March 27^th 2016.  Easter Sunday – The Resurrection of Our Lord

GOSPEL: John 20:1-9

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: John 20:1-9

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Easter challenges us to reflect on the meaning of the empty tomb. The tomb points beyond the suffering and death that preceded the burial. Suffering and death do not have the final say. In our everyday lives, whenever we are confronted by sin, failure, or disappointment, let us look to the empty tomb and open ourselves to what God can bring out of the tomb of our existence. If God is to bring new life to the tomb of my existence, then I must reflect on the empty tomb of Jesus and contemplate what it signifies, opening myself to the power of the resurrection in my life! The Christian life is not a moral or rational system. I cannot live as a Christian simply by getting my life in order and following moral principles. We are called to live the life of the child of God, and only the Father can nourish that life in me, just as he brought Jesus out of the tomb. When I try to rely on myself, my existence is like a tomb. Only the action of God can empty the tomb and bring me to new life.

Easter challenges us to reflect on the empty tomb. The tomb points beyond the suffering and death that preceded the burial. In our everyday lives, whenever we are confronted by sin, failure, disappointment, let us look to the tomb and open ourselves to what God can bring out of the tomb of our existence.

The Gospel recounts the discovery of the empty tomb. Let us consider this passage in the light of the first reading for Sunday, in which St Peter describes the resurrection of Christ to the centurion, Cornelius. The structure of Peter’s discourse is very simple: he first describes the events from the life of Jesus up to his crucifixion and death – this is the part of the story that everyone knows. But then Peter goes on to say that the story does not end here. In the Gospel, we have a similar situation. The disciples are immersed in what they have experienced – the death of Jesus and his placing in the tomb. But the Easter announcement also includes what happened afterwards, that which goes beyond what we know or can experience. The beautiful story of Jesus, like all human stories, seems to have come to an end, like all human stories. However, Peter is announcing that beyond this purely human aspect there is something else. The proclamation of the resurrection becomes the key for understanding the Christian faith, and it cannot be otherwise. The Christian experience is that of being subject to suffering and death, but also being subject to that which God accomplishes through it all. The empty tomb testifies to this wonderful fact.

The Christian life is not a moral or rational system. I cannot live as a Christian simply by following moral principles. It is the life of the child of God that I must lead, and only the Father can nourish that life in me. By myself I am a tomb. Only the action of God can empty the tomb and bring new life

It is not possible to construct a Christianity based solely on rationality, or on the purely biological or moral aspects of life. Christianity is based on the resurrection, on that which goes beyond our immediate experience. Christianity, after all, is based on faith in the work of God, a work that goes beyond human works. Certainly, we ought to use our rational faculties to explain that which can be explained. But the Christian life goes beyond rationality or mere plausibility. Christianity, ultimately, is based on the power of God. It is not merely a moral system that sets down rational principles for action: it is the power of God at work in our lives. The Son of Man unites his divine nature with our human nature, rendering it possible for us to become children of God. To become God’s child presupposes the action of God in us. I cannot live the Christian life by simply getting my act together and ordering my existence according to certain principles. The Christian life is something that I simply cannot live using my own capacities. It is a life that only the heavenly Father can bestow on me. When we are confronted with illness, crises, or marital breakdown, our responses will only produce mediocre solutions if we attempt them on our own terms. Only the work of God can uncover the resurrection in our lives. When we are destroyed by our own sins, the pardon and mercy of God is capable of bringing new and dramatic life to us. In fact, after the resurrection, the disciples proclaim the forgiveness of sins, the true resolution of the black hole of human absurdity.

If God is to bring new life to the tomb of my existence, then I must reflect on the empty tomb of Jesus and contemplate what it signifies, opening myself to the power of the resurrection in my life

This Sunday, and every Sunday of the year, the power of God is proclaimed. What God can do with our sins, our sufferings, our death! God is the one who goes beyond. Death is not a full stop but a comma – and beyond there is God. We must be open to this fact of the resurrection and adhere to it with our consent. We must have faith in what the empty tomb signifies – the manner in which God can transcend what seems negative and final. All these things – the failures, the limits, the dead ends – must be consigned over to God. The Lord knows how to bring life from death. He can lead us out of every tomb that we find ourselves in. This is what we proclaim at Easter: God goes beyond what we can accomplish or attain.

