-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at www.usccb.org
-check out this weeks LinC letter at www.parishlincletter.blogspot.com
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30pm, 12:30pm
Which Son Was Not Living at Home?
This famous and beautiful story of the Prodigal son has always focused upon the runaway son and the merciful father, and rightly so. Few of us have committed such a hideous abandonment of our elder's love and trust. However, the figure of the older brother and his relationship to the father's love is classic and repeated in all of our lives to a certain extent. We have been so busy avoiding the behavior of the younger son that we may have missed the imitation of the older brother.
What exactly is the older brother guilty of? Not living our lives. While he "apparently" remained faithful and hardworking on his father's plantation, the older son was not really alive to his father's loving embrace, he never really lived the life of a son. Although he was giving the impression of a faithful son, his heart was hardened against his father and his brother. He never felt appreciated by his dad. He was not living on the land as if it all belonged to him. Which it did.
Aren't many of us living a life of hardened hearts. Suffering from the imperfect parenting, sibling rivalries, wounded egos, disappointed dreams. We are just living lives of quiet desperation with no real meaning or blessing in our lives.
Let's wake up. Let's recognize that our lives are not about us. Let's receive the gift of life as from the merciful Father's hand. Then we can really live life as IT is rather than as WE are. Who in your family is really not living at home (although they are occupying the property)?
