St.

Francis College
Pascual B. Gutay St., Sabang II
Allen, Northern Samar 6405

MODULE 2
CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP: THE ESSENCE OF
FORGIVENESS
SESSION : WEEK 3
GRADE LEVEL : 12
LEARNING COMPETENCIES:

 The learners will understand the basic Christian value of forgiveness

 Learners will be able to engage in reflective thinking

I. CONCEPT

Forgiveness: An essential Christian value

ENTRY POINT

Recall the last time that someone has offended you. How were you able to forgive the person?
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II. Discussion:

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

(Luke 15: 11-32)

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his
father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property
between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into
a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent
everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and
hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than
enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to
him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called
your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But
while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced
him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before
you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants, [c]
‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23
And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and
is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music
and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he
said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has
received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out
and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I
never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with
my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes,
you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all
that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is
alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

REFLECTION ON THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON

(Luke 15: 11-32)
by Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB
At the Investiture Vigil Service
The parable of the Prodigal Son is likely one of the most quoted and most versatile of all the stories
in the Gospels. And it is so because at various times in our lives it is easy to identify with one or all
of these three characters. Of course, our motives for identifying with them can be mixed, such as
when we prefer to put ourselves in the

shoes of the generous father. He has been deeply wronged, and his youngest son has been a keen
disappointment. We’ve all been there. And there is more than a hint of disappointment to be found
in the eldest son, who complains that he has not gotten proper recognition from the father. We’ve
all been the aggrieved elder brother. But unlike the father, are there times when we’ve preferred to
wallow in our grief and refuse to turn the page and move on?

We’ve also been in the shoes of the penitential son, who returns hat in hand from a wasted life,
hoping to begin all over again. If the truth be told, most of us have a hard time imagining ourselves
doing horrible things from which we need to repent. Repentance and change of life are generally
what other people need to do, and each of us, without much trouble, could compile a list of friends
and neighbors who are in need of a healthy dose of repentance.

More often than not, however, many of us prefer to be the older brother. We’ve been good boys
and girls throughout life, been well-behaved, worked hard. But why is it that all the wicked people
around us seem to prosper? Where is justice in this world?

We end up with a story in which one person desperately wants forgiveness; a second wants to give
it freely; and a third begrudges the easy forgiveness that the undeserving brother gets. But therein is
the struggle that goes on daily in our lives.

Just for today let’s pretend that we are not the generous father. Let’s pretend that we are not the
virtuous older brother who does everything right and gets so little recognition in return. For a
moment, let’s pretend, hypothetically of course, that we are the younger brother – the sinner, the
wastrel, the guy who needs to turn his life around. If you have to, stretch your imagination on this,
even if you’ve never been there.

For years there was an element in this parable that had never occurred to me, until someone pointed
out to me how unconditional the father’s love really is. There is no sequel to this parable, but if
there were, it would not include a scene like this. Having forgiven his son on Monday, the father
wakes up on Tuesday and begins a lifetime of nagging his son – a lifetime of reminding his son of
how much he had forgiven him. On the contrary, the parable assumes there will be no daily
reminders of the ridiculous life his son had led, because the father has moved on emotionally. He’s
wiped the son’s slate clean, but the father has also rid himself of any memory of disappointment
that could haunt him for the rest of his life. He counts his blessings and leaves the burden of his
son’s sins behind him.

And so for the father this story of forgiveness is wonderfully liberating. But it is liberating for the
son too. For the son the reconciliation is genuine. There is no burden of sin to contend with. There
is the joy of having a clean slate on which to write the next stage of his life, and an appreciation of
how generous his father had
been. And while the absence of a sequel to the parable lets us guess, I’d like to think that on
Tuesday the prodigal son starts his life all over – with a vengeance. We have to assume that after
forgiveness on Monday, he does not resume his old ways on Tuesday. Instead, there is a genuine
conversion experience. He’s gotten another chance, and with forgiveness has come responsibility.
With his father’s forgiveness

and love, he now can’t go back. His commitment must be total and complete and be lived out every
day. He must be a new man, building on the gifts that were already there but never used before.

