Search

Results

Exploring the word

15 Sep 2013 - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

I can think of two good reasons to be happy this week: the fate of the prodigal son and the hope extended to his self-righteous brother. Because I’ve been both obvious sinner and self-proclaimed do-gooder at various times in my life, and I’m glad to know God is looking out for me whether I stray to the left or to the right. It’s easy for us to imagine that this best-known parable is about one lost son. Actually both sons have wandered far from their father’s good heart. Though the distance the younger one has traveled might be measured in miles and moral behaviors, the distance the elder has moved from his father’s arms is equally troubling and perhaps more spiritually dangerous. The younger son, after all, knows the wrong he’s done and the harm he’s caused. He can see it in the immediate result of his choices: destitution, isolation, and a generous helping of good old-fashioned shame; He, a Jew, is reduced to eating with the pigs, for heaven’s sake. It doesn’t take him very long to assess his situation, repent the bad choices, and seek an end to his suffering in his father’s compassion. Even though this son shortchanges his father’s love because of his own heart’s limitations—thinking his father would at least permit him to serve in the big house!—his confidence in his father’s pity is a very good sign. Even though he’s been a bad son, he still trusts that his father remains a good father. We focus on the "prodigal" because his story is splashier. We name the parable after him because it makes for good reading in the check-out line at the supermarket: “Poor Little Rich Boy Returns!” “Prodigal Profits from Papa’s Pity!” Or simply: “He’s Baaaaack!” But while the parable begins with the younger brother’s choice, it ends suspended on the elder brother’s untold decision. If the whole point of the story was simply to say that God loves the repentant sinner, the elder brother wouldn’t feature in the story at all. Yet here he is. The older brother shows up at the end, back from a hard day’s work in the fields, hears music and dancing and wonders why. No one ever throws him appreciation parties, so something must have happened. The servant explains that Sonny Boy is home again, and this makes Elder Son so mad it’s his turn to retreat from the family and his father’s embrace. While the sins of the younger son made him all the more anxious to come home, the hidden sins of the older son makes him just as resolved to stay away. Will the father’s great love for this son also prevail? Or will Elder Son’s arrogance consign him to the outer darkness for good? Related scripture links Mercy and arrogance mutually exclusive: Luke 1:50-52 Aaron calls for a feast: Exod. 32:5 Father, forgive them: Luke 23:34 Lucan compassion: Luke 1:76-79; 6:36; 7:13; 10:29-37; 12:6-7 Catechism links Mercy: CCC 545; 589; 1423; 1439; 1443; 1829; 1846-1848; 2447; 2839

Authors Alice Camille

Forgiveness prodigal son

Restricted
Sign & sacrament

15 Sep 2013 - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

The story of the prodigal son is one of Jesus’ best, and one in which many can find themselves: the errant one who has come to his or her senses at last and is coming home, afraid it may be too late. Jesus seems, however, to point even beyond the father’s breathtaking forgiveness for the son who has come home. There is that other son. That’s the one we have to be worried about and be careful we do not become. The younger son, embarrassed and contrite (mostly), has accepted a love he may not even understand, but the righteousness (dare we say self-righteousness?) of the elder son (who has always done everything right) may be breaking away from his father in a far more destructive way.

Forgiveness prodigal son

Restricted
The inner word

12 Sep 2010 - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

You're in the forgiveness business. How good are you at it? How many prodigals have you welcomed back to the fold? Was it grudgingly like the brother in today's parable, or with open arms like the father? What sins have you truly and deeply repented? Have you felt the power and truth of God's unconditional forgiveness? If not, why not? What does it mean for you to associate with sinners? What as a sinner can you learn from preachers? What as a preacher can you learn from sinners?

Forgiveness prodigal son repentance Acceptance

Restricted
Homily stories

15 Sep 2013 - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

“JESUS IS WRONG!” The Bible study group reading the parable of the prodigal son was stunned into silence. The leader had been pointing out that the word prodigal (“excessive”) was better applied to the father’s generosity than to the son’s waste of his inheritance when the woman spoke out. “It’s not fair,” she insisted, “that the no-good kid is welcomed home like royalty when his hardworking brother is taken for granted.” When Ron Hansen’s wonderful novel Atticus was published retelling the story of the Prodigal Son in the contemporary Southwest, one admiring reviewer admitted that the father’s forgiveness—in the novel—was “a little hard to take.” So also was Pope John Paul II forgiving his would-be assassin. So also is the occasional story of a grieving mother who forgives the one who murdered her son. Our breath is taken away. It is hard to comprehend that human beings can love so deeply, can forgive. While the poet Alexander Pope observed, “To err is human; to forgive, divine,” we know the baptized have enough of a spark of divinity to forgive as we have been forgiven. This story continues to comfort and disturb us because we know Jesus is right.

Authors Father Larry Janowski O.F.M.

Forgiveness prodigal son

Restricted
In other words

06 Mar 2016 - Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

A lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story. “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father. “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. He ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. He called to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. We’re going to feast! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’ “His father said, ‘Son, you’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’ ” (from Luke 15). Taken from The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2014); actapublications.com; 800-397-2282.

prodigal son

Restricted
The prodigal father’s parable

Holy Year of Mercy reflections for your bulletin or website - The Holy Year of Mercy: Reflections

Accused of hanging out with sinners, Jesus tells one of his best stories. “A man had two sons,” the elder (oh-so-good) and the younger (not-so-much). It’s a story about extravagance and wastefulness—prodigality—but not the son’s. The “prodigal father’s” affection and forgiveness go overboard, a spendthrift with his love. The parable closes with a party dad throws for his son who “once was lost and now is found,” but the older son refuses to join the celebration, so that the father has to beg him to go beyond his joyless (self-)righteousness. The father actually runs out to meet a son twice: once to kiss the errant, broken younger one and then to bring into the warmth that stubborn elder one. Jesus still “consorts with sinners,” no manner which kind we are.

prodigal son prodigal father Holy Year of Mercy

Restricted
Heal the breach

06 Mar 2016 - Preaching the News for Sunday

William Schooler, 70, a beloved pastor with “deep roots it the community,” was shot and killed Sunday by his brother in the office of St. Peters Missionary Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio just as the Sunday service was ending. His brother Daniel, 68, is charged with the murder. Though details of the conflict have not been released, the story illustrates the tragic depths to which a breach between siblings can go. And such breaches between siblings are all around us. The Parable of the Prodigal Son in this Sunday’s gospel is a story of two sons jockeying for their place in relationship to their father’s approval. In other words, an archetypal story of sibling rivalry. Most of us can relate. Only 26 percent of 18- to 65-year-olds in an Oakland University survey reported having a highly supportive sibling relationship; 19 percent had an apathetic relationship, 16 percent had a hostile one, and experts estimate 3 to 10 percent have completely severed contact with a brother or sister! Only 26 percent of 18- to 65-year-olds in an Oakland University survey reported having a highly supportive sibling relationship; 19 percent had an apathetic relationship, 16 percent had a hostile one, and experts estimate 3 to 10 percent have completely severed contact with a brother or sister! Our siblings are the people we know for the longest stretch of our lives—for more years, typically, than our parents, spouses, or our own children. If you live 80 years and have a sibling living about that many years, no other relationship is going to match it in terms of longevity. That’s a lot of shared history, a storehouse of memories that no one else can access or relate to. That is why ruptures in these relationships are particularly painful. In part, evolution is responsible, says Frank Sulloway, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Siblings are “hardwired to engage in rivalry” because we compete with one another for one of life’s most critical resources—parental care. “Two hundred years ago, half of all children did not make it out of childhood,” he says. “The intensity of sibling competition makes much more sense when you realize that very small differences in parental favoritism could determine whether a child is taken to a doctor or not.” And most parents do have favorites, according to research. In this light, the bitterness the older brother expresses in the parable on seeing a feast prepared for his wasteful and wanton brother is understandable. It resonates with our own childhood bitterness that our parent seemed to favor a brother or sister over us. Lessons drawn from the gospel story If you are a parent of several children, ask yourself if your behavior favors one child over another. Lest you think you are above all that and completely impartial, track the amount of time you spend talking alone with each child in the next week, the next month—it might be eye-opening! If you see yourself as the prodigal child, the repentance of the prodigal in the gospel story is your cue. While there may not be a feast thrown in your honor, if you focus on reconciliation, you will find it. Even if others are not ready to forgive and move on, you will be able to. And if you are the good son or daughter who carries a lot of resentment, Then perhaps it’s time to “break character” and speak up. But also be willing to hear others’ points of view, which are sure to be different. Just because you all come from the same family doesn’t mean you had the same experience! Listen. Negotiate. Work it out. Heal. Final thought in light of this news Broken families lead to a broken society. We see the carnage all around us in the headlines. But less visible is the daily “silent carnage” of broken family relationships and sibling estrangement. The beauty of the Parable of the Prodigal Son is that we can all see ourselves in it. Acknowledge your part and work to heal the breach.

prodigal son siblings family families
Homily stories

12 Sep 2010 - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

My wife and daughters and I were at an amusement park one summer and our youngest daughter got lost. Three of us took a left at a fork in the path while 5-year-old Patti got carried along to the right with a large group of kids on a school outing. She wasn't missing long, but it seemed like forever. My heart was racing and my brain was conjuring all sorts of dire outcomes. If I could have flown in several directions at once to look for her, I would have. I wish losses of other precious parts of my life registered so strongly, like loss of balance in my life between work and family and fun. Or loss of sensitivity to what it was like to be a teenager when my daughters were going through daily personal traumas. Or loss of the habit of praying regularly. The tax collectors and sinners who came to listen to Jesus were people who were keenly aware they had lost their way in life. They hung on Jesus' every word. The Pharisees and scribes may have been just as lost, spiritually, but they concentrated so much on the externals of looking holy that they didn't realize anything was missing in their lives. We found Patti standing by a trout pond where kids were fishing. We were so relieved to have her back. That day I vowed to keep a closer eye on the people and things that matter most to me in life. And that includes my faith.

Authors Tom McGrath

lost loss prodigal son

Restricted
I am always struck when I reread ...

Holy Year of Mercy reflections for your bulletin or website - The Holy Year of Mercy: Reflections

I am always struck when I reread the parable of the merciful Father. ... The Father, with patience, love, hope and mercy, had never for a second stopped thinking about [his wayward son], and as soon as he sees him still far off, he runs out to meet him and embraces him with tenderness, the tenderness of God, without a word of reproach. ... God is always waiting for us, He never grows tired. Jesus shows us this merciful patience of God so that we can regain confidence and hope — always! — Pope Francis

Holy Year of Mercy prodigal father prodigal son

Restricted
The inner word

14 Mar 2010 - Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

God keeps all promises even when we don’t, and God is forever willing to be reconciled with us. God promises to provide for us, to feed us, to love us. All we need to do is trust in God. How well have you kept your end of the bargain? During what times in your life have you found it hardest to trust that God is with you, at your side? Have you experienced God’s prodigal love—the all-consuming, forgiving love so vividly described in today’s gospel? When have you felt the most joyful in the knowledge of God’s love? Like the main characters of Jesus’ famous parable, all of us have moments of profligacy, stinginess, and abundant love. What can you do to increase the chances that abundant love will be your first response in any situation? Saint Paul tells us that “whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away . . .” What part of yourself do you feel is most a part of your new creation in Christ?

promise Trust prodigal son

Restricted

← Previous 1 2 3 Next →