Daily Catholic Lectio
Sat, 22 March ‘25
Second Week of Lent – Saturday
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20. Psalm 103. Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Coming to oneself!
“Stay apart, stay awake, stay hungry!” – Saint Vallalar (Ramalinga Adigal) proposes these three expressions as the path to spiritual liberation.
The Lenten practices we observe—fasting, prayer, and acts of charity—align well with these words. In fasting, we remain hungry. In prayer, we remain awake. Through acts of charity, we draw near to others even as we live apart.
In today’s Gospel reading, we read the parable of “a father and two sons.” The younger son, who goes away to a distant land, returns to his father. The elder son, who remained near, ends up moving far away in heart.
The younger son teaches us three powerful lessons today: Hunger, coming to oneself, and setting out.
(a) “He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating…” It is in his hunger that the younger son remembers home.
(b) Coming to oneself. Though he left the house impulsively and emotionally, it is in a distant land that he regains his clarity through his intellect. Before he returns to his father, he returns to himself. True conversion begins not with panic or fear, but with reflection and decision.
(c) Setting out. Though he is hungry and now has clarity, the younger son doesn’t remain where he is. He gets up and returns. This action is what reconnects him with his father.
He was hungry. He gained insight. He set out on his own.
In contrast, the elder son is full and settled. He is moved purely by emotion. Though physically near his father, he drifts away in spirit.
In the home, the father too lives in a kind of solitude. He waits with longing for his younger son’s return. When he sees him, he runs, embraces, and welcomes him with compassion. Without judgment, he receives his son—who came empty-handed—with full acceptance.
Through our Lenten efforts to discipline ourselves, we are invited to return again and again to the heart of fasting, prayer, and acts of love.
In today’s first reading, the prophet Micah reflects on the compassion God shows His people Israel: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression…?”
Let us walk this Lenten path like the younger son—awakened by hunger, enlightened in mind, and courageous in action.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Messenger of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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