In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a father has two sons, and the younger son claims his inheritance in advance, contrary to Jewish custom. By right, the first-born son should inherit most of the wealth, and the younger son has no right to demand his inheritance.

Scriptures provide hundreds of proofs that God’s mercy knows no bounds. In the New Testament, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection makes evident His love and power over sin and death. The forgiveness of sins is possible through the Paschal Mystery and the mediation of the Church. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained (Jn. 20:23). God forgives sins, and He never tires forgiving sins. But through the sacrament of reconciliation, the Lord forgives sins and blots out all our offenses. Jesus is the Divine Mercy; through the absolution, the priest gives in the Sacrament of Penance restores the penitent to the grace to act with charity and grow in love with Him.

In the Old Testament, many consider Abraham as the Father of Faith. The first reading narrates the story of God choosing Abram (Abraham) and the promise God made to provide him and his descendants, both progeny and land. Although childless and over seventy-five years old, Abraham responds with great faith—this is how he built his friendship with God. God established a covenant with Abraham, whose descendants would be as numerous as the number of stars in the sky. Despite being without a child at that time, Abraham believed. The faith of Abraham is the faith we received as his spiritual descendants.