The Prodical Son

The readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/091116.cfm.

In all our readings for today we see the love and forgiveness of God the Father for all of us. Jesus very skillfully shows in the Gospel how God is always reaching out to us when we turn away from Him. We are always on His mind and in His heart.

In the Gospel we hear the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son. This parable can also be called "The Loving Father" or "The Judgemental Brother". Who do you relate to in this story?

I can imagine the hurt the father must have felt when the Prodigal Son asked him for his inheritance. The son is pretty much saying, "I can't wait for you to die. Give me my inheritance now!!" The father, though, looks lovingly at his son and gives him what he asks. I imagine that as he's giving his son what he asks for, he was also praying for him to come to his senses. That's the love the father has for his son. Are we like "The Loving Father" praying for those in our lives, even when we know they are doing something they shouldn't be doing?

The son eventually learns the hard way (as we all do) from the mistakes he makes with wasting the money on a lifestyle that is not appropriate. God expects us to use our resources wisely and for the good of all people around us. Rather, the Prodigal Son was very self-centered and selfish with the gift he received from his father. It was only when he became desperate that he realized that he should turn back towards his father and seek forgiveness. Though he was experiencing physical hunger ("... he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any..." Luke 15:16), he was also experiencing the hunger of the love of his father towards him, and he comes to his senses and went home to his father.

Then there's "The Judgemental Brother." How many of us good Catholics and Christians can relate to this son & brother saying, "Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders" (Luke 15:29)? We do the "right thing" every week. We go to confession, we attend Sunday (and even daily) Mass. We're the "goody two shoes" always doing what we think God expects of us in our lives. We may have family members that are away from the church and we may feel they don't deserve the love and generosity of God because of the kind of life they may have lived. What God is telling us is that, though all the things we do are good (going to confession and to mass), we also must be all embracing with those in our family or friends that may be living in a way that may not measure up to what we think God is expecting of them. It is through our way of life, and our love not only towards to God, but towards them, that will bring them into closer relationship with God. Instead of saying, like the Pharisees and scribes, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." (Luke 15:2), we can, like the father, say "...we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found." (Luke 15:32)

As we approach our Lord in Holy Communion this week, or in the Sacrament of Confession, let us pray for those in our lives that may have turned away from God and His love. And let us pray for ourselves that we can be like the father, there waiting for them when they return to relationship with God.