In Today's Gospel, we have the story of the Prodigal Son, which presents us with an overwhelming picture of God who is all-loving, all-caring, and all-forgiving. This is the family story of the Prodigal Son, generally understood as the greatest short story in the world. The context of today's parable is very important. Jesus does not confront them directly but tells the story about a father who had two sons. Here both are seemingly lost: one has squandered the property, and the other has refused to love his brother. The central focus of the parable, however, remains on the Father throughout the story.

Each year the first two Sundays of Lent are linked with specific events in the life of Christ: the temptations he endured in the Judean desert and the Transfiguration on the mountain, as recorded in the Gospels. The third Sunday of Lent, though, is not so much centered on an event in Christ's life, but is concerned with Jesus' teaching on the patience, mercy, and love of our God. The three readings assigned for this Sunday all touch on the importance of place hope in God, the All merciful and Giver of Life, who is always ready to forgive transgressors.

The splendid vision in our Gospel today comes after Jesus had said that “The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.” This was no good news to the disciples who expected Jesus, as the Messiah, to drive out the Roman army of occupation and restore the kingdom of Israel. Many of them would have begun to have second thoughts: Is Jesus really the expected Messiah? So, a few days after, Jesus invites the three leaders of his group—Peter, James, and John—to go with him up a mountain, to show them another angle on reality.

On Wednesday, we began the season of Lent. Lent is the season of repentance, a change in our attitude towards God and our neighbor. Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, the liturgy of the word invites us to meditate on the temptations of Jesus, which show us how to remain focused in our call as Christians and in our faithfulness to God the Father who is always faithful.

Today is the Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, the last Sunday before Lent begins. With the Gospel of today, (Luke 6:39-45) we come to the third major section from Jesus' instruction to his disciples known as the Sermon on the Plain. Where the section set for last week dealt with action towards others, now we seem to have something that is trying to reach deeper; to the wellspring of action found in the human heart.