Gospel according to Saint Luke 15:1-3.11-32:
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them Jesus addressed this parable:
“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went back to his father.
While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.
Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ 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 your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
Being a prodigal son is not the worst thing…
Luis CASASUS President of the Idente Missionaries
Rome, March 30, 2025 | IV Sunday of Lent
Josh 5: 9a.10-12; 2Cor 5: 17-21; Lk 15: 1-3.11-32
One gets the impression that the parable of the wasteful or prodigal son should be called in a different way, because the main problem with this young man was not that he spent money in a disorderly fashion, but that, in demanding his rightful share of the inheritance, he was already considering his father dead. And, in fact, once he had the money, he walked away, he went to a faraway country. In other words, he wanted to feel totally independent, without his father even knowing what he was doing, this is why he chose a faraway country.
In this exquisite parable, Jesus presents us with special clarity how we are, who we are… and who our heavenly Father is.
The attitude of that “youngest son”, perhaps with an adolescent and immature mentality, was not very different from that of Adam and Eve: I do not want to hurt anyone, but I do want to be left alone to do whatever I want. So, the main problem is not that I have a dominant defect, some perverse inclination or even the devil’s temptations, but that I distance myself from the one who can save me, welcome me and, ultimately, make me live.
Adam and Eve chose the serpent as a liberal and interesting companion; the rich young man was not so interested in reptiles and looked for fun comrades and seductive girlfriends. The Jewish people, historically, had also distanced themselves from Yahweh and had chosen other gods that were more suited to their desires. All this does not seem like pure coincidence and should make us think that we are too vulnerable to so much pain, sensations, messages and distractions.
In effect, our tendency is to act like orphans, which has two limitations: not having anyone to guide us and not having to answer to anyone. Sometimes this is very seductive, as we are convinced that we have good (or at least interesting) ideas and intentions and also that we do not need advice and criticism, nor to be giving explanations all the time.
In short, we do not have a true filial consciousness. Neither of the two sons in the parable had it. The older one, in his own words, considered himself to be treated like a slave, he did not feel integrated into his father’s endeavors and what he wanted was to eat a good plate of meat with his friends. At least, with some celebration he thought he would feel better. He did not see himself as a son. The youngest, of course, did not even want the physical closeness of his father.
So, if we do not consider ourselves very different and superior to the rest of humanity, today is a good time for us to ask ourselves: When have I distanced myself from my Father? In what way do I do it?
* To distance myself from the Father means that I do not experience, I do not identify his mercy, I do not recognize it as something present in every moment of my life, but very especially, like the prodigal son, when I have committed a blunder, a selfish act.
This is the case of the Jewish people, as the First Reading reminds us, whom Yahweh first feeds with manna and then with the fruits obtained in the land of Canaan, but the people continually harden their hearts and time and again they receive forgiveness, a new act of trust in God, in this case by sending that people his Son. In our personal case, we distance ourselves from God for something similar: for lack of sensitivity (a hard, ungrateful heart), or for never having received the mercy and forgiveness of those who have obtained and enjoyed it and should share it. This is the case of the blind and lepers whom Christ heals, or of people who have been abused, abandoned or mistreated in their childhood.
* The specific way in which I distance myself from the Father can vary. Basically, it is dedicating myself to “other matters”, which may be immoral or, on the contrary, very worthy, but in some way they make me a slave. Let us remember that slaves were not necessarily despicable people, but they did not have the fullness of life of free citizens. That is why, in order to reach that fullness or perfection, we seek to ensure that our ascetic life is free not only from bad actions, but also from intimate attachments to any activity that becomes the center of my life, in a way that little by little prevents me from approaching my neighbor in the way that Christ does.
The prodigal son ended up as a slave to pleasure, later to misery and then to hunger. He was too attached to his desires.
The case of the older son seems more subtle than that of his brother. He had certainly worked faithfully all his life, that was the axis of his existence, but it did not fill him fully. When the youngest son returned, he refused to enter the house, despite his father’s pleas, and as a result he was considered worse than a slave, he was not a member of the family, but a complete stranger; he had completely lost his identity. This is self-righteous behavior.
