Reading from the holy Gospel according to
Luke Chapter 15, verses 1 to 3, 11 to 32
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| THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNS Image from en.wikipedia.org via google.com |
'He said to him,
"My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because you brother was dead and have come back to life again; he was lost and has been found." [31-32]'
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Personal reflection on the reading.
Sharing for the Day
Some people would rather refer to this parable as the Parable of the Forgiving Father rather than about the Prodigal Son. But I guess that the point of the Lord was to assure sinners that even if they have committed serious offenses against the Father, they only have to humble themselves and ask for forgiveness and they will be forgiven and even returned to their former state: as children of the Father.
Sin is a very serious offense against the Father and against our neighbor. Sin destroys the good relationship that we have with the Father and our neighbor. Sin destroys us who have been created in the image and likeness of God, saved by the blood of the Son, and whose bodies the Holy Spirit have made His dwelling.
But we should not dwell on sin in the same manner that we should not stay in sin. Instead we should focus on the Father's love, of His forgiving love, His renewing love. The Evangelist John writes,
"For God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:16]
The Evangelist also calls this the First Love: God loving us before we ever loved Him [see 1 John 4:19 ]. That love even caused the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving up His divinity and entering our humanity even dying on the cross [see Philippians 2: 6-11]. Remember that in the parable, the father ran toward the arriving son to welcome him. God the Father also embraced us long before we accepted Him by letting His Son die for us manifesting His great love even while we were yet sinners and were unworthy of His love [see Romans 5:8].
Let us remember that when Jesus our Lord died for our sins, death was destroyed too: He was too powerful to be held even by death. The power of God's forgiveness is so great. We died because of sin but are given a new life through grace. We were lost due to our offenses but are welcomed anew to our Father's house.
As the Lord's friends, we are being assured of forgiveness, on one hand, and being challenged to forgive others, on the other. We only have to humble ourselves in His eyes and be open to the consequences of our sins. And of course, as we receive the grace of forgiveness from the Father, we also have to impart the blessing of forgiveness to those who have offended us. This is what being a Christian is; this is being His friends - the very manifestation of the Lord's command to love one another and of fulfilling the two greatest commandments: loving God with our whole being and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves!
Application of God's message
[1] Prayer
Pray the Our Father with full sincerity especially the "forgiveness" lines.
Imagine you are the prodigal son: What can you abstain from today in order to be able to ask forgiveness?
Imagine that you are the elder brother: What can you materially share today which shall manifest your generosity to your younger brother who returns and asks forgiveness?
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