Audio (not great quality): https://sites.google.com/site/sktdeaconed/home/mp3/homily%203.10.13.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1
If you’re looking for an
excellent spiritual book to read and meditate on for the remaining few weeks of
Lent, I highly recommend this one – it’s called The Return of the Prodigal Son written about twenty years ago by Henri
Nouwen.
This book is a reflection on the
three main characters from this morning’s/evening’s Gospel, but moreover,
Nouwen wrote the book based on his reflections on each of the three main
characters in Rembrandt von Rijn’s painting of the same title, The Return of the Prodigal Son, which
hangs in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. A print of which we have here on the easel –
you might want to come up and take a look at it after Mass.
The theme of Nouwen’s book seems to
be – which of the three characters can we most identify with? And perhaps there is something in each that
we can identify with – indeed, Rembrandt painted each of the three main
characters as a self-portrait.
Is it the prodigal, the younger son,
we can identify with? The son whose sin
is to break off all of his relationships – his relationships with his father,
brother, family, community, and even his nation. Who, by asking for his share of the
inheritance, is in effect wishing his father to be dead! Give me now what I have coming to me – I
can’t wait until you’re gone, until you’re dead. Put in that context, hopefully none of us can
relate to such serious sins, but I think all of us probably can relate to the
fractured relationships and selfishness the younger son exhibits – I know I
can. And certainly whenever we sin, we
are, in effect, blocking God the Father out, wishing to go our own way. We’re far away from God in sin, off in a
distant country, so to speak. Even
perhaps figuratively wishing God dead.
Or is it the older brother I can
identify with? Whose relationship with
the father, we learn, is really no better than his younger brother’s. Who, while living under the same roof as his
father, has a relationship that he may as well be in a distant country. Who,
rather than to rejoice with his father when his brother returns, is angry and
bitter. Whose relationship with the
father is all about working and doing, slaving for him one translation
says. Who cannot see beyond his
brother’s sins and therefore can’t rejoice about his brother’s return to
relationship with the father. Too often
I find myself that older brother - sitting in judgment of others. And the temptation is to say to myself, look
at what a good Christian I am, look at all I do, rather than to simply love and
accept the love of the Father, and to cling to Him.
If I’m honest with myself, it’s a
real challenge to identify with the loving father. The father whose extravagant love surpasses
the love of any human mother or father – who, when asked to divide his estate,
rather than to be angry or vindictive, lovingly complies – giving his son
complete freedom to stay in relationship or leave. But he’s a father who always stands at the
window looking down the road, waiting for his son’s return. And who runs out to greet his son,
embraces and kisses his son, and orders a celebration to rejoice in his son’s
return!
A father who treats the prodigal and
his older brother, no matter their sins, no matter what they do or say, as his
beloved sons. A Father who is always
ready with outstretched arms to welcome us back into his embrace.
<pause>
But what about the Son not mentioned
in the Gospel parable? The Son Jesus
doesn’t speak of? For meditating on this
Gospel passage, it occurs to me that there is a son that Jesus didn’t include,
and that is the Son whom the Father sends out to the distant country to find
his lost son and invite him to come home.
To help him “come to his senses.”
To search for him, and find him, and lead him back home, back to his
father’s embrace.
And that Son is Christ Himself. For the Father so loved the world that He sent His Only Son, that whoever
believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. You see, the Father isn’t content to stand at
the window and wait for the prodigal’s return.
No. He sent Jesus to seek us
out, that we might come to our senses, repent of our sins, and return to
the Father who welcomes us back with an exquisite, extravagant love.
That, my brothers and sisters, is
the very heart of the Gospel message, not just today’s Gospel, but the entire
Gospel.
And ultimately, it’s that Son, Jesus
Christ, whom we are called to identify with, to emulate, to follow. Sure, without question we are the prodigal,
called to repent of our sins and return to the Father. Sure we may often be the older brother, who
with human pride sits in judgment and perhaps resentment, of those other
sinners, often blind to our own sins.
And just as much as the prodigal, we are called to repent of those
attitudes and sins too.
But as Disciples of Jesus Christ,
ultimately each of us as individuals and we as His Holy Church, are called to
be God’s invitation, Christ’s ministry of reconciliation to the world – to the
community and world around us. Repenting
and healed of our sins, gathered in communion around the Lord’s table, and
inspired by His Holy Spirit, you and I are called to go forth as ambassadors of
Christ. To be Christ’s hands and feet, eyes
and ears and heart, in our marriages, in our families, in our communities and
in our world - a world often far away from God, a world far off in a distant
country if you will. A world seeking but
not finding what it’s looking for.
And not only by our words but by our
entire lives, we are called to witness to the extravagant love and mercy
the Father has for each of us and for the entire world, for all of His
daughters and Sons. This is faith –
trust in the indescribable love and mercy the Father has for us and witnessing
to that love and mercy in our lives.
My sisters and brothers, you and I
are called, we are being sent, it is our mission as Christ’s
disciples, as His Church, to lead the world to Jesus Christ who will then
gather us and lead us all to His Holy Father’s loving embrace. Where we will live together forever in the
communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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