By Father Rich Tomkosky
Each one of us is called every day to become a new creation in Christ. The season of Lent is a powerful reminder of this call, and the parable of the Prodigal Son is a particularly beautiful reminder of this truth. It is probably the most popular parable of Jesus. I love it, for it shows no person is beyond hope or beyond forgiveness, and all of us should be able to relate to the characters on some level.
The character of the younger son represents all of those who have fallen away from the ways of God in a serious way. At some point in our life almost all of us have been a prodigal son or daughter of God. For some of us it may have been a short period of time; for others a much longer period; and some are still in this bad stage.
Why do we turn away for God’s all-encompassing love for us? Sometimes it seems too good to be true. Sometimes we are afraid of God and what He might ask of us in our life, so we run away. Sometimes the world is just so attractive, and we think that making our mark in the world and experiencing its pleasures will lead us to real happiness, which we so desperately seek as human beings.
There is a hole in our soul in this world because we are incomplete and often times we seek to numb ourselves to this struggle by “escaping,” be it through friendships with people who are not good for us, by abuse of alcohol and drugs; addiction to TV, videogames, gambling; disordered romantic relationships and sexual immorality, pornography; materialism and career advancement; fashion, gluttony, etc. – all the various pleasures of the flesh that the younger brother gave himself over to “hook, line, and sinker.”
Like the younger brother, who was reduced to caring for the pigs which is the lowest form of life for a faithful Jew, sometimes it is only after hard experience that we discover that having a living relationship with the Blessed Trinity and living the Catholic faith passionately and with integrity is what ultimately fulfills this “God-shaped hole” in our soul that no amount of worldly pleasure can ever fill! Repentance is the key that opens the door of God’s Divine Mercy. Mercy doesn’t help one who is unrepentant of their sin or denies the sin(s). We must be aware of that truth.
What about the character of the elder brother? The elder brother in many ways seems like a good person. He was loyal to the Father and did his duties each day toward God, whom the Father in the story represents. But the problem was he simply was doing it out of a sense of duty and not out of a sense of real love. That is why he gets mad when his younger brother returns to their Father. He resents the fact that his younger brother squandered his inheritance on “dissolute living” and yet his Father receives him back with open arms. He should be punished! How dare he “live it up” and now be treated the same way as me, the one who has been loyal!?
The same harshness can happen in us if we are not careful over the years. We may even have turned away from our prodigal ways of sin and had a big conversion, but over time we can lose sight of why we are doing what we are doing faith-wise. Yes, our hearts can become hardened.
It is all about charity: love for God and neighbor. We should rejoice when people who have lived very sinful lives come back to God and the Church – not thinking: “I missed out on all that ‘fun’ and now they are in the same boat as me who has slaved away for God for years.” Truly if we think that, we have not served God all these years out of love, but out of fear of punishment or a sense of spiritually slavery – how tragic!
One concrete example that ties in last week’s message on the gift of the Mass: all the great Catholic spiritual writers say it’s a reality that people can go to Mass and Holy Communion for years without any discernable spiritual growth. Why? Because as human beings we can fall into the spiritual trap of simply “doing our duty,” in regard to God and Mass. For some, not wanting to go to Hell as it is objectively a mortal sin to miss it on purpose, or even more common today just out of habit. But do we really love God in Mass and in daily life? And are we fervent in our love for Him?
Another aspect of the elder brother dynamic is we often keep God at arm’s length in a self-created comfort zone because we really don’t want to continually change! The way of holiness is hard work! It is the way of self-denial and putting on Christ Crucified every day in new ways, and our fallen nature which likes the easy path recoils at that reality! The Lord wants us to obey Him and the Church not simply out of a sense of duty, but out of love. Responding to His love with love!
We are not to be legalists, minimalists, self-righteously living out a joyless Christianity; rather we are called to liberation and spiritual freedom in Christ – to live a life of inner/outer spiritual joy, but there is NO other way to that reality than through the Cross – the way of self-denial and laying down our life with Christ in self-giving love. That was the secret of the saints and their joy! As Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospel, He who loses His life for my sake will find it! But whoever clings to His life in this world will lose it.
“While the younger son was still a long way off, his Father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” What a beautiful image of God’s all-encompassing merciful love, although notice the Father didn’t plunge into the evil of mortal sin with His son but waited for His free return to Him – as He doesn’t want the sinner to die in sin, so He patiently waits for us to return!
Both the Prodigal Son and the elder brother needed to be reconciled with the Father (God) for different reasons, as we have now seen. We all need that same reconciliation in our own life, which is why the Lord Jesus gave the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation to His Church. Do we utilize it enough?
We are also called to imitate the Father’s love by being merciful, by seeking out those who are away from the Lord: “the prodigal sons and daughters” we deal with, as well as the “elder brothers and sisters” who are judgmental and difficult to deal with.
We must witness to our Catholic faith in holiness and out of a sense of love, not obligation. The Lord calls us to this, even though we are all “works in progress.”
The Lord is like the “Hound of Heaven” as the poet Francis Thompson put it after battling alcoholism for many years. God is always pursuing us, to try to save us! May we imitate God in this zealous love for the spiritual salvation of all people.
Never give up on other souls! Are we willing to pray and suffer for other’s conversion? If we are worried about the salvation of our own soul, and the souls of our spouse, children, grandchildren, relatives, neighbors and friends, as we should be (which is a concrete sign we are growing in the spiritual life), are we willing to take a share of their Cross in the Lord to help them come around? That is what the saints did on a regular basis.
Remember we are all in this together in the Mystical Body of Christ. Let’s help each other.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and the Pastor of Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.
