God keeps all promises even when we don’t, and God is forever willing to be reconciled with us. God promises to provide for us, to feed us, to love us. All we need to do is trust in God.

As a liturgical season, Lent has had a bad rap as a time for glumness. We aren’t even allowed to say the word “alleluia” because it’s too happy! Maybe it’s the penitential purple that casts a shadow on these weeks or the knowledge that we are moving ever closer to Passion Week and the cross.

By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

Living with his parents for the boy was never easy. So often he dreamed of moving out; of going to live with his grandparents. He wouldn’t exactly say that he hated them, but he thought it often. Now, 40 years later, he knew that this was part of growing up. No family is perfect. Most of his friends had problems and conflicts with their parents.

When I worked as a camp counselor, the kids loved when I told campfire stories about wanderers who had been lost and were seeking their way home. The kids in my care had been taken from their homes and were wards of the state, so it’s no surprise that they would identify with lost wayfarers.

They sat there fuming. The two junior partners on the litigation team put in 80-hour weeks for a solid year to win a multimillion-dollar case for the firm. They missed anniversaries, birthdays, and vacations with their families. Throughout, they kept saying, “Well, at least the money will be good.”

We ask for mercy from our God who forgives us without limit.

 “Raising children in today’s culture can be a challenge. But you’re not alone in the journey as a father. God, the perfect father in Heaven, offers grace to help you along the journey.”