The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]
Readings
(New American Bible:
Philippines, USA)
Readings
(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 (New Revised Standard
Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to
him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This
fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
So he told them this parable:
‘There was a man who had
two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me
the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property
between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and
travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in
dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place
throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of
that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that
the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my
father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of
hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like
one of your hired hands.’” So he set off and went
to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was
filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves,
“Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger
and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted
calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was
lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now his
elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard
music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has
killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came
out and began to plead with him. But he answered his
father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you,
and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a
young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your
property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with
me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to
celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to
life; he was lost and has been found.”’
The Gospel in Filipino Sign Language
A priest-friend, now deceased, told me a story
about three priests whom he knew in his own country. I'll call them Father
Andy, Father Bert and Father Chris. Father Chris, younger than the other two
who were quite well on in years, no longer used the title 'Father' as he had
left the priesthood.
Father Andy was in hospital and knew he was nearing
death. Father Bert went to visit him. The dying man asked his friend for his
blessing. But he got a response that he had never expected. 'When you forgive
Chris, then I will bless you'. Father Bert knew that his dying friend had been
deeply hurt when Father Chris had left the priesthood. He also knew that he
still carried resentment in his heart towards the younger man.
The tears welled up in Father Andy's eyes and he
asked his friend to invite Chris to visit him. He let go of his hurt and
resentment, was fully reconciled with Chris - and received from Father Bert the
blessing he had asked for, a blessing far greater than he ever could have
imagined.
Part of the genius of this parable of Jesus is that
it doesn't have an ending, but an invitation. We don't know whether or not the
older, dutiful son joined the celebration. He can only see at this moment
the wasted life of his younger brother and the immense suffering this had
brought to their father, suffering that Rembrandt captures so movingly.
The
Return of the Prodigal Son (detail)
The father doesn't argue with his older son. He is
well aware of that son's sense of responsibility. The father also hears his
angry and dismissive 'this son of yours'. He gently points out, Son,
you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make
merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost,
and is found.
The invitation in the parable is not only to the
older son. It is to me. Is the Father inviting me to let go of sins that have
separated me from him, a separation that he doesn't want, by asking his pardon,
especially in the sacrament of confession? Or is the Father inviting me to let
go of my self-righteousness, my lack of humility, my lack of gratitude for
daily blessings, even though I am conscientious in doing what is right?
The Father has reserved a place for each of us at the celebration.
The Father has reserved a place for each of us at the celebration.
Pope Francis on the Sacrament of Confession
St John Paul II on the Sacrament of Confession
Reconciliation and Penance, No 31, IV and V
St John Paul II on the Sacrament of Confession
Reconciliation and Penance, No 31, IV and V
First of all, it must be emphasized that nothing is
more personal and intimate that this sacrament, in which the sinner stands
alone before God with his sin, repentance and trust. No one can repent in his
place or ask forgiveness in his name. There is a certain solitude of the sinner
in his sin, and this can be seen dramatically represented in Cain with sin
"crouching at his door," as the Book of Genesis says so effectively,
and with the distinctive mark on his forehead; in David, admonished by the
prophet Nathan; or in the prodigal son when he realizes the condition to which
he has reduced himself by staying away from his father and decides to return to
him.
Everything takes place between the individual alone
and God. But at the same time one cannot deny the social nature of this
sacrament, in which the whole church-militant, suffering and glorious in
heaven- comes to the aid of the penitent and welcomes him again into her bosom,
especially as it was the whole church which had been offended and wounded by
his sin. As the minister of penance, the priest by virtue of his sacred office
appears as the witness and representative of this ecclesial nature of the
sacrament. The individual nature and ecclesial nature are two complementary
aspects of the sacrament which the progressive reform of the Rite of Penance,
especially that contained in the Ordo Paenitentiae promulgated
by Paul VI, has sought to emphasize and to make more meaningful in its
celebration.
Second, it must be emphasized that the most
precious result of the forgiveness obtained in the sacrament of penance
consists in reconciliation with God, which takes place in the inmost heart of
the son who was lost and found again, which every penitent is. But it has to be
added that this reconciliation with God leads, as it were, to other reconciliations
which repair the breaches caused by sin. The forgiven penitent is reconciled
with himself in his inmost being, where he regains his own true identity. He is
reconciled with his brethren whom he has in some way attacked and wounded. He
is reconciled with the church. He is reconciled with all creation.
As a result of an awareness of this, at the end of
the celebration there arises in the penitent a sense of gratitude to God for
the gift of divine mercy received, and the church invites the penitent to have
this sense of gratitude.
Every confessional is a special and
blessed place from which, with divisions wiped away, there is born new and
uncontaminated a reconciled individual-a reconciled world!
St John Paul II [Wikipedia]