4th Sunday of Lent- Fr. Leo
For me the parable of the Prodigal Son is a story about God’s mercy. For God, love and mercy are the same. Just as God cannot be unloving, so too God cannot be unmerciful. This is good news for us because it reminds us that we have nothing to fear from God, and can freely turn to him in our failures. In fact, that is why Jesus was born into humanity. “Oh, happy fault, that won us so great a redeemer.”
In some ways the younger son in our story is the lucky one. He learns the most and receives the most, even though we cast him in the light of the prodigal. Full of himself, he takes his inheritance and lives life as he thinks is fun. There were probably some great times, but his chosen life was not sustainable. He ends up desperate. This wakes him up and he learns of his need to return home.
Humbled by his mistakes, he confesses his sin to his Father expecting the worst. The Father doesn’t even seem to care. All he knows is that the son he loves has come to his senses and returned home. So excited is the Father that he runs to his son, not caring it that is considered embarrassing for a man of his station. To the son’s statement of self-awareness, he has a cloak put on his shoulders, a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet. Once a son always a son!
What I like about this part of the parable, is that the son learns he doesn’t have to be embarrassed by his learning experiences. He has a father who is always there for him. What joy he and his father must have enjoyed.
For me, the eldest son is also prodigal. He refuses, out of jealousy, to join the party. His father explains he has lost nothing in his brother’s gain. The father wants his eldest son to be part of the family celebration.
We see from this that the eldest son was self-absorbed as well. He took being a son as a role, a path to his own power, not a sharing in the Father’s love as part of a family. In the end, we are left wondering if he ever comes to his senses and enters the family celebration.
We are all the father, elder son and younger son in this story. Hopefully, the part of us that is the son, will give up our own selfish agendas and choose love, to be part of the family of God and experience the joy and wonder of God’s mercy and love. We have
nothing to fear or be ashamed of. We have everything to gain - the integrity and trust of being a son or daughter of the father. This gift received is also the bond of our unity with others, who like ourselves, rejoice in the goodness of our God. This is the moment when we become father and mother to each other.