Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde encouraged Catholics to
return home during Lent by trusting in God’s mercy and love,
and seeking forgiveness in the sacrament of penance.
“We rejoice because like the prodigal son, we have a Heavenly
Father whose joy is to forgive,” Bishop Loverde said. “Let us
return home because returning home brings joy to His heart.
Returning home makes God happy.”
Bishop Loverde celebrated the closing Mass for Pope Francis’
Lenten initiative “24 Hours for the Lord” at the Basilica of
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in
Washington March 5.
Following the Mass, the bishop led a Eucharistic procession
around the nave of the shrine’s Great Upper Church. The
opening Mass for the initiative was celebrated March 3 by
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, Archbishop of the Military
Services USA. Both liturgies were televised by EWTN, Catholic
TV and New Evangelization Television.
Fathers Robert J. Wagner and Michael D. Weston, priests of
the Arlington Diocese, served as masters of ceremony for the
March 5 liturgy.
Bishop Loverde said that among those in attendance for the
closing Mass were a group of young people from St. Stephen
the Martyr Church in Middleburg and St. Katharine Drexel
Mission in Gainesville who are preparing for the sacrament of
confirmation this year.
In his homily, Bishop Loverde asked the congregation “How do
we make God happy? How do we bring joy to His Heart?
“By coming back home to Him,” he said. “By turning away from
whatever has separated us from Him – our sins – and returning
home where He already is looking out on the horizon for us,
eagerly awaiting our arrival so He can welcome us back home,
embrace us with His mercy, and feed us at the Eucharistic
table. God is made happy by forgiving us.”
Bishop Loverde said that we sometimes need a reminder of the
joy in our midst during Lent.
“We rejoice because, as we heard in the Gospel, our God is
exceedingly merciful, and rejoices in offering His mercy to
His children as they return home,” he said.
Bishop Loverde shared a reflection by Pope Francis who, when
commenting on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, said, “God is
joyful. And what is the joy of God? The joy of God is
forgiving. Here is the entire Gospel. Here. The whole Gospel,
all of Christianity, is here.”
Bishop Loverde said the Parable of the Prodigal Son is
probably the most famous parable in the Gospels, and as with
anything that becomes too familiar, there is a danger of our
becoming numb to its meaning.
“So it is a blessing that we have this time to ponder it
together once again and to reflect on the many beautiful
details Jesus presents about the mercy of our heavenly
Father,” he said.
In the parable, the younger son squanders his inheritance
before he decides to return to his father, admit his sins,
and ask for forgiveness, the bishop said.
The father has been waiting eagerly for the return of his
son, who begins his act of contrition, but is stopped by his
father who cannot wait to share his mercy.
“By his choice and by his sin, the son removed himself from
his father’s house,” the bishop said. “When we commit serious
sin, we do the same, for we separate ourselves from living in
a close relationship with Our Father.”
This parable teaches us that we must never lose hope, no
matter how grave we believe our sins to be, “for Our Heavenly
Father and His Beloved Son cannot wait to offer their mercy
to us.”
“The joy of God is forgiving,” the bishop said, “so we must
always come to God in our sins, trusting that He will always
welcome us. As Pope Francis likes to remind us, God never
tires of forgiving us; it is we who tire of asking for
forgiveness. May we never tire of seeking God’s mercy.”
Returning to the parable, Bishop Loverde said the father has
an older son who refuses to enter the house and celebrate his
brother’s return.
The father displays another act of mercy by meeting his older
son outside of the house, the bishop said. “This older son’s
sin of judgmental pride are keeping him from sharing his
father’s joy. Unlike his younger brother, who was contrite
and ready to enter the house, the older son is not ready to
forgive, and thus is not ready to be forgiven.
“In his mercy,” the bishop said, “the father pleads with his
older son to count the blessings that he has and to find joy,
not condemnation, in the return of his brother, who was lost
and now is found. This is how the parable ends, with the
words of a joyful father who is eager to show mercy and teach
mercy to his children.”
Bishop Loverde said that each of us has a Heavenly Father who
desires to share His home with us, where we will share His
joy with the saints and angels for all eternity.
“His desire leads Him to run and meet us in our sin, in our
doubt, in our sorrow, or in whatever circumstances are
keeping us from Him and His mercy.”
The bishop said we find God’s mercy through the church in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. He encouraged the congregation
to seek forgiveness in the confessional.
He noted that the Arlington Diocese and the Washington
Archdiocese participate in “The Light is On” initiative,
where each Wednesday evening of Lent, any Catholic can go
into any church in the Washington area “to experience the joy
of the Father’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance,
thereby bringing joy to God by returning home.”
