How often do we take our faith and our relationship with God for granted? We should in fact be grateful for this every day of our lives, because without it, we would each be as completely lost as the prodigal son that we about in todays Gospel.
When we are in a relationship with God, we have treasures and blessings that come to us each day. They come in the form of our Lord watching over us, guiding us, and consoling us, even when we don’t realize or acknowledge it. Our lack of awareness makes these blessings no less real, but it does make us more inclined to take them for granted. We simply think of them as the usual events in the course of our day or week.
In this time of Lent, I think it is appropriate for us to take the time to ponder this a bit more closely, and perhaps demonstrate our increased awareness and gratitude to our Lord through our Lenten observances and prayers that express our thanks more appropriately to a Father who stands by us through all our trials, as well as our occasions of indifference.
I think that perhaps it is indifference that is most painful to our Lord. It likely was to the father in the case of the prodigal son. You see when his son asked for his inheritance in that manner, he was also saying in the implied communication that he considered his father already dead in some respects, and simply wanted to take what was his and leave. It is hard enough for a parent to cope with their child leaving home, but to have them leave in this manner, was I think particularly painful. Yet when the son returned, before he even had a chance to speak the words of repentance that he had rehearsed, the father runs to greet him with unbridled joy, love, and affection, and no recognition of his child’s callousness. So, it is with our Father in heaven when we don’t take the time to acknowledge him. It must be terribly lonely at those times when we are too busy to bother showing Him our love and affection, no matter how much He gives us each day to show His love, we sometimes go for a long time leaving him out of our lives and our feelings. Yet when we do finally come to him with repentance and humility, He runs to greet us with joy, love, and affection.
It is also important not to forget the older son when discussing this Gospel, to me he represents perhaps our occasional tendency to not look with empathy on others who don’t yet have such a strong relationship with the Father. It can be easy to write off others who do not share us in faith, and who are still struggling through life without the love and support of the Father. Can you take a moment and reflect on how hard this is for them? It often manifests in behaviors that we find both objectionable and at odds with what our Lord teaches us. It can be easy to fall into the trap of not looking at those who are trapped in this kind of existence without love, yet they are every bit as much a child of God as anyone else, and it grieves our Father to see them struggling in this way. He looks to us as their brothers and sisters to help them. Any parent knows how frustrating it is to look at one’s children when they are at odds with one another and not being able to get them to mend their relationship. It is up to us to help our brothers and sisters to find their way home, and to then allow our Father the joy of seeing them return. That is what we are called to do in this brief life that we have here on earth, it is our call and vocation, and it is perhaps something to meditate on during this season of repentance and change.
Podcast Link
The Deacons Bench 