30 March 2025 #withgraceandforgiveness
Parables are timeless stories that teach a social, moral, or spiritual truth using imagery everyone is familiar with. In our Gospel today, we have a father and two sons who work together on the family farm. The younger son cannot handle the day-to-day grind of working the land/business, while the elder son seems to relish the routine. That’s a timeless truth – all of us have different personalities and capabilities, and our limits of endurance have differing finish lines. That truth plays out in different ways amongst different family members throughout time. It’s called “family drama.”
I use the word ‘social’ in the definition of a parable above. The word I really want to use is “ontological.” That’s a fancy word that theologians and philosophers use when they want to talk about the very nature of our being. It’s an ontological truth that we are created in the image and likeness of the Father, while at the same time struggling with a tendency toward wanting-what-we-want. That is true of every person and of every family.
We don’t know much about the spiritual practices of the family in Jesus’ parable. We assume they follow the Jewish rituals and prohibitions, since pigs are present when our prodigal hits rock bottom. In the Jewish practice, separation is the way to maintain purity, and tradition keeps sin at bay. There is nothing wrong with that, and it’s how many Catholic families live. We associate with other Catholic friends and families, limit cultural social influences, listen to the Magisterium, and participate in all the spiritual practices. It’s a life centered on grace, forgiveness, and self-gift. There is nothing wrong with that, and in fact, it’s the goal of a Christian.
But as this parable reveals, not everyone can live that life.
People succumb to selfish desires… that is an ontological reality. Many times, it’s under the weight of responsibility and the rigors of duty. Sometimes it’s the temptation of sin and its sensual pleasures. Other times it’s for the temporary amnesia that a life of vice offers. It can even be a sheer act of rebellion and defiance. Or perhaps the departure from grace and faith is just a slow, unintentional drift away. But it hurts those left behind.
The prodigal son realizes the hurt he has caused when the reality of a life of doing-what-he-wants sets in. It’s shallow, meaningless, and leaves him with a hunger for home. The parable doesn’t say how long he spent working amidst the swine, just that he eventually came around. We all know someone who is trying to take the world by storm, thinking they have what it takes and wanting more than they have. We wonder if they will ever come around.
We wonder if they will ever realize that grace is found within the sacraments, forgiveness is relentless, and a life with the Father is better than a life without Him. We’ll always have family drama. The question is: How do you respond? #withgraceandforgiveness