For this reason, he no longer calls the youngest son “my brother,” but speaks of him to his father in a derogatory tone as “that son of yours.”
—ooOoo—
As we recalled earlier and as the parable of the prodigal son teaches us, our heavenly Father is especially present when we commit a sin, when we are hard of heart, to confirm to us that He cannot abandon us, as Jesus did by bending down twice to the ground before the adulterous woman (Jn 8). Even clearer: We do not cease to be his children, no matter how many mistakes we may have made. The Father’s joy is not only because his son has repented, but especially because he has found his true identity.
The ring, the sandals and the banquet that the father offers the prodigal son are signs of something even more beautiful: being part of the community and the family business, doing everything in his name again, so that, as the father says, he had died and come back to life, he was lost and found.
This was already the experience of the humble men in the Old Testament:
What God is there like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You will not always be angry, for your delight is in mercy. Be merciful to us again. Put your foot down on our iniquities and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:18-20).
On the other hand, the lack of compassion for our neighbor stems from a lack of awareness of our common filiation in Christ. Compassion for our brothers and sisters presupposes that we recognize ourselves in them. Thus, the Gospel begins with the Pharisees and scribes complaining: This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Those religious leaders did not recognize that the sinners were also their brothers and sisters who needed help. For the same reason, in the parable, the older son does not forgive those he does not recognize as his brother.
If I admit that I am a sinner and I sin, that I am weak and I make mistakes, it will be easy for me to feel like a brother to those who hurt me. Because that realistic view is joined by the certainty, the experience that God our Father invites me once again to do something for him in the life of another. As in the parable, God asks us to calmly contemplate our sins and weaknesses; once we have recognized them, we will feel him running towards us to kiss us effusively.
—ooOoo—
We conclude with a short story that illustrates the therapeutic power of forgiveness, the ability to show us our true identity and develop filial consciousness.
A man went to the market in his village every day. One day, when he arrived at the market, he noticed that it was especially busy. He was used to meeting crowds there, but this was a particularly noisy crowd. They were people who, in the eyes of the man, had no reason to be in the market, they were causing great congestion in the normal activity. They all seemed to be going to the same place and, to the man, they seemed completely unaware of how they were creating chaos in their peaceful visit to the market. It wasn’t long before he began to feel the sensation of irritation building up in his body and mind.
He was filled with thoughts that fed his anger and the vicious circle of feeding anger with disturbing thoughts occurred. Just when his anger reached its peak and his only release would be to give voice to all his thoughts, he opened his mouth to shout at one of the people who were stealing his peace. This person had been the last straw when he cut him off. Before he could make a sound, another person bumped into him, causing most of his precious goods to fall to the ground. Now he was already exploding with rage as he tried to pick up what had fallen… only to see the crowd kicking and trampling him.
Full of rage and confusion, he was determined to find out what was behind the commotion. He picked up what he could from the ground and began to follow the crowd. As he made his way to an area outside the market, he pushed his way through the increasingly dense crowd, determined to discover the source of the chaos.
The more he pushed his way through the crowd, the angrier he became, until he finally came face to face with a smiling monk, a revered spiritual master. The old man was sitting down, surrounded by offerings of fruit and flowers. These were gifts from the many visitors hoping to receive his blessing.
Sensing the man’s anger, the monk bowed and looked at him. But the angry protagonist of the story spat at the old man’s feet and said: You stole my peace. I was fine until you came along. He left that day feeling quite satisfied with his act of revenge.
The next day, when he woke up, his anger had dissipated. But he was overcome by a feeling of remorse. He needed to go back to the market and apologize to the monk.
So, he did. This time, with a heart full of remorse, he made his way through the crowd, this time effortlessly, and in a moment, he was back in front of the venerable old man.
He fell to his knees before him and said, I don’t deserve to be loved. I can’t go on unless you forgive me.
The monk replied, I’m sorry, son. I can’t forgive you. And he helped him to his feet.
The man hung his head in shame: Please, I beg you!
The monk looks him in the eyes and says: I cannot forgive you because the man who is standing before me today is not the same man who was here yesterday. That man is gone, and this man has done nothing that needs forgiveness.
_______________________________
In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Luis CASASUS
President