March 20^th 2016. PALM SUNDAY

PROCESSIONAL GOSPEL Luke 19:28-40

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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PROCESSIONAL GOSPEL Luke 19:28-40

Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Now when he was near Bethphage and Bethany, close by the Mount of Olives as it is called, he sent two of the disciples, telling them, ‘Go off to the village opposite, and as you enter it you will find a tethered colt that no one has yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” you are to say this, “The Master needs it”.’ The messengers went off and found everything just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owner said, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ and they answered, ‘The Master needs it’.

So they took the colt to Jesus, and throwing their garments over its back they helped Jesus on to it. As he moved off, people spread their cloaks in the road, and now, as he was approaching the downward slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole group of disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen. They cried out:

‘Blessings on the King who comes,
in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heavens!’

Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Master, check your disciples’, but he answered, ‘I tell you, if these keep silence the stones will cry out’.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading gives a wonderful key for approaching the Gospel of the Passion of Jesus. The Prophet Isaiah recounts the story of the Suffering Servant. How does this servant manage to endure the incredible torment and abuse that he receives? Because every morning “he opens his ear to listen like a disciple”. Jesus does not enter the Passion like a superhero who overcomes everything with his own power! Rather, he enters as one in communion with his Father, one who trusts and is ever attentive to the Father, one who is absolutely convinced that the Father will come to his aid. For this reason, he can “set his face like flint for he knows that he will not be ashamed”. And this is the key for our own lives too. Even if we find ourselves in the greatest of difficulty and anguish, even then, especially then, we must remain in communion with the Father, trusting that “he will come to our aid”. We can “set our faces like flint for we know that we will not be put to shame”. Jesus empowers us to maintain this relationship with the Father. He has shown us how and he bestows his Spirit upon us to enable us to do it.

Jesus is one who listens to the Father with a disciple’s ear. By doing so, he is perfectly enabled to comfort and illuminate the downhearted
This Palm Sunday presents us with a complicated liturgy with much to reflect on. The processional Gospel recounts the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, whilst the readings during the Mass culminate in the wonderful, merciful account of the Passion from Luke. At the heart of this Gospel, Jesus says, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”, and to the Good Thief, “This day you will be with me in Paradise”. How can we approach our task of commenting on this Gospel? The first reading provides an interpretative key for the liturgy and is of extraordinary power. It consists in one of the hymns of the Suffering Servant found in the prophet Isaiah (chapter 50 in this case). The servant has a mission, and this mission is fulfilled perfectly and completely by the Lord Jesus in his Passion. “The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue so that I may know how to speak to the downhearted”. But just what is a “disciple’s tongue”? A master’s tongue, presumably, is that of one who speaks with authority. But a disciple is one who is continually in the process of listening and absorbing. How wonderful it is to listen to one who speaks with humility, one who is aware even when they speak that they have still much to discover! The downhearted is the one who needs to be spoken to by one who has a disciple’s tongue. In other words, the downhearted has lost faith in the future and thinks that all is lost. But the disciple, by contrast, can say, “Look, there is much that we do not yet understand! Much that we have not yet seen!” Thus the disciple speaks as one who is filled with wonder and who is still learning. How hard it is to speak to the downhearted and instil in them hope and confidence! How does the Suffering Servant do it? The reading from Isaiah tells us: “Every morning I open my ear and listen as a disciple” (the phrase is repeated here again!) The Servant remains in a constant state of receptivity, he opens his ear and does not turn back, does not offer resistance: he offers his back to those who struck him and his face to those who tear at his beard. Because his ear is open, he can live in a state of tranquillity, without fleeing maltreatment. This passage truly describes what the Lord Jesus has done when he was rejected.