There’s one other piece to the parable that makes it perfect for this Investiture vigil. At the
welcome home, after the son has repented and committed himself to a new life, the father clothes
him in a colorful robe. Whatever else that robing accomplished, it most definitely was not meant to
honor his son’s past life. Rather, it was a sign to the son and to everyone else that something
important had taken place. He was the same old son, but he is a new son, and acceptance of the
robe is a sign of a covenant between the repentant son and the loving father. The son cannot go
back to the old ways, because the robe is a reminder to every one of the new responsibility that the
son accepts.
You and I are repentant sons and daughters as we approach the altar today. God is our loving
father, and we know that his forgiveness is complete. We should also know that if today we are the
perfect and aggrieved elder brother, then we don’t need the robe that symbolizes a change of life.
The robe is for those who need to repent; the robe is for those who commit their lives in response to
a loving father.
Shortly you will each be clothed in the robe that is a sign of our recommitment to walk in the steps
of a loving father. As such, we are all prodigal sons and daughters. But like the prodigal son, be
sure of your willingness to make the confession of sin to our loving Father; be sure of your
willingness to start life anew in a very special relationship with God; be sure that you can accept
the responsibility to live in this covenant you make with God. The Lord invites us as a loving
Father to confess, to amend our lives, and to walk always in his paths. If we choose to do this, the
Lord will always walk with us.

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

ARTICLE 10
"I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS"

976 The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy
Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the
Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive
sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins
of any, they are retained."520
>977 Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: "Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved."521 Baptism is the
first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our
sins and rose for our justification, so that "we too might walk in newness of life."522

978 "When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed us,
the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely
nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there
left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them. . . . Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one
from all the weakness of nature. On the contrary, we must still combat the movements of
concupiscence that never cease leading us into evil "523

979 In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to
escape every wound of sin? "If the Church has the power to forgive sins, then Baptism cannot be
her only means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus Christ. The Church
must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even if they should sin until the last moment of
their lives."524

980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with
the Church:

Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers "a laborious kind of baptism." This sacrament
of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is
necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn.525
981 After his Resurrection, Christ sent his apostles "so that repentance and forgiveness of sins
should be preached in his name to all nations."526 The apostles and their successors carry out this
"ministry of reconciliation," not only by announcing to men God's forgiveness merited for us by
Christ, and calling them to conversion and faith; but also by communicating to them the forgiveness
of sins in Baptism, and reconciling them with God and with the Church through the power of the
keys, received from Christ:527

[The Church] has received the keys of the Kingdom of heaven so that, in her, sins may be forgiven
through Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit's action. In this Church, the soul dead through sin comes
back to life in order to live with Christ, whose grace has saved us.528
982 There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. "There is no one,
however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance
is honest.529 Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should
always be open to anyone who turns away from sin.530
983 Catechesis strives to awaken and nourish in the faithful faith in the incomparable greatness of
the risen Christ's gift to his Church: the mission and the power to forgive sins through the ministry
of the apostles and their successors:
The Lord wills that his disciples possess a tremendous power: that his lowly servants accomplish in
his name all that he did when he was on earth.531
Priests have received from God a power that he has given neither to angels nor to archangels . . .
God above confirms what priests do here below.532
Were there no forgiveness of sins in the Church, there would be no hope of life to come or eternal
liberation. Let us thank God who has given his Church such a gift.533

IN BRIEF

984 The Creed links "the forgiveness of sins" with its profession of faith in the Holy Spirit, for the
risen Christ entrusted to the apostles the power to forgive sins when he gave them the Holy Spirit.
985 Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of the forgiveness of sins: it unites us to Christ, who
died and rose, and gives us the Holy Spirit.

986 By Christ's will, the Church possesses the power to forgive the sins of the baptized and
exercises it through bishops and priests normally in the sacrament of Penance.

987 "In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus
Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give
us the grace of justification" (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).

III. ASSESSMENT
EXERCISE # 1
1.) Which part of the parable has struck you the most and why?
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2.) Do you see yourself in any of the characters in the story? Which one? What does that tell you
about yourself?
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3.) How do our own life experiences and practical values seem to influence our understanding of
what is going on in this story that Jesus tells?
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4.) Do you agree with the father’s celebration for the return of his prodigal son?
Why/ why not?
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5.) What point do you think Jesus is trying to convey with this story? To whom is he trying to
convey it?
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