In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the famous parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger son who demands his inheritance and then goes into a far country to “squander” it. When a famine strikes the land, he suddenly finds himself destitute, with neither wealth nor friends. At first, he is so desperate that he is willing to hire himself out as a swineherd. In Jewish law, pigs are unclean animals, meaning the son has also been cut off from his identity and culture (Gadenz, 276). He might as well be dead (v. 24). The son soon “comes to his senses” and returns home. He is counting on his father’s beneficence (“my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat”), but he is also keenly ashamed of his actions. He is unworthy to be a son—he will be lucky to be treated as a servant in the house. But the father does not see it this way. When he looks upon his son, he does not see the young man who squandered his wealth and   disgraced his name. He sees only the wounded heart of his child, and his heart overflows with compassion. When his son tries to insist that he will only be a servant, the father interrupts him and instead calls for a celebration— “he was lost and has been found.” And, critically, the youngest son accepts. He does not insist on his lowly status. Because he trusts his father, he steps back into his identity as a son. He rejoices with his father who wants to lavish his love upon him. It is this message that St. Paul says has been entrusted to all who are now “ambassadors” of God. The Father does not desire for us to remain trapped in shame, viewing Him as a demanding master. Instead, God desires all of humanity to be reconciled to him as a father is reconciled to his lost child.  It is this message that we carry, first to ourselves, and then to a broken world: You are a new creation! The old has gone, the new has come!

Reflection by Parishioner Kathryn Wilmotte