The Two Sons and God's Mercy
The younger son lived in a darkness the older son will never know, fortunately
Today we look at the parable of the Prodigal Son. There are many ways at looking at the four characters in the parable. Further, remember this is a story, actually it is what we call today flash fiction, and every word is important.
Let us begin looking at the younger son:
He is literally a sophomore. That means he is a wise fool. He thinks he knows everything when in fact, he knows nothing. So, he takes his inheritance and goes on his journey to create his fame and fortune.
Jesus says he went and lived a life of dissipation. This means he lived a life looking for earthly pleasures but was surrounded by people who were doing the same and they all were in it for themselves.
When I first arrived in San Diego, I met a couple guys who were into drugs, I was not. They went to find someone who could sell them what they were looking for. I met them later. They told me they met someone who said to them: “Give me your money and I will be back in about twenty minutes.” Around forty minutes later they realized he was not coming back. This is the nature of that world.
When I was in one port, one of my shipmates found himself a woman for the night in the port. He came back wrapped in a sheet because she stole from him: “everything” while he was sleeping.
This is the nature of that world and the younger son had no street smarts, so he succumbed to it.
Later we see, he has nothing. Now every word is part of the story, notice he is caring for pigs. This means that even his own people wanted nothing to do with him. Jews have nothing to do with pigs.
The late Fr Rufus Pereira taught the greatest pain one can suffer is being completely abandoned and this is exactly what the younger son suffered. No one cared about him. You can rest assured the gentile farmers who owned the land only referred to him as “the Jew.”
“We can’t help you here, why don’t you go talk to the Jew.”
It is here that he repents and returns to his father who welcomes him with open arms.
One message is right there: “God gives up on nobody.”
The other son does not understand this because he always did the right thing all the time. He cared for his father and did everything he asked him. He represents those who never left the Church and lived the ways of the faith every day. They are a great inspiration for us.
Now you can see the two sides, those who experienced a darkness that the father never wants anyone to experience and those who don’t understand how dark that darkness can be.
I know from my days outside the Church when I was living getting drunk every night, people later after I returned to the Church would say to me and others like me that we had our fun. We will always say, it was not fun. In fact, I returned to the Church because I realized that I was happier in Church circles.
These two sides look to the one father who calls both to eternal life and calls each side to understand each other and to come together in support of each other.
This is the call of the mercy of God. One group experienced that mercy as they turned on the darkness behind them and one group knows of God’s mercy but fortunately never had to experience it out of a great darkness. However, it is important to understand it is there and to realize just how merciful the father is to all who repent of their sins.
Fr. Robert J Carr is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA
The parish podcast is at CatholicAudioMedia.com
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The newest edition of Fr Robert J Carr's latest book is now available. Christ in Our Humanity. You can find it here.