“you are with me always, and everything I have is yours”
From this Gospel we see two people that are not “merciful” and that do not “rejoice” when the lost has been found. Their heart, unlike the Sacred Heart, is hardened and cold. The Pharisees condemn Jesus for his compassion for sinners and do not like the fact that he “welcomes sinners and eats with them”. The elder son in the parable of the prodigal son is angry at his father’s mercy and does not like the fact that the father welcomes and eats with the younger brother. To “welcome” and “eat” with someone is the most basic form of hospitality and kindness. The Pharisees and elder brother are proof that sin causes us to lose the sense of even the most basic “good”. Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”[i] In our thoughts, words and actions toward sinners we can either practice mercy, or the opposite of mercy, which is avarice (greed).
What is mercy? The disposition to be kind and forgiving. Founded on compassion, mercy differs from compassion or the feeling of sympathy in putting this feeling into practice with a readiness to assist. It is therefore the ready willingness to help anyone in need, especially in need of pardon or reconciliation.[ii]
In Matthew 9:35-38 we see the compassion of Christ, which then moves Him to mercy. “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.’” God in His mercy has sent and continues to send laborers, the first being His son, of which Mary said, “He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy”[iii] a mercy that is “from age to age to those who fear him.”[iv]This same mercy Zachariah spoke of when he said, “He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.”[v]
Compassion or sympathy is easy, a video or story can move us to compassion or sympathy. We can have sympathy for our self, for our trials, the drama in our life, but if we are not compelled to do something about our trials we do not show mercy toward our self.
Why is it easier to just “talk” about our problems or the problems of others, to just feel the drama, but not do anything? Anyone can “talk” about problems and “feel” the drama of life, anyone can have compassion. The challenge is to imitate Christ’s words and actions and be merciful.
What is it that makes us jump to the next step and have mercy, the ready willingness to help? We cannot just focus on the “feeling”. A video of starving children in a third world country moves us to sympathy and compassion, but unless we see beyond the feeling we won’t be moved to help. We must see a value, a good, a dignity and have a passion and willingness to restore the value. “Mercy is manifested in its true and proper aspect when it restores to value, promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil existing in the world and in man.”[vi] Mercy can only take place when we are passionate to draw good from all forms of evil, no matter how hopeless the evil is, we have hope in the midst of despair, light in the midst of darkness. We see this in the arts, when in literature and movies, a character won’t give up on the underdog, why, because they believe in them. They believe in the “good” that is within them, the “value” that no one else notices or believes in.
What are the different responses we can have when we see evil (sin) in our life, the life of others or in the world? We can get upset and even angry. We can ignore it or even begin to believe that evil does not exist. We can rationalize it saying that it really isn’t evil or that it isn’t that big of a deal. We can show no compassion at all saying, “get over it”. We can draw good from evil. God doesn’t will, or want evil but does allow evil and wills that good will come from it. The best example of this is the crucifixion, which is a great evil, but from it came hope, hope in the Resurrection. We must not want or support evil, but when it does occur, we must draw good from it.
Mercy is to reach out and give, the opposite of mercy is avarice which is to reach out and grab. “Avarice is greed, the selfish reach to grab and keep for oneself (the opposite of mercy, which is the reach to give, to share with others, even the undeserving).”[vii] “In its strict sense, avarice is the inordinate holding on to possessions or riches instead of using these material things for some worthwhile purpose.”[viii] The elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son does not show mercy, but rather it’s opposite. In his greediness, the elder son, held tightly to his possessions.
What possessions is the elder brother holding onto? Are we threatened that others will take these possessions from us? I am the favored son, I am the hard worker, I am loved by the servants. It is the elder brother that wants to hold onto everything. He wants to possess and not give up the robe, ring and shoes. Saint Augustine says that the “robe” is the sign of honor. Would the elder brother loose honor? The “ring” symbolizes restoration. What would happen to the elder brother if his younger brother was restored and brought back in the family? The “shoes” show that the younger son is now free, does this freedom threaten the elder brother?
The elder brother’s life is defined by his material possessions. We cannot define our self or others by material possessions; if we do we are on track to practice avarice, instead of mercy. There is a phrase, “Are you going to have more or be more?” The prodigal son had more and then lost everything. Our life, our dignity, our definition of self does not rest in having more but in being more. We do not say what are you going to have when you grow up, but rather what are you going to be. The elder brother is worried about holding onto material goods such as honor, status, freedom. He does not want to share with his younger brother. If we are faithful, God says that our reward is that “we are with Him” and “everything He has is ours”. For the elder son, who is the faithful son, this reward is not enough.
Why do we sometimes feel that the reward “to be with God” and “to have everything that is His” not enough for us? Luke tells us that the faithful son “grew angry at this and would not go in; but his father came out and began to plead with him. “He said in reply to his father: ‘For years now I have slaved for you. I never disobeyed one of your orders, yet you never gave me so much as a kid goat to celebrate with my friends. Then, when this son of your returns after having gone through your property with loose women, you kill the fatted calf for him.’ “‘My son,’ replied the father, ‘you are with me always, and everything I have is yours” This reward is eternal (spiritual), not always temporal (material). We sometimes long and desire to have the temporal reward of the “fatted calf, the robe, the ring, the friends, the party”. The Father (God), tells us that you will be with me and that you will have all that is mine. What does this mean to be with God? What does it mean to have what is His? Where did Jesus go? What did Jesus have? While on this earth, Jesus, the Son of God, went to the Cross and was mocked, beaten and killed. If we are with God and have everything that is His, we must take in all the joys and the sufferings. This is not glamorous or even popular but. What is our goal? Shouldn’t being with God and sharing all that is His be enough? If our goal is to avoid sin and pursue good then we should want nothing other than “to be with God” and “to have everything that is His”. “When will one find goodness without Christ? When will a person find evil with him?”[ix] There is no goodness without Christ; this is the reason why the son returned to the Father, there was no goodness absent from the Father. In the same way connected to Christ there is no evil, this is why Mary says “[I] rejoice in God my savior”[x] The angel Gabriel says to Mary, “the Lord, is with you.”[xi] Mary is immaculate, free from sin and full of Grace because she is with the Lord and the Lord is with her. Do we desire to be so present to Christ that we are full of Grace and thus free from sin? God is not a God who feels compassion and sympathy but remains absent and removed from His people. God is a merciful God who is willing and ready to act in the life of His children, to show mercy. Many people believe that God is like a clockmaker that created the clock and then lets it run itself. These people believe that God created the world and man, but has stepped back and let the world and man take care of themselves. This believe called Deism is incorrect.
What is Deism? Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this (and religious truth in general) can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without the need for either faith or organized religion. Many Deists reