He Was Dead And Has Come To Life

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The mission of the Church is to be a sign of love and unity to others, to be and to make disciples of all the nations.  If the Church is not missionary it will die.

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke there are three stories: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.  All three have the same theme: something is lost, something is found, and the people involved celebrate.  This Sunday we heard the parable of the prodigal son and the key to this parable is the first two lines of the gospel: tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to listen to Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, ‘this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’   This is what Jesus does, it is what Pope Francis does, and all Christians should do.

The son demands his share of the inheritance and squanders it on the equivalent of drugs, sex, and drinking.  The father leaves him free, gives him the money and doesn’t try to stop him.  The son sinks to a level below human.  He wants to eat what the pigs are eating.  A good Jew would never go near a pig, no less eat their food.  He has an awakening, based mostly on his stomach, that in his father’s house the workers eat better than he.  And he rehearses his speech and goes home.

The father does not wait for him to arrive at the house, he runs to meet him; he embraces and kisses him and accepts him even before he asks for forgiveness.  How many weeks or months was the father waiting for him?  He is filled with compassion and mercy for his son.  The Father sees his wayward son in us; he always takes the first step.

The older son when he sees the celebration is furious.  He cannot call his father, Father.  He only thinks of how much he has done and how unfair it is to throw a party for his brother.  One father of the Church said that in every generation there are always two sons.  At the time of Jesus, gentiles were the younger son, and the Jews were the elder.  And now, perhaps church-goers can be the older son, and the rebellious ones are the prodigals.  If you are a church-goer, and I hope you are, don’t fall into the idea of staying at home and being comfortable, and wanting the community to cater to you…don’t look down on those who went away.

The older brother says it is not fair how the father treated the prodigal son.  They are right.  It’s not fair.  God the Father wants so much for all his children to be home that he even goes to look for them.  The last thing we want is for God to be fair.  It’s not part of who he is.

Let’s go look for the people who left our Father’s house because they were not raised that way, they just fell away, or they had a bad experience.  The whole church, everyone in a parish, should look for the prodigal sons and daughters; there are a lot of them around.

Everything in the church should be aimed at them.  The greeters and the music and everything should welcome the prodigals.  Imagine a company that is only focusing on the ten percent who come, and don’t even consider the ninety who never come.  Starbucks is soon to open in Italy.

How can you reach those who are away from the Church?  Get to know them, spend time with them, and invite them to come with you.  When you get to know someone who has wandered away and they have a concern, pray with them.  Say what you get out of coming to your church; how it helps you.  Celebrate their return.  Someone was dead and has come to life, was lost and now is found!  What could be more beautiful?

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