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Pope Francis once gave a retreat for priests using this parable of the Prodigal Son. He focused on a few different moments, one being the embrace between the father and the son.

Notice when the son returns home, the father immediately vests him with the finest robe, new sandals for his feet, and a ring just like his dad’s.

He doesn’t say, “Go first and shower, wash your face, and brush your hair.” He immediately embraces him and sends him into the banquet.

That is the type of love God has for us. When we confess our sins, we are instantly forgiven, as if they never happened. God simply wants us to come home where we belong.

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While it’s easy for the Father to forgive us, the other side of the coin involves forgiving ourselves. This son had wasted his inheritance on a life of pleasure, learning in the end that love alone would fulfill him.

But just as the father didn’t want his son to hold on to past memories, or suffer any longer from guilt or shame, so God wants us to move on from our past.

If we’ve done anything that we feel guilt or shame for, God wants us to let it go. He already has.

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After all, God is preparing a feast for us at this very altar, where he will offer his Son in reparation for our sins.

(Gospel: Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”Matthew 5:43-48)

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If you have ever played a video game (like Super Mario!), then you know that there is always a series of levels.

The first level is the easiest, and the final level is the most difficult. Sometimes it takes multiple tries before you succeed in beating that final level… but if you do, then you have mastered the game.

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In a similar way, if Christianity were a video game, then today’s Gospel would be the final level – learning how to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

If you are able to accomplish this, then, you have mastered Christianity.

And while incredibly difficult, we should never shy away from trying to put this teaching into practice.

Ironically, the most difficult place to live it out can be within our very own homes. Anyone who hurts us – even our loved ones – can become our enemies, because they frustrate our experience of love. Yet as Christians, we must work for peace – peace in our homes, and peace in our hearts, choosing mercy over anger, love over resentment.

For that is how the game is mastered, so to speak, by repeatedly putting our faith into practice.

(Gospel: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, you shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment… Matthew 5:20-26)

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The Church is widely known for making distinctions. For example, there’s a difference between an angel and an archangel, moral versus immoral, good versus evil, or a venial sin versus a mortal sin.

A venial sin might involve harboring a slight grudge in our heart towards someone who has hurt us; a mortal sin would involve intentionally acting on that anger – even to the point of murder.

While we are most likely not guilty of any mortal sin, we can commit venial sins all the time. The temptation is to brush them off, as if they are really not that big of a deal. I’m angry at someone…. so what?

The Gospel tells us that that grudge IS a big deal, because no sin is permissible in heaven. “Whoever is angry with his brother,” Jesus says, “will be liable to judgment” (Mt. 5:22).

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Given we are in the season of Lent, now is the perfect time for us to examine our conscience and see where we can grow in more perfect love. In other words: Do I judge others? Do I gossip? Do I harbor any anger?

Even if we don’t act on these feelings, Jesus still wants to remove them from our hearts, especially through the sacrament of confession, because we cannot enter the kingdom of God until we are perfect.

That is the challenge of discipleship: to forgive without limits; to love to a ridiculous level, just as Christ has loved us.