The father in this beautiful parable led with compassion rather than judgment and confrontation.

Who is the person in your life you find most difficult to forgive?   Who has judged very unfairly, who has betrayed your trust, who has cheated on you, or who even in your own family do you experience considerable tension?

Sometimes genuine forgiveness is so difficult to come by.

As you pray over this parable of the prodigal son, consider the feelings of the father in this parable.  His younger son demanded his share of the inheritance coming to him upon his father’s death.  He wanted it now so he could abandon his family and his home and go off to live a reckless lifestyle.

 Consider the sense of abandonment, the betrayal, the anger the father must have felt.  From the son’s perspective, he seemed to be oblivious to the hurt he was inflicting on his dad.

Fast forward to when the son was penniless and came to his senses and decided to return to his father’s house, he came back just to be treated as one of his dad’s servants.

The point of this beautiful gospel parable is the father’s reaction when he caught sight of his son. He ran to him.  He embraced him with much love.  He put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and ordered the fatted calf to be killed and to have a celebration.

The father led with compassionate healing forgiveness rather than judgment and confrontation.  What happened to his negative feelings and judgments he surely could have carrying around?  This is a challenge for me to get my head around this.  But this is how God loves us.  Simply gaze at the crucifix to be immersed in the merciful love of Jesus for us.

This beautiful parable of the prodigal son can rightly be called the parable of the forgiving father.  The message of the parable is not so much about the recklessness of the son as it is about the forgiving, loving father.

Now consider again the person you have the most difficulty extending a hand of forgiving love.  If you encountered this person just now, how would your encounter compare with the father’s encounter with his younger son?

Are we able to lead with compassion rather than judgment?  This is the grace we seek from today’s Scriptures.  And it is only with God’s grace are we able to let go of our negative feelings.

I know for myself that the only I can imitate the loving forgiveness of the father is when I immerse myself in the reality and the grace that this how God loves me.

I suggest that the only way for us to extend forgiveness to those in your life that are so challenging for you is for you and me to humbly recognize ourselves as the prodigal son in this parable.

The prodigal son abandoned home and family in favor of reckless living.  While we may not have physically left home and family as did the prodigal son, the prayer of the parable invites us to reflect on how we have spiritually abandoned home and family.

When have the challenges of life have caused us to lose trust that our loving God holds us in the palm of his hand?  When have we questioned or doubted God’s healing presence in our life?

Our sinfulness our greed, our pride, the judgments we make about others are an abandonment of our Father’s house of merciful love.

As we examine our conscience, there are many ways we have abandoned the faithful and unending love of Jesus

As we examine the conscience of the church living under the very dark cloud of sexual abuse and the recent bankruptcy filing of the diocese, we ask ourselves:  what gives?  Can we place our trust in the Church of Rochester as we live with this dark cloud of sexual abuse and bankruptcy?  Is this the time for us to look for another Church we can put our trust in?   Do we feel abandoned by the spiritual leaders we have previously trusted?

The truth is yes we personally  at times, too many times, have abandoned the home of our heavenly father through our sinfulness.  Our sin has separated us from God’s love.

Yes, we have also been blindsided by the institution of the Catholic Church in the horrific crime of clergy sexual abuse and now the bankruptcy of the diocese.  Who can we trust?

The answer is very, very clear.  We can trust now and forever in the abiding, reconciling love of our heavenly Father.  One thing has not changed in the life of the Church:  Jesus is our Lord and Savior. 

Our future as individuals and as a Church is full of hope.  Why?  Because Jesus goes with us now and forever.  This Church, your Church, needs you now more than ever.  Jesus had not abandoned the Church, and hopefully we do not abandon the Church just now. 

The spiritual renewal we seek is the renewal that happens when we immerse ourselves in the mystery of God’s love.  May our image of God be the image of the merciful, loving, compassionate father that is portrayed in this parable.

In both the stories that Jesus told and the story that he lived, we are given chance after chance to return to the embrace of a loving God.

Sadly, the Church has not always lived to her high calling.  There needs to be accountability for the loss of trust in our spiritual leaders.

In this world  of prodigal sons and prodigal daughters, do we witness of the judgmental scowl of the older brother in today’s Gospel parable or do we witness to the reconciling love of the father?

This leaves us with a challenge.  Clearly the central message of Jesus is mercy and forgiveness.  But his does not give a free pass to the need for accountability in the life of the Church.  Parents needs to know that their children are safe in the life and the ministries of the Church.  Sadly this hasn’t always been the case.  Going forward, the Church needs to hold accountable to the high calling it is given.

At the end of the day, may we the Church of the Holy Spirit re-commit ourselves to witness to God’s love and mercy in our world.  May we commit ourselves to bring healing and forgiveness to a broken world.  May we in all situations and circumstances witness to the love of Jesus in our world.

Have a Blessed Day.