This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday in Lent, Year C: the Prodigal Son. The parable begins with the younger son asking for what he considers his share of the inheritance – something that is for the father to decide. In the asking, the son communicates that he does not view the inheritance as a gift given because of his father’s good graces; rather he sees it as his due.
Kenneth Bailey, a NT scholar who lived for years in the Middle East, asked many people in the Near East cultures how one is to understand the younger son’s request. The answer is consistent and harsh: the son would rather have his father dead so as to gain the inheritance. In an honor/shame society it would be appropriate to ask, “What father having been asked by a son to give him inheritance…” No father would do such a thing. Again the Lucan answer is not the answer of the society. The father grants the request. Where the younger son asks for “the share of your estate (ousia) that should come to me.” Luke tells us that the father “divided between them his property.” Continue reading
In the first reading, we hear the story of Naaman, a Syrian general, who comes to Israel seeking a cure from his leprosy. When Naaman finds the prophet Elisha, he offers all manner of riches and gifts as inducement and payment. But Elisha wants none of it. He simply instructs Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan. Pretty simple and ordinary, yes? 
The 5th Lateran Council was summoned by Pope Julius II via the bull Sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, issued at Rome on 18 July 1511. Julius had promised such a reforming council at his election as pope, and after several schismatic cardinals, officially supported by Louis XII, king of France, had assembled a quasi-council at Pisa, Julius took action. Twice postponed, the council held its first session in Rome at the Lateran Basilica on 10 May 1512. 
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