I love the parable in Luke’s Gospel today. Who doesn’t? It’s the parable of the lost son, also known as the story of the prodigal son. We are all the prodigal son. We are all lost from time to time. Some times we’re more lost than at other times. Some times we’re the lost son, some times we’re the father, and some times we’re the jealous brother. That’s why this story is so powerful. There are so many meanings in it, so many lessons to learn, so many ways we can relate. But the biggest story of today, the biggest message that is apparent in all the readings today is that God is unimaginably kind and merciful. God loves us so much that he is willing to totally forget the things we do, if only we come back to him with a sincere, sorrowful heart.
Why is that the hardest part? Why is it so hard to come back to God and seek forgiveness? We know, because of stories like the prodigal son, that God will welcome us with open arms. We know that Jesus knows what it’s like to be human, and we know that He is there waiting to embrace us. But yet we’re hesitant to seek forgiveness and come running back into His arms. For many of us, we would let our pride get in the way. Even in the first reading from Micah says:
God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;
God has compassion. He removes our guilt and casts our sins away, never to be seen or heard from again. But yet our pride gets in the way of this. We think we can do it alone. Too often we think that we don’t need God. We feel we are too tough to ask for Jesus’ help, even if we are eating the scraps left over from the swine. How many people in life, when in the same situation as the son, don’t turn around and run to their father? How many of us feel we’re too good to ask for forgiveness for the things we’ve done, or perhaps we are so ashamed that we cannot bear to face Him? Well, I got news for you – He already knows.
God knows what we’ve done. He knows who we are; he simply wants to hear us say it and ask for his mercy and grace. He simply wants to hear, see and feel our sincerity. Because it’s only when we hear ourselves say to Him with true sincerity that we are sorry for what we have done, that I think we truly understand who we are, where we are, and where we need to go. He helps us to see that.
All too often we are like the lost son, who is tentative, and feels unworthy. All too often, we feel too ashamed and we often cannot forgive ourselves. And more often than we do, we need to run to the Father as our Father runs to us. The father in the parable was so excited to see his son; he didn’t even let him get his rehearsed speech out. God is like that with us. He just wants us, with a sincere heart, to step in the confessional and make the effort. I think He (through the priest) is so excited for each person to step into that confessional that He can barely hide His excitement. I’ve heard from many priests that this is one of the best things about being a priest, seeing people come seeking Christ’s forgiveness through them. Going there is most of the battle. The right words will come out – the Holy Spirit will take care of that. God simply wants us to come running to Him with excitement and a full heart. Over time, if we continue to run to Him, He will change us.
So we need to ask ourselves – who are we going to be this Lent? Are we going to hide from God, and continue to squander our inheritance and eat with the swine? Are we going to be the jealous brother who obeys but does not share the same excitement for our brothers and sisters who come home to Christ and are envious of the excitement surrounding them? Or are we going to run home to Christ ourselves, running with excitement, like our lives depended on it? Let’s embrace this Lenten season as an opportunity to run back to Christ with a sincere heart, and fall into His arms with the same excitement He has in catching us!
