Homily

I love the icon of the Prodigal Son. It’s on the front side of today’s bulletin. But I could call it the icon of the father of the Prodigal Son because he is actually in the forefront. Notice that he is shown as a bit taller than his boy and as he bends over to greet him he is shown to be one who will stoop down in love for his son. The son has his arms out to hug his dad, but it is dad who has already put his own arms around his son. There are no smiles. This reunion expresses a joy that is much deeper than a smile.

Now, of course, I realize that some people are not always happy with this parable because they think it unfair. They point out that the older son did not squander away his father’s money and that he stayed home, unlike his brother who did the exact opposite. But notice how this son talks. Notice that it is really about material goods. “You never threw a party for me, but here you are killing the fatted calf for my brother instead.” He is angry at both father and brother. At his father, because he feels that he deserves to be getting the goods his father is putting out for his brother. He may have lived long WITH his father but that doesn’t mean that he learned anything MORE ABOUT his father. This poor dad. He raises two boys only to find out they have little interest in his love for them, but what they really are interested in is his bank account. What could be a harder pill to swallow than that one? But at last one of the two finally sees how wrong he was and now his only desire is to return to the love of his father’s home. Even when his older son comes and berates him in a most disrespectful way, this father answers him not out of a sense of anger at being treated so rudely, but instead with a gentle and loving invitation to his boy that he should also enter into the joy of seeing his brother once again, the happiness of a family reunited again under one roof.

For us I think it calls us to the question, “Do we love our heavenly Father, and if so what does that mean?” I think it can be difficult. It’s easier to love the Son of God Who became man, for we can, so to speak, meet Him and know Him through the word of the Holy Gospel. God the Father is not so easily read. And sadly, our mental image of God the Father is often that of an older man with a long white beard, and very few of our dads had long white beards. But I think it is good for us to think about our heavenly Father and what kind of relationship we have with Him. I hope it is not the Santa Claus effect because the only other person we know who has a long white beard gives us presents at Christmas if we have been good. And that’s not really a relationship, but rather a kind of business deal. If I am good, you give me goods. Sadly, I think that’s kind of the way many people see their relationship to the Father, which is not really any better than that of the older son in today’s Gospel.

Who is God the Father like? Let’s look at our own fathers. And I say that with a note of great caution, because many times it is easier to remember our dads for their faults rather than their virtues. But what good aspects, what good qualities of your father would lead you to understand something about your Father in heaven? What care, what attention, what help, what desire for your health and happiness did your father give for you?—and let that help lead you to understand your other Father. And even if you did not know your father, or perhaps your father was not the best at showing a loving care for you, isn’t it true that you still have an image and an idea of what a perfect Father would be like? Let that image and idea draw you closer to your eternal Father. You may be dads yourselves and you know what you wish and work for in regard to your own children. You know the love and care that you carry for them. May that lead you to a greater love for your Father eternal, for His love is never-failing and ever-present.

Our Father’s love is constant, completely full, never-failing, ever-present. He loves us when we do good, and, unlike Santa, He loves us even when we do evil. His love for us is not based on our performance because it is perfect and cannot be changed from day to day as our own experience with love in this world seems to tell us. “I fell out of love.” Well, dust yourself off and get back. But His love is never forced upon us. We must choose to come to Him to receive it. We must be willing to place ourselves under His fatherly care if we wish to live in it. We must ask forgiveness if we have turned away from Him, in big ways or small, in order to spend what He has given us on our own selfish desires. Let us come home to Him again and again as often as is necessary because every time we do we see Him more clearly, and the face we will see will not look like Santa, but rather the very face of love, Who gives us this day our daily bread, and forgives us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

The apostles once asked Jesus to show them the Father. It would be very good for us today to ask Jesus for the same gift. Lord Jesus Christ, show us the Father and help us to see how blessed we are that He has made us His sons and daughters.