Pain, Invitation and Mercy

4th Sunday of Lent Pain in our body warns us that something is wrong - physically.  Pain in our interior life warns us that something is wrong - spiritually.  Both the younger son and the older son in today's Gospel experience pain.  It's pain that leads the younger son home.  It's pain that keeps the older son from going back inside his home.  Pain, as a warning, is also an invitation: an invitation from our merciful Father to come home, to come back inside, so that we can experience the feast that God is preparing for us!