Gospel: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32
As the life of religion is about becoming perfect as God is perfect, in the parable of the Prodigal Son our focus is on being like the father who is an image of God in the story. His younger son comes to him asking for his inheritance in advance, essentially wishing his father to be dead. The father freely gives him the money. When the son wishes to return home, the father - already out in search of him with a retinue of helpers - had already prepared a welcome for him with robe and ring in hand.
The older son, meanwhile, is indignant both at his younger brother and his father. He cannot forgive his brother's past sins, nor forgive his father's mercy. He is wholly engrossed in his own sense of entitlement. Nevertheless, the father assures him that he has a place in his ancestral home forever and that he ought not ever despair of that fact. The story does not tell us how the older son reacts to that message. Did he remain in his indignance, or was he moved to embrace a life of mercy and compassion?
That is the question before us today - we who have squandered our inheritance, we who have held grudges against our brothers and sisters and our merciful God. God has extended mercy to us in the person of Jesus. Will we continue in our life of indignance at others and our entitlement, or will we live as Jesus did and extend mercy and compassion to others?
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