indwelling Father, just as Jesus Christ was loved by our Father? What if we really knew and acted as though we were created in God's Image to manifest His dominion, authority and reign in and through our lives. What if we would each choose to live more like Jesus in seeking and saving that which was lost?

Are you willing to join a body of Christ-centered, spiritually awake believers? Are you willing to share the Good News of God’s extravagant love, forgiveness and reconciliation through the indwelling Christ, throughout our planet? Are you willing to welcome and spiritually companion others in our personal inner spiritual journeys back home to God in Christ, through the spiritual dimension of our lives? Are you willing to live the Paschal Mystery as it is revealed in Jesus Christ?

Angel of the week: 'Forgiveness'

Prayer of the Week: 'Love Affirms My Innate Divinity'