[Salvation]

Arlington Catholic Herald

GOSPEL COMMENTARY LK 15:1-32

Following our dreams

Fr. Jerry J. Pokorsky

We all will find ourselves somewhere in the parable of the prodigal son: loving father, faithful but embittered brother, or prodigal son himself. The parable is so powerful and touching as it stands that homilies risk damaging the poignant message. Still, we soldier on and ask if it is possible to apply it as a metaphor to an entire culture.

The parable, of course, is a story of distinct individuals. The son prevails upon his father for his portion of the inheritance (the father isn’t dead yet so calculating the inheritance likely rattles the entitlement sensibilities of the remaining faithful son). The prodigal son follows his dreams and ruins his life. (Ruined lives happen, especially when our dreams have to do with greed, lust and the five other capital sins.) Reality — poverty, exhaustion, loneliness — eventually slaps the son in the face and he comes to his senses.

 

Remembering his father’s goodness he recalibrates his dreams and returns to dad, repentant. As the father greets him with open arms in ready forgiveness, the faithful brother resents the father’s mercy as too indulgent. He even dares to deny his relationship with his brother by referring to him as “this son of yours.” The parable ends with the father patiently explaining his joy at his son’s return.

Our “post-Christian” or “post-modern” world has gone the way of the prodigal son. Arguably, there is no longer a strong Christian influence on society. A large number of Catholics — along with the culture in the main — have too often followed the greedy and obscene dreams of the prodigal son: a hostile cultural view of fathers and fatherhood; the denial of femininity and the hatred and despair associated with radical feminism; a completely unrestrained pornographic entertainment industry; etc. Oppose any of these “dreams” and you will almost certainly be accused of being “intolerant” or “judgmental.”

There is no need to expound upon the result of our cultural profligacy with statistics. This lamentable —and now self-evident — litany will suffice: broken families, dire poverty, crime and violence, the exploitation of women and children, epidemic levels of sexually transmitted disease — all of which calls for a return to God. But our cultural prodigal son, mired in sin, would rather dream of greater government funding further enabling the sins. As a result it is far safer for a politician to favor and fund the institutionalization of most forms of sexual promiscuity (and irresponsibility in general) than dare to oppose any manifestation of the sexual and cultural revolution.

But if we as a culture have, in the main, followed the dreams of the prodigal son, is there reasonable hope of a return to a loving father? Can we expect the culture to sober up, realize the errors of its ways and be reconciled with the Father? The cultural prodigal son unfortunately does not have the memory of a loving father to dream about. And very few Catholics — not to mention the population at large — spend time reading papal encyclicals and Gospel commentaries.

The ministry of Christ might similarly be considered “wasted time.” His proclamation of the kingdom of God began in the synagogues (with the institutional memory of God’s love) but didn’t end well. The horror of a crucifixion can have a chilling effect on a political movement. The Gospel, however, with the “civilization of love” it brings was never — and can never be — a political movement. “My kingdom is not of this world.”

After the Ascension, it didn’t take long for the early Christians to turn to the proclamation of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Hints of the inevitable expansion of His sacred ministry can be found in the parable of the good Samaritan, the woman at the well and His specific instructions to His disciples. These early Christian communities reaching across the Roman Empire at once attracted converts and the ire of the Roman authorities. Despite immense obstacles, the Christian “civilization of love” became embedded within an exhausted pagan culture, a culture like ours today awash in greed and debauchery with lives devoid of meaning.

When today’s cultural prodigal son meets with the same spiritual exhaustion, will it return to the Father’s love? Here is where the parable as a cultural metaphor needs another direction. With no memory of the Father’s love among countless troubled souls, the path to God can only be made through living witnesses of Christ. Elsewhere in the Gospel, Christ provides the remedy: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:14-16).

With the grace of Christ, we must make visible the love of the Father in our families and, please God, in our communities and nation. This is our hope, our dream and our grave responsibility before the Lord. Our salvation — and the salvation of our cultural prodigal son — depends upon it.

Fr. Pokorsky is pastor of St. Michael Church in Annandale.

[Salvation]

The Work of God

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Rejoice with me.

Luke 15:1-32

1 NOW the publicans and sinners drew near him to listen to him.
2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receives sinners, and eats with them.
3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying:
4 What man of you that has a hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he finds it?
5 And when he has found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing:
6 And coming home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost?
7 I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that does penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.
8 Or what woman having ten silver coins; if she loses one, does not light a candle, and sweeps the house, and seeks diligently until she finds it?
9 And when she has found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin which I had lost.
10 So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner who repents.
11 And he said: A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of inheritance that belongs to me. And he divided unto them his inheritance.
13 And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his inheritance, living riotously.
14 And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine.
16 And he desired to fill his stomach with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave anything to him.
17 And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I perish here with hunger?
18 I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you:
19 I am not worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants.
20 And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, I am not now worthy to be called your son.
22 And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring here the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be happy:
24 Because this, my son was dead, and has come to life again: was lost, and has been found. And they began to be happy.
25 Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and was close to the house, he heard music and dancing:
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said to him: your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore came out and began to entreat him.
29 And answering, he said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve you, and I have never transgressed your commandment, and yet you have never given me a kid to be happy with my friends:
30 But as soon as this, your son has come, who has devoured his inheritance with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf.
31 But he said to him: Son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours.
32 But it was fit that we should be merry and rejoice, for this your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The message to repent is my strongest message; to see a sinner coming back to grace gives me the greatest joy. Repentance is the result of my word, and the benefit of that new life is salvation. I was very happy amidst sinners because my conversation brought them to repentance. I was highly criticized for doing that, but let me assure you that my joy was great when someone gave up his or her sinful ways to follow me.

So my joy is even greater than that of the shepherd who loses his sheep and then finds it, or the woman who loses her valued coin and then finds it or the joy of the father of the prodigal son who welcomes his son back after he has repented.

I am the Saviour of the world and my greatest joy is to bring salvation to souls. Every one is of great value to me because everyone has cost me my life. I will insist throughout the life of every person to declare my love openly until the soul understands my call and falls in love with me. I am willing to forgive because this is the perfection of my merciful love. I don’t look at the sins of anyone, I look at a soul that is perishing and needs my healing love. My nature is to be merciful to all. No exception.

Come to me all of you who are overburdened with sin and guilt, let me heal your souls, let me renew you with the infinite healing power of my merciful love; let me restore you to peace, love and joy. Repent of all the sins of your past life, meditate on the damage that you have caused to your soul and on the insult you have given to your God, think that if I did not forgive you, you would be totally lost; see me suffering and shedding my blood for you, see me crucified for your sins and come to me for forgiveness. Say the words of the prodigal son, “Father, I have sinned against you and against the world, I don’t deserve to be called your son, forgive me” Those words will be sweet to my ears, I will look at the humility of your hearts, at the sorrow that you feel for your sins and I will grant you peace and inner healing that will let you live a life in keeping with repentance.

Pray for your brothers and sisters to come to me too, all of them need me. Give testimony of my Divine Mercy to everyone and encourage them to live a holy life. I have prepared a new world of joy for all those who are willing to contemplate my sufferings as a way of amending their lives. My sacrifice is the great offering of my love for you, come to the altar of my suffering and receive my love.

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary