Yesterday, I had a reflection on the gospel, which was the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Prodigal Son story is a very familiar one for us, and we have probably heard it many times.
Now, for those of you who went to mass when candidates might have been present, like I was at. You received a different set of readings (and of course Gospel). The gospel when candidates were present involved Jesus healing a blind man. At the mass I went to yesterday, the priest started his homily by talking about a certain part of the Baptismal liturgy, the receiving of the Candle, that is the "Light of Christ". He then spoke about sin, and about confession.
I want to look back at the prodigal son. You are probably familiar with this story. I am sure you have heard it before. This story is very familiar to many Catholics, and I am sure you have heard it before read at mass, especially now during Lent, of course. You may have also have heard it used during a penance service, or during an examination of conscience.
The way I looked at this is how God comes to us from where we are, how he essentially meets us where we are. Just as the father in the parable, meets his son while he was still far from home. So does God meet us when we are far from him. From this he calls us forward, home to rejoice with him.
I want to relate this to another part of the gospels, with another familiar parable which Jesus offers us. As I often mention when talking about parables, Jesus offers us these parable, or rather he offers them to the people of his time, to deeply relate the things of heaven, those deep theological mysteries, to things well understood to the people of the time.
A similar parable that I wish to relate, is the parable of the 99 sheep. In this story, a shepherd has 100 sheep, and 1 of them goes missing. Rather than cutting his loses, carrying on where he might have to go, this shepherd leaves behind his 99 sheep, and goes to seek out this one, and when he finds it, he comes rejoicing back.
Let's put the Parable of the Prodigal Son into a bit of context. At the time, Jesus was being gathered around by tax collectors and sinners. And this makes the Pharisees indignant at Jesus. "Why does this man welcome sinners and eat with them?". In address to this, Jesus offers them the parable of the Prodigal Son. Understand, the Pharisees were the very self-righteous religious leaders. In their minds, they were perfect, and anyone who did not follow there ways, were essentially damned, and even in life not to be addressed.
This is why they get so indignant at Jesus. These people were to be avoided at all costs, and especially should never be eaten with or even sat with.
But in what he does Jesus gives an important message. It does not matter who you are, or what you have done. God's grace, it not earned, not by any merits, rather it is a free gift from God. And that gift comes first to anyone, no matter who they are.
And because of this grace, we are able to grow, to become better people. In other words, God meets us where we are, and brings us further. We can even say he takes us far beyond where our imagination can imagine.
Above all, this grace, is a gift of God, and not something we earn based on our own merits. God's love and grace, are infinite and undying. Even though we ourselves are flawed and sinful. That is why God still offers us forgiveness, most especially in the Sacrament of Penance.
I like to think of this line from an older song, It Had to be You: "With all your faults, I love you still". Despite our many flaws, God still is willing to love us.
The Christian life, is not a life of self-righteous perfection like the Pharisees. Rather it is accepting God's grace. And truly accepting God into our hearts can happen at any point in our lives. We must be willing to accept God, no matter who we are, what we have done. We must be willing to, like the Prodigal Son, return to God. For as Jesus says, there is more rejoicing in heaven over one person who comes to God, than there are for the 99 already righteous.
To return to God, is to return to home, to return where we belong. This call is for each of us, to love the Lord. No matter who we are, no matter what we have done. The call home, the call to return, remains open to each of us. That call of the Prodigal Son. God is ready to meet us, and to bring us into greatness. For the utmost of greatness is that call to be home with him.
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