Is there too much of the older brother in us and not enough of the merciful, welcoming father?

Traditionally this Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, is known by its Latin name:  Laetare Sunday.  Laetare is the Latin word for rejoice.  There is to be joy in our lives as the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The scripture readings give us reason to rejoice.  The psalmist tells us we are to be radiant with joy.  The Gospel parable gives a most significant reason for joy.  Jesus tells us of a God who wishes to shower his sons and daughters with his merciful love.

In this parable of the prodigal son, this wonderful parable of the merciful father, this most beautiful parable of God’s forgiving love for us, I invite you to consider the stuck point for both the prodigal son and his older brother.  Both of the sons had a falling out with the father. The younger son is lost in sin and the older son is lost in self-righteousness.  Neither was filled with joy.

The younger son didn’t see what he had.  He imagined that he could have a better life away from his father and family.  That son broke away after demanding his inheritance.  The younger son seems irresponsible, pleasure-oriented, and self seeking.

The older son also did not see what he had.  However, this son stayed at home and did what was expected of him.  The older brother is very responsible and stays at home and works on the farm faithfully day in and day out, but his heart was not in it.  Inside, he had been jealous of his brother, who had the nerve to ask for his inheritance and then skipped off to squander it on loose living.

My prayerful question for us today is to ask if there a part of the older, responsible, rule-keeping brother in us as well?  We are the ones who go to Church every Sunday, we are the ones try to live a good Christian life; we keep the commandments for the most part and there we are entitled to God’s favor.

Sometimes our hearts can be filled with anger when people are not as Christian as we are.  We can be angry with those who don’t keep the rules.  The older son, even though he kept all the rules of his religion, his heart was not filled with joy.  His heart was not touched by his father’s love.  His keeping of the rules was a burden.

What about us?  Is coming to Mass on Sunday, is living a chaste life, is sharing what we have with others – is our spirituality a burden for us and are we secretly jealous of those who live a more reckless life than we do.  Does our faith bring joy to our hearts -- the experience of laetare – or are we carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders in living a spiritual life?

The older brother in this Gospel parable has such a powerful message for us.  If there not joy in the practice of our faith, we do not as of yet know Jesus in our hearts.   Instead of judging what is wrong in our younger’s brother way of living, instead of being   judgmental  about how others are living, may our focus be on encountering Christ who gives meaning  and purpose to our lives.

Yes, we will still experience  suffering and the cross in our Lenten journey and in the journey of our life.  But even the crosses will not take from us the joy of knowing the Lord and wanting to give Him thanks for the ways our lives are blessed.

Pope Francis wrote his exhortation EVANGELI GAUDIUM, The Joy of the Gospel.  Francis says the joy is a litmus test of us encountering the Lord.   The point is it is not enough even to keep all the commandments if our hearts are not touched by the joy and the love of the Lord.  If our practice of religion comes with anger toward those who have no regard for the spiritual ilfe, then we are not getting it.  There is still too much of the older brother in us and not enough of the merciful and welcoming father.

Yesterday, we had a pre-cana session for those preparing  for the sacrament of marriage.  There is much obvious joy in their hearts as they share their love with their spouse to be.

So too, may there be much joy in our hearts in knowing the Lord in prayer and in knowing the Lord in our prayer and in our love and service of one another.

At the end of the day, the merciful father was filled with compassion and love and joy with the return of his younger son whereas the older brother was filled with anger and jealousy when he heard the sound of music and dancing.  May whatever anger there is within us toward another be turned into compassion so that we will be able to hear the sound of music and dancing in our hearts.