SKP2 in St. Joseph the Worker Parish

Excerpts from the homily of Archbishop Romulo Valles, D.D. during the SKP2 in St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Sasa, Davao City.

“I am here because this is the launching in your Parish of the SK Program 2, now localized in your parish as happening in few other parishes in the Archdiocese of Davao.

“S is Sagop, K is Kinabuhi Program, and 2 (SKP 2) because we have similar programs in the church bearing the same name.

“The program’s name is very obvious and beautiful — save life.

“The Gospel today (March 31), is the prodigal son. By the way, this Prodigal Son title has been put later than the story in the Bible. In the many years ago, this ‘Prodigal Son’ was just put as a subtitle. Although, this is true, depending on how you see it.

“However, as many would comment, the better title for the Gospel text today, my dear friends, is the Merciful Father.

“How does God look at dark, sinful situations so that we may look at the same situations with the eyes and heart of Jesus?

“This is a vital question for us who believe.

“And so, we have this Gospel story.

“The father was so pained after his son got his portion of their wealth.

“Had I been the Father unlike that in the story, I would have said, ‘I am still alive but you would claim your part already. Do you want me to hang you in the tree?’

“But look at the attitude of the father. He gave it to him.

“Because, if we keep our faith, what is the true Christian, Catholic response? This is the basic question.

“And if we began saying, the next question is, how God sees in the darkness and evil?

“One learning is that the father could have stopped his son, just like how God could have stopped the incident of drugs today.

“But like the Gospel, if a child wants to leave, despite the pain, he lets him because he is a human and not a robot.

“The Lord was pained but He made us free to decide on our own.

“Again, had I been the father in the Gospel story, and thankfully it was not me, I would include the name of this child to the prayers for the dead.

“But the father is not like this. According to the Gospel, the father waited for the son. He must be dead, but no. In the eyes of that father, his son must be possibly alive. He was waiting for him.

“That father was still left with another child but he still waited for the one who left him.

“And when he saw him from afar, he met him.

“As I said before, had it been me, I would have met him with a wood to beat him instead.

“But no, this is very strange. Let us look at this as a father looking at an evil situation with a different mindset, almost impractical for us.

“Each person is precious in the eyes of God. This is a teaching that cannot be touched. Life is precious. No discussion about that. The proof is in this scripture.”