Mercy, as Christ has presented it in the parable of the Prodigal Son, has the interior form of the love that in the New Testament is called "agape". This love is able to reach down to every prodigal son, to every human misery, and above all to every form of moral misery, to sin. When this happens, the person who is the object of mercy does not feel humiliated, but rather found again and 'restored to value'.

The father first and foremost expresses to him his joy that he has been found again and that he has returned to life. This joy indicates a good that has remained intact: even if he is a prodigal, a son does not cease to be truly his father's son; it also indicates a good that has been found again, which is the case of the prodigal son was his return to the truth about himself.

Conversion is 

the most concrete expression of 

the working of love and 

of the presence of mercy in the human world.

 (Source: quotation from encyclical 'Dives in Misericordia')

4th Sunday of Lent - Laetare Sunday