If you were to attend Mass this morning, the Gospel reading would be on of the most familiar stories in the whole Bible, the story of the Prodigal Son. The word prodigal has a couple of meanings. The first is the meaning we associate with the story of the Prodigals. We associate the word prodigal with the behavior of the young son who collected all that would be his and went off and wasted it on dissolute living. Thus the first definition for the word can be "wasteful" or even "recklessly wasteful." Both of these definitions fit perfectly with what the young son did. Let's examine the behavior or the man just a bit deeper. What he did was demand his share of his father's estate. An estate is an estate after one has died so he was stating by his request that he did not care if his father was alive or dead, he wanted what he wanted and he wanted it now. To show how disordered his thinking was, he would be giving up the value of the property from this day until the day his father actually died. His youthful thinking has betrayed him. Also can you imagine how this must have hurt the father? But being a father, he wanted his child to be happy and so he did as he was asked and soon the boy moved out and as a wild youth will often do, he invested the money in an IRA. Well actually he did not invest it, he spent the money on wine, women, and song and all of the things that accompany these things. Soon it was all gone and the friends he thought he had evaporated like a cup of water in the mid day heat of the desert. He was alone and as he passed the places where he was welcomed with open arms he noticed that the bartenders, restaurant owners, and wild women took no notice of him anymore. He had nothing that they wanted anymore. He still had the appetite for good food, choice wine, flashy women but all of these things cost money which he had not. His stomach growled and he inhaled the rich aromas emitting from the places that used to welcome him. There was nothing left to do but to hire himself out to try and earn some money to buy a bit of bread. He did find a job, he was hired to tend to and feed the pigs of a rich man. He sullenly did his work salivating over the food he we giving to the pigs. Here he was a Jew tending pigs and hoping to steal a bit of the slop they were being fed to fill his empty belly. In Jewish life you cannot sink any lower than a swineherd. He then had an inspiration. He would go home to his father and he would beg to be treated as a servant because he knew his father treat his servants better than the owner of these filthy pigs. So with stomach still growling for want of food he set off to return to his fathers house.
During the time his son had been away, the father worried about his absent son and day by day watched for his return. Then he saw far off his long lost son and he did not wait he ran to him and hugged him and called his servant and told him that they were going to have a party. Kill the best calf, let's get this son of mine dressed properly, put rings on his fingers for he was lost and now he is found. Here we see an example of the second definition of prodigal which is "extremely generous." The father restored his son's dignity and they were going to celebrate his return. But all was not well. The older boy took exception to throwing his brother a party. He pointed out that the younger had wasted his father's riches on trashy things while he, the older son, remained faithful and worked hard beside his father and made the older man even more wealthy. The father explained to his heir that all that the father owned would belong to the older son but he asked that he join in the celebration because his younger son had returned, he was lost and now is found.
The story of the prodigal son is played out daily in the world. Each of us sin and turn away from God but he does not turn away from us. No, he stands and watches for us and when he catches a glimpse of us afar off, he runs to us and welcomes us home. God is always waiting for us. If we fully turn away from him and we squander the gifts he has given us He still will be watching for our return.
Jesus is the King of Mercy. Today we can turn to Him and ask for His forgiveness and His mercy and these things will be ours. We must use this time of mercy because when He comes again he will come as the Just Judge.
The Easter Vigil is just one month away. If you haven't thought about praying more then now is the time to do it. If you have alms to give to the poor, now is the time to do it. Take time to refresh yourself by serving others by ministering to their temporal and their spiritual needs. And please remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory. Pray for them daily if you can remember. Remember there are souls there that have no one to pray for them. Pray for those poor souls as part of your Lenten journey.
God bless you this day. If you are a prodigal son or daughter, remember that your Father is waiting and watching for you. Take but a single step towards Him and He will run to you and welcome you back into His House.
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