Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls

The Sunday TV Mass is produced and broadcast weekly by the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls to bring the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy into the lives and homes of those shut-in and unable to join their local community for Mass. The Mass is broadcast on the local CBS affiliate and has an audience of approximately 9,000 viewers. We also broadcast on Siouxland Christian Broadcasting.

Broadcast Schedule

Sunday
10:00am CT - 9:00am MT - KELOLAND TV
9:00am CT - KSCB cable channel 30 (Sioux Falls)

This Week's Homily
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Date Aired: 3/14/2010
Celebrant: Bishop Paul J. Swain

A young man leans against a tree as the night shadows begin to fall. He looks expectantly, wistfully, fearfully at the house. Should I go in, he wonders. What would happen? Inside the house a table lamp is turned on. A mother glances out the window. As dusk falls she remembers her son coming home about this time, anxious to eat. She sighs, wonders where he is, how he is since he and his father fought so bitterly and he left. The father enters the room. They look at each other. The silence between them screams. He knows what she is thinking. He quickly turns on the TV to break the emptiness. He wonders why his son treated him that way, his former son that is.

Who could that angry young man be? Who could that aching mother, that sad father be? Could they be you or me? Expressions of anger, divisive disagreements and sinful behaviors have implications beyond the moment, on those who strike out, on those who are struck, and on those who care about them both. The antidote is forgiveness. But forgiveness is a great challenge for most of us. C.S. Lewis said, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” Forgiveness is hard if it is to be sincere.

The parable in the Gospel reading can encourage us as we struggle to forgive or to have the courage to seek forgiveness, reconciliation among ourselves and with God. This parable is a story of love, a father’s love, our Father’s love reflected in Christ on the cross who died for all of us wayward people. The one character we ought to identify with is not so much the wandering son, though we may have been him, or the resentful older brother though we may have been him as well. The one with whom we should identify is the forgiving father who rejoices in the return of his son. St. Paul in the 2nd reading tells us that we are to be ambassadors of Christ, which means that we are called to reflect and represent to the world the love and mercy that Christ offers us.

We can forgive. We can hate the sin and love the sinner. We do it all the time with ourselves. We just prayed,”I confess to Almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinned through my own fault in what I have done and what I have failed to do.” We hate our sin, but hopefully do not, should not, reject ourselves because we are sinners. We seek for ourselves and should seek for others the grace to move beyond our failings and allow others to move beyond theirs.

That young man gets up the courage, approaches the door, rings the bell and waits, wanting to run yet wanting to go home. The father opens the door. Their eyes meet. ”Mother,” he says, “our son is home, let’s eat.”

To forgive does not mean we condone or minimize wrong actions. Nor does it mean that just consequences can be avoided. Nor does it mean that differences are eliminated. Nor does it result in a sudden removal of the hurt. But when it comes from the heart or is received in the soul, it can lift us beyond the divisive moments of the past and open us to receive the grace God offers us to move beyond it.

“We must celebrate and rejoice,” said the loving and forgiving father, “because your brother was dead and has come to life again, he was lost and has been found.” May we this Lent rejoice in God’s mercy to us sinners, and share our forgiveness with those in our lives who were lost and have been found.