The parable of the prodigal son is a story how God heals our wounds, often selfinflicted by our wrong choices and what cruelty and insensitiveness of others inflict on us. The parable has all the questions, answers and complexity of human life and how a loving God desires our salvation. This story is more about the father’s prodigal love. Like the prodigal son, we too squander our Father’s [God] inheritance; we pollute the earth, air and water; we go to war and release all toxic chemicals that cause terminal illness in people and destroy human enterprise, fruits of labor and each other! Many entertain an attitude that everything is about me and delight in an evil joy in conflicts within family and community. We estrange ourselves from mending broken relationships and act like the elder son in the story, which is our judging, resentful and not reconciling self.
The gospel says the prodigal son lived a life of dissipation, meaning he wasted his life. A grave sin can be seen as an assault on one’s own dignity, health or wellbeing, neglecting or ignoring God’s call to flourish in life. The son, when came to his senses, how he damaged his life, was riddled with shame and guilt, totally broken and thought of his father’s home; meanwhile his father, also brokenhearted, was patiently waiting in love for his son’s return. The father running toward his son shows that he wasn’t judging or condemning his son, no anger or denunciation. He didn’t put him on trial but he shed tears of joy embracing his son because he was lost and now he is found. Jesus says our heavenly Father is like the father of the prodigal son. Human thinking cannot put a limit to God’s love, compassion. His love is given as a gift but as children our hearts must be ready to accept it. This story is not about justifying wrong doings but how God’s love and mercy lead a life that is ready, to a new beginning. Lent is a time we come to our senses, or coming home to God! Who can be prodigal in love, waiting in patience to reconcile? Who will open the door of the heart for fresh air of God’s grace to come in to remove the bad air in us that suffocates us and who is ready to make everything new in love?
Sr. Joyce Rupp: ‘We are moving away from what holds us in bondage, choosing to depart from that which keeps us unfree and unable to access the best of our true self. We are traveling out of the ‘foreign land’ that claims our energy, leaving the pressure to live according to other’s burdensome expectations. We are coming home to that place within us, coming into the embrace of our compassion, where God is waiting. We are saying farewell to the land of old messages and buried emotions that have detained us, leaving behind a history that no longer holds power over us. We are reclaiming what cries out for recognition and ownership, taking back the part of us lost during our sojourn of separation from our peacefulness. We are turning toward our inner beauty and goodness, led by the God of Exiles. We are now willing to support others who search for what is missing in their lives. We know God the compassionate One travels with us in our exiles, leading us back home to sing and celebrate’.