Gospel Reflections for March 31 2019
Who is on your side?
When things go very wrong, you can feel very alone. It is one of the worst feelings anyone can have. Do you know who will always stand with you, in good times and in bad?
This Gospel wants you to recognize who that might be.
The younger son in this famous Gospel story has deeply insulted his father by demanding his inheritance before his father has even died. The father is humiliated in his own village by the arrogance and greed of his youngest son. Moreover, the son leaves the family farm, where he was sorely needed, and goes away to a far country where he thinks he will find a better life. However, he soon loses all his money and is now destitute. Everything has gone wrong and he is alone and desperate.
He decides to return home, even knowing that no one there would ever want him back in the house. He decides to return simply as a worker in the fields.
Much to his surprise, his father has been patiently waiting for him, and rushes out to meet him …rejoicing at his return! He immediately prepares a party to celebrate his son’s return.
The son would have expected anger, revenge, insults, and constant reminders what a bad person he was. Instead …he gets a party! His humble return is all that his father needs to know that he is a changed person.
I have counseled many couples where one person has strayed from the marriage. Sometimes, wayward spouses want to return, but worry about a lifetime afterwards of being reminded of their mistake, over and over again, and how bad a person they were. They worry about returning to a hardened home of anger and revenge.
The father in this Gospel provides a “soft landing” for his son to return. Good advice for anyone welcoming back a wayward spouse as well.
Every relationship is a series of starts and stops. Every marriage will one day have a crisis to endure. Those who know how to recover well …end up being the happiest of all. Forgiveness can lead to authentic reconciliation, not bitter recrimination. (See my article Forgiveness is Not Forgetting)
We can be glad that with God that there is no anger or revenge if we repent and truly change our ways. He will not hold our mistakes over us day after day, but simply rejoice in our return.
This is exactly what this season of Lent is for!
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
God’s love for us is an uplifting thought. Thanks Father Dave.
Dear Fr. Dave,
One of the most beautiful passages in the gospel. My favorite part is that the Father has been watching the horizon for this son’s return. That means he has been praying and hope for his safe return. God the Father is willing love and goodness for us. We can return our thanksgiving, praise , gratitude, and love for him and our neighbors.
God Bless
Jane
Yes, I agree completely. That scene of the father watching for his son’s return is the most touching of all.
You are welcome!
We Catholics must return to the confessional. It is shocking and sad how few people receive the sacrament. You’d think with all the evil in our society that the lines for confession would be out the door and down the block. Parishes offering the sacrament for an hour once a week for only an hour do a great disservice. More to the point, these same missing in action Catholics are more than happy to receive the Holy Eucharist on Sunday. For shame. It would be a good thing if our good priests admonished the sinner during the homily and called us back to where we belong.
Yes, and I hope the priests will be as welcoming as the father in this important parable.
Beautiful commentary Father Dave!!! The preciousness of this parable is that God’s heart is soooooooooo filled with overwhelming love for us that He will always forgive us!! Loveeeeeeeeeeee it and we in loveeeeeeeeee must forgive others and ourselves to!!! Love our precious Faith and loveee you for sharing our Faidth soooooooooooooooooooo beautifully with us!!!
Loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Franca and Dick and yes I do loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee vowels for they express my loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Hahhaha!!!
Thank you!
‘Love your commentary, Fr.Dave!
The story of the Prodigal Son could be our story too,
a changed heart returning home to a Father who is nothing but Love.
Well said Fr. Dave. I used to have problems with this parable years ago but am comfortable with it now! I like your saying that life is a series of “starts and stops”. Excellent analogy! We just saw the movie “Unplanned” and that is definitely a sequel of the Prodigal story but even more extreme (thousands of babies dead from abortions) and yet God’s love is limitless and ever ready to bestow regardless of what would be labeled unforgivable behavior by us humans! Praise be the Lord for His boundless love!
One of the reasons for the great shift of our American population to a pro-life stance is the testimony of women who have had abortions, and have found a welcoming community to return to.
Thank you, Father Dave, for this Sunday’s Gospel synopsis. It’s always been a particularly interesting lesson of family love … the welcoming arms of an understanding father. Yes, the welcoming arms, too, of our heavenly father.
The enormity of such beauty is humbling and awesome at the same time.
By the way, thank you for your prayers. Surgery went well!
God bless.
Kathleen A.
Good news! Thanks for the update.
This really hit on things we all suffer from. We are going along fine and then you know who reminds us of the past. So I have to practice forgiveness for myself and acept Gods mercy and love. Not always easy.
By the way, going over to St. Paschals today to celebrat 15 years of adoration… I remember with great joy when it started. The exciting thing to note is how it as spread. Many churches are having adoration. Spreading like wildfire. It seems that St. Paschals was that spark.
Very glad that so much good has happened from the Adoration Chapel there.
One of the hardest things for Christians to realize is how much God loves us, sorrow for our faults can turn to despair and keep us from returning to our Father. I like your description of how the prodigal son found the courage to return home, in humility. The thought that is on my mind is that I must forgive others as the Father does in this parable, it is difficult to lovingly reconcile when I want revenge. In the Lord’s prayer we all pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others”; Jesus also says,”the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”
Well said. Yes the hardest thing for some to recognize is that God actually loves you. Everything changes for the better once that is accepted!