Even is his torment, Jesus remains in communion with the Father. This is the source of his life

When we are suffering and being maltreated by others, it is one thing to listen to the things that our tormentors are saying to us, and an entirely different thing to have our ears open to what the Lord wishes to say to us. Even in my torment, especially in my torment, God has something that he wishes to say to me. There is a narrative that he wishes to continue with me, even in this devastating moment. In fact, at the end of the reading we hear: “The Lord comes to my aid. For this reason I am untouched by the insults. I set my face like flint and I will not be ashamed”. The message for us is that we must live the negative and dramatic events of our lives together with the Lord. As the reading says, the Lord will come to our aid. In the Passion of our Lord this Sunday we will see how Jesus can endure the evil of humanity, the horror that is in our hearts, and he does so because he is not alone: he enters the Passion united to the Father. He does not play the hero who proclaims himself to be the strongest. No, he is the Servant who manages to set his face like flint only because the Lord God comes to his aid. In all of the terrible things that may happen to us, what counts is whether or not we remain united to God. How different it is to live as sons! To live united to the heavenly Father who will not allow us to be confused. He is the Father of light who illuminates all things. This capacity to live in union with the Father is not something that we are able to do by ourselves. Jesus has come to enable us to do it, to illuminate us, to give us his heart, to bestow his Spirit on the one who desires it. This Sunday of the Passion let us look to the heart of God, a heart of communion that does not cause division but prays for the very one who kills him. During the crucifixion, Jesus asks the Father to forgive his assailants. This demonstrates how he remains in communion with the Father throughout his agony. He does not allow that relationship to be broken, and this is the key to life.

March 13^th 2016.  Fifth Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL: John 8:1-11

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: John 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus, ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?’ They asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, ‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Then be bent down and wrote on the ground again. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there. He looked up and said, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’

‘No one, Sir’ she replied.

‘Neither do I condemn you,’ said Jesus ‘Go away, and don’t sin any more.’

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the first reading, the Lord tells us not to look to the events of the past but to reflect on the marvellous novelty that he is bringing about in our lives right now. In the Gospel, a woman caught in adultery is hauled before Jesus. The people want to stone her to death, according to the stipulations of the law. But Jesus says, “Whoever among you has no sin, cast the first stone”. Everyone soon disperses and Jesus is left alone with the woman. He tells her to go on her way and sin no more. As in the first reading, Jesus is telling the woman that what is important is not the saga of the past but the new life that God is calling us to live from this moment onwards. Jesus did not come to make an exhaustive list of our sins and focus on the evil that is in our hearts! He came so that we might leave our sinfulness behind us and begin to walk in communion with him. What must we do if a relationship is broken? Analyse in a tortuous fashion all the wrongs that were done in that relationship? Or mend the relationship and walk together in unity? Sure, if we sin, then we must ask forgiveness and seek to remedy the wrongs we have done to others. But the point is that it is useless to torment ourselves about the errors of the past. Jesus wants us to move forward, living from this moment onwards in a new manner.

The pardon of Jesus is not simply directed to our past sins. It gives us new life and directs us towards something new.

The Gospel this Sunday tells of the adulteress who is saved from recrimination by Jesus. His defence of the woman consists simply in the words, “Whoever among you is without sin, cast the first stone”. Let us consider the Gospel story in the light of the first reading. The prophet Isaiah speaks of the flight from Egypt across the Red Sea. In speaking of this liberation, the prophet says, “Consider no longer the things of the past. There is no need to think about what was done before”. These things of the past are the beautiful epic events of the Passover. They are at the core of the identity of the Jewish people – their liberation from slavery and oppression. But the prophet exhorts the people not to think back on the events of long ago. “Look,” the Lord says. “I am doing a new thing”. Then we hear the description of the novel things that the Lord is working among them. At the end of the Gospel, there is a similar phrase that Jesus utters to the woman caught in adultery: “From now on . . .” With the Lord, there is a new beginning. This is true whether the past is filled with glorious things, as was the case with the history of Israel, or even if we are speaking about a negative event, such as this fact of the woman being caught in sin, leading to a complete loss of honour and social status. With the Lord we call always say, “From this moment on . .” This is at the heart of the message from this Sunday’s Gospel.

What is more important: to analyse and chronicle the wrongs that have been done? Or to remedy those wrongs, mend broken relationships and walk together in communion?

