Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

1. Lectio

“Now the older son…”

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

One son wandered far from home.
The other never left the farm.

Another major challenge posed by these emerging systems is that of bias, which leads to acquiring and transmitting an altered perception of reality. AI models are shaped by the worldview of those who build them and can, in turn, impose these ways of thinking by reproducing the stereotypes and prejudices present in the data they draw on. A lack of transparency in algorithmic programming, together with the inadequate social representation of data, tends to trap us in networks that manipulate our thoughts and prolong and intensify existing social inequalities and injustices.

To be or to pretend to be: simulating relationships and reality

As I reflect on Communion — the Centennial pillar for March, do I remember that every person I encounter is a son or daughter of the same Father, or do I allow distorted perceptions—whether shaped by our “serious mistake” algorithms, prejudice, or incomplete information—to cloud my vision and weaken the communion that God intends among His children?

2. Meditatio

I must confess that whenever I hear the Parable of the Prodigal Son, my instincts are immediately suspicious.

It is not that I object to forgiveness. I am entirely in favor of forgiveness—particularly when it is extended to me.

I have always suspected that I am the older son.

The younger son is easy to recognize. He storms out dramatically, wastes everything, feeds pigs, and returns home in humiliating repentance. It is a splendidly theatrical sort of sin—rather like falling off a cliff in public.

But the older son commits the much quieter sin of standing politely outside the house.

Which, I must admit, is exactly the sort of sin I prefer.

I am the eldest of four sons, and I have spent a considerable portion of my life behaving like the elder brother in Christ’s parable: loyal, industrious, obedient—and just a little bit resentful that nobody seems to notice.

There was a time when I was something of a poster child for church involvement. Catechetical ministry, prison ministry, ACTS retreats, mowing lawns—if there was a church activity requiring volunteers, I was there.

Unfortunately, I eventually discovered the curious danger of being the older son: the more faithfully one serves, the more one begins to believe that the party is owed to him.

Which is precisely when the trouble begins.

For the older son does not actually want a party.

He wants recognition.

And when recognition fails to appear, he stands outside the house pouting while everyone else is inside dancing.

This is the tragedy of the elder brother: he lives in the father’s house but never truly enjoys the father.

Ironically, it took being banned from my comfortable role as the older son for me to begin learning how to enjoy the party.

There is something strangely liberating about discovering that the Church does not revolve around my usefulness.

The father does not love the son because of the work he performs in the vineyard.
The father loves the son because he is a son.

Which is the one qualification that neither brother ever loses.

3. Contemplatio (Chestertonian Synthesis)

Chesterton once observed that Christianity is the only religion where God runs.

In most religions, man runs toward God.

But in this story, the father runs toward the son.

And what is most curious is that he runs toward both sons.

He runs down the road to embrace the younger son returning in shame.
And he walks out of the house to plead with the older son standing in resentment.

The father does not merely forgive the prodigal.
He also patiently endures the faithful sulker.

Which is very good news for people like me.

For it means that whether I wander far into foolishness or stand stubbornly outside the celebration, the father continues to call me by the same title:

“My son.”

4. Oratio

5. Actio — In Light of Laudato Si’ and Synodality

Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love: “Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world”.[166]

Laudato si’ §236

Authentic ecological and social conversion begins when we recognize that everything we have is gift. Synodality calls us to walk together not as competitors for recognition but as brothers and sisters sharing a common inheritance.

Today I will consciously thank God for one grace I often take for granted—family, faith, land, or community.

Gratitude is the doorway through which the older son finally enters the party.

6. Song Pairing 🎵

🎶 “Gospel Changes” — John Denver🎵

7. Movie Pairing 🎬

🎬Movie: Hud (1963)

My Story

• Bishop Matthiesen, who rode the white horse of public activism even as he brought abusive priests into our diocese such as John Salazar—wounds that still mark us today. I spoke with him often, pleading with him to reconsider his “no regrets” about bringing those priests here…
• Bishop Yanta, who sought to enforce the Dallas Charter even when Bishop Matthiesen resisted him, and who bore the personal and pastoral cost of doing so. I met with Bishop Yanta about Bishop Matthiessen’s “no regrets” stance. He listened. He believed me. He acted where he could. And when he retired, he urged me—quietly but firmly—to keep speaking out.
• Bishop Zurek, who told the Diocese of Amarillo he had “no facts” about the Philadelphia report even as Amarillo’s connection to that tragedy was headline news. When I continued to speak out, as Bishop Yanta had once urged me to do, he later wrote that I was not among the faithful and loyal disciples whom the Lord Jesus desires.
• Bishop Daniel Cardinal DiNardo…