There is a poem about coming home by August Davies Webster…
Oh, how my mother's eyes will turn to me, half unawares, then fix upon her book that none may see them growing large and moist; and how my father will look stern and frown, hiding the treacherous twinkles with the shade of knitted brows, lest any watching him should think him moved to have his son by him, and proud like foolish fathers; but the girls will be all smiles and flutter, and look round elate as if no other girls before had had a soldier brother.
Plenty of birds this year, my father writes; we'll see next week, and--There's the long shrill yell! Home! all but home! Oh! there, between the trees, that light, our house--they're waiting for me there.
The emotions of coming home…
to the place where we belong…
to where the love of family is enough for us…
are some of the most powerful emotions the human heart knows.
Today’s Gospel is a story of a homecoming…
of a son returning to his father, to the place where he belongs.
This son has sinned…and wasted…and lived a life of immorality…
and yet his father welcomes him with compassion…
and in his father’s embrace he finds the love that sustains him.
God our Heavenly Father welcomes us in the same way.
When we have gone off on our own and tried to do things our own way…
and finally realize how much we depend on God…
we return to find Him always faithfully waiting for us.
When we have sinned and need God’s mercy…
we can always find Him waiting to bestow that mercy
in the Sacrament of Penance.
God is our Father…
and He is always waiting to welcome us home when we run to Him.
Perhaps someone you know has strayed from the practice of the Catholic faith.
We have in our parish a program called “Catholics Returning Home”
which helps to re-connect people to the Church.
The Church is our home…
and she is always willing to take us back.
[PAUSE]
The sad element of today’s Gospel is the scene with the older brother,
who greatly disapproves of the joy and celebration
surrounding the prodigal son’s reconciliation with his Father
He resents the fact that his brother has squandered the family fortune…
and yet their father throws a great celebration on his return…
meanwhile the older brother has been faithful and receives nothing.
He is not able…because of his anger…to recognize how wonderful it is
that his brother has recognized the evil of his ways
and has returned begging forgiveness.
He knows only his anger and frustration at being passed up.
He is not able to see the moment through his father’s eyes…
which no doubt are filled with tears of joy…
as his fatherly heart melts…
at the sight of his son running down the lane.
He is not able to welcome his brother when he finally comes home.
What an embrace that father and son must have had!
What tender love and instant peace both must have known in their hearts!
What a shame that the older brother could not have shared their familial love…
for his anger and his jealousy stand in the breach.
The actor Buddy Hackett once remarked…
“I've had a few arguments with people, but I never carry a grudge.
You know why? While you're carrying a grudge, they're out dancing.”
In the Gospel, the family is celebrating and dancing,
while the older son is outside harboring hatred toward his brother.
How true it is that,
while we might be holding a grudge or harboring jealousy over something,
the person who we perceive as having offended us has moved on
and is enjoying their life, not even thinking about what happened.
In the end…we’re the ones who suffer.
Surely most of us at least could find something to hold a grudge about…
and perhaps we are right now.
Perhaps we have been passed over for a promotion…
have gotten tangled up in a family dispute…
or are unable to forgive another person.
Whatever the circumstances…
by holding onto past problems and offenses…
we only hurt ourselves… and we miss out on so much in life.
Perhaps someone you know was hurt by a priest or layperson in the Church…
and because they hold onto those feelings
they cannot “come home” to the life of the Church.
What blessings and happiness are we missing out on…
because of feelings and grudges we hold onto?
Are we harboring anger and resentment while everyone else is dancing…
killing the fatted calf…celebrating…and enjoying life’s blessings?
It is good for us to bring our burdens to God in the Sacrament of Penance…
and share them with someone we trust…
who can help us learn to let go of them.
Today the Lord calls us to search our hearts…
and to lay aside every ill feeling and burdensome thought…
so that we might come to know the tenderness and peace
that our Heavenly Father desires us to enjoy.
Today the Lord calls us to come home to His peaceful embrace.
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