The story recounts a woman caught in sin, but also tells of those bystanders who ferociously call for justice. There are two options open to humanity in the effort to confront sin. We can either go down the road of punishment, expiation and working out the consequences of deviant behaviour; or we can seek to begin again, to be born again. Which is more important, to point out the errors of others, or to begin again to walk together in real unity? We can focus on punishment or focus on restoring communion and broken relationships, rediscovering what really matters. Jesus did not come to make a list of the ways in which we go wrong; he came to help us to start anew, to wipe the slate clean and assist us in living “from this moment onwards”. Conversion is a movement towards something good, not simply a movement away from something. Lent is the time of conversion and beginning again. Let us not torture ourselves with our past errors! What is important is not to err again and to pick up the thread of the good in our lives. It is a useless practice to torment ourselves with analysis of our wrongs. Certainly, we must ask for forgiveness and seek to remedy the wrongs we have done, but this is all part of the process of making a new beginning, the process of “from this moment onwards”. We are talking about looking forward and doing new things.

In the story, Jesus begins writing on the ground. His hand, the hand of God, is always active; he is always seeking to rewrite our lives, renewing us and enabling us to life in the fullest sense

In the Gospel story, Jesus begins writing on the ground. It is a remarkable description, for when do we hear of God writing on the ground in Scripture? The finger of God refers to his action in the world, especially in creation. The Ten Commandments were written by the hand of God in stone. This act of Jesus writing in the dust evokes many different things, but we think also of the action of God in history, making all things new. Jesus is enabling this woman to begin a new life. The power of God in Jesus is not directed towards exacting severe punishment for the woman’s undoubted crimes. Rather, Jesus’ action is directed towards her rebirth. The only thing that matters is to begin to live again, to build up, not to recriminate. How many people are weighed down by sin but are uninterested in the real solution to sin. How good we are at pointing out the evils in the world, but how illiterate we are when it comes to beginning again! What is essential is to walk once more with Christ, turn the page and live in an authentic manner.

March 6^th 2016.  FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

GOSPEL: Luke 13: 1-9

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Luke 13: 1-9

The tax collectors and the sinners, meanwhile, were all seeking his company to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them’. So he spoke this parable to them:

‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

The father said,

“My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life;
he was lost and is found.”

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . To understand the story of the prodigal son, we must look at the opening verses. Jesus tells the story because the Pharisees and Scribes – the ones who keep the Law but who do not really treat God as a Father – complain that Jesus is rejoicing with sinners. The parable is about the merciful Father who freely pardons his son, and also about the elder brother who thinks he is doing the Father’s will, but in reality is only acting out of obligation, and secretly begrudges the little that he does. How many of us Christians are like that elder brother! We think that living a life of sin would be fun, and we feel that our Christian faith is really an obstacle to us fully enjoying ourselves. We envy those who live a life of debauchery and then convert at the last minute, like the prodigal son. But this view is completely wrong! It is a joy and a wonder to live the Christian life close to the embrace of the Father, a Father who embraces us and bestows on us the most wonderful of blessings! Let us not be like the elder son, who lives “close” to the Father but doesn’t really live in union with the Father. He would obviously prefer to be somewhere else, but stays at home out of scruples. But let us also not be like the younger brother! You know, his story is the story of the human race. Historically, humankind has not wished to be close to the Father. We would prefer to follow our own designs. So we take the inheritance that God has given us and distance ourselves more and more from the Father. We use the gifts God has bestowed on us to satisfy ourselves. An authentic relationship with God would only hinder the pursuance of our own selfish goals. In the end, both sons did not want to live in close union with the Father. One took everything and left, the other stayed at home begrudgingly. Eventually, the prodigal returned to the Father, whilst the elder son remained estranged from him, though he lived in the same home! And let us not envy the prodigal! Don’t think that he had his fun and then got an undeserved reward. He lived a life of misery and selfishness and then got an undeserved pardon. Instead, let us be like a third child of the Lord, a child that remains with the Father and does so willingly and joyfully, living a life of true union with God.

 To understand the story of the prodigal son, we must look at the opening verses. Jesus tells the story because the Pharisees and Scribes – the ones who keep the Law but who do not really treat God as a Father – complain that Jesus is rejoicing with sinners

In this Jubilee of Mercy, we encounter the celebrated passage describing the Prodigal Son. The introductory verses are the key for interpreting the entire story. “At that time all the publicans and sinners came to Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and Scribes began to grumble. ‘Look, he welcomes sinners and eats with them’. Then Jesus recounted this parable. . .” On Sunday the austere tone of Lent is softened with the tender story of the Prodigal Son. The first reading tells of the first celebration of the Passover after the Jews enter the Promised Land. After forty years of journeying, the people are finally able to enter into this joyful feast. The Lord says to Joshua, “Look, I have removed from you the shame of Egypt”. And so the celebration is greater because they have been liberated from shame. In the Gospel, the Pharisees and Scribes are upset because Jesus and his disciples are celebrating with sinners. Let us consider the situation in more detail.

The story of humanity is the story of a people who have the inheritance that God has given them and used it for their own purposes

The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of the merciful Father who welcomes his errant younger son unconditionally, but it is also the story of the elder son who does not enter into the feast of the Father’s mercy. There are two ways to enter the feast, but it seems from this story that one of the ways doesn’t reach a happy conclusion. The younger son takes the path of failure, emptiness, loss. This is the way of sin. In fact, the Father says, “This son was dead but now he is alive”. The story of sin is not the story of something enjoyable that we are not permitted to do, but the story of death. It is the story of a man of dignity, a prince, a son of a great family, who becomes a steward of pigs. He has become someone taken with trivial things, someone who thinks little of his Father and demands his inheritance so that he can dispose of it as he sees fit. And you know, this is the story of humanity. We want to take what God has given us and use it for our own purposes, dispose of it as we wish, independently of what God wishes for us. Historically, this is our condition. We have distanced ourselves more and more from God so that we can do as we please. God is an inconvenient hindrance in the way of us pursuing our own ends. And while we do our own thing, we believe that this will permit us to enjoy ourselves and have a party.

 The prodigal son represents the bitter Christian who thinks he is doing the Father’s will but actually does not accept God as a Father

The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of a man who left his Father in order to have a party but then realised that the real party was happening at home. He went in search of pleasure, ease, comfort, but found that the things he was pursuing were of little import. He loses himself in this process but one day he comes back to himself and becomes conscious of what he has left behind. And so, in the end, after a tortuous journey, having failed and behaved in an immature and selfish fashion, he nevertheless manages to arrive at the joy of the Father. The ironic thing is that the older brother, who never left home at all, does not enter into the feast. This bitter strain of Christianity, with its sour spirituality, unfortunately is not uncommon in our parishes. God the Father is not perceived as a Father but as a master. It is interesting that the elder brother speaks in exactly the same way as the Pharisee who complained that Jesus was eating with sinners. “I have served you for many years and never disobeyed one of your commandments. But you have never allowed me to celebrate with my friends”. There is a whole theology contained here! God is someone who simply must be obeyed. And in return he must give us things. But the Father says, “Son, you have always been with me. Why do you speak as if you were a slave? Why do you behave as someone who has no intimacy with me? Everything I have is yours”. The problem is that this son has not entered into the love of the Father. He performs his actions out of obligation.

We tend to think that sin is enjoyable. We do not appreciate the joy of living in union with the Father!

This older brother represents the unresolved problem highlighted by the parable: the bitter “disciple” who has not understood the mercy of God. We inhabit the house of the Father as slaves, servants, squatters, looking with jealous eyes at the blessings God bestows on others. We do not embrace the Father and do not rejoice in the fact of being children of such a wonderful and beautiful Father. We look at sinners with envy. If we manage to avoid sin, it is not because we have understood how empty and poisoned it is. Listen to the words of the elder brother: “This son of yours has devoured your wealth with his prostitutes and you kill for him the fatted calf!” In other words, the younger son enjoyed himself and you reward him! But the Father knows that this description is not accurate. He says, “Look, your brother was dead. He took a path that led to emptiness and pain. Don’t you realize the darkness of the path that he took?” How many Christians share the attitude of the elder brother! They look at the Church as an imposition and think that life would be much more enjoyable otherwise. Being a Christian is such a sacrifice, they think! But being a Christian is actually to be a participant in a great feast! Being with the Father, serving him is not a form of slavery but a way of being united to him. It is the service you render to someone you love, the person that you long to be with, that you want to please. Whatever you do for him will always feel like little!  This Sunday is truly the day for entering into the feast, for embracing Easter, for leaving behind the frustrated form of Christianity, from a vision that focuses on my rights, what I can get for myself. As the psalm says, it is better to live on the threshold of the house of the Father than in the tents of the powerful. What God calls us to do is marvellous: to be with him, to be embraced by his mercy, his patience and his pardon. If we reflect on how he treats us, then we realize that anything we do for him is always little!