The Prodigal Son

Mass for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Celebrated by Archbishop Denis J. Hart
on Sunday, 16th September, 2001, at 11.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we are given one of the most touching stories in the whole Gospel, that of the return of the prodigal son. It shows the limitless mercy, kindness and welcome of our God and contrasts with the fickleness of our human heart.

As we remember our weakness and listen to God's Word, let us marvel above all at the patience he shows us and let us resolve also, 'I will rise and go to my Father that we might have life.'

Let us call to mind our sins.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today Jesus gives us a clear illustration of the lengths to which he is prepared to go to claim our love by his limitless patience and welcome. Few of us I think would have bothered about one sheep and left the ninety-nine or have searched the whole house to find a small lost coin. Probably most of us would have felt that the prodigal son deserved all he got and promptly forgotten about him as a renegade. Yet these three stories give us an indication of the lengths to which God is prepared to go to offer us love and welcome, to show us that there is the better way; that of his service.

Fifty-three years ago in his novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, South African educator, author and reluctant politician, Allan Paton, told the story of a father and son in Johannesburg. The boy had strayed to what Winston Churchill had called, "that alien land where standards and ideals are lost". Desperate to find his lost son the father searched the entire city, street by street.

Relentlessly, tirelessly, he travelled from reform school to shantytown, to the jail, inquiring of everyone he met until at last he found his wandering boy and brought him home.

Like the loving father featured in today's Gospel he did not reproach his son, but rejoiced in the fact of their reunion. This is how limitless is the love of our God. How many of us can claim a similar generosity. How often are those of us who turn back to humans we have offended and are met, not with the welcome which is found in the Gospel, but rather the words, "I told you so". We can measure God's ways against our human standards and Saint Luke today puts us in touch with the graciousness and tender mercies of God.

The Gospel is woven together by three statements. "I have found my sheep that was lost." (Luke 15:7) "I have found the drachma I lost." (Luke 15:10) "Your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found." (Luke 15:32)

This makes the telling point, when those who are dead in sin come to life there is great rejoicing in heaven.

This is why the beautiful Sacrament of individual Reconciliation is so important in the life of the Church. It is an invitation to come and to know clearly, unequivocally, that though we are lost in sin, we are found by God's grace.

In today's second Reading Saint Paul recognizes that he had wandered from God's truth and rejoiced at having been found by God. By God's grace he had come to understand the broadness of God's heart and became a champion, preaching the Good News of God's unconditional love, which calls every prodigal home. Jesus has given us the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we will know that forgiveness as unconditional, complete, without limit and reaching into all areas of our life. If we humbly bring ourselves to him then we will find our lives remade, given new hope and we will be able to achieve wonderful things if we entrust ourselves to his goodness. These encouraging words of Saint Paul, "If mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who would later have to trust in him to come to eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:16)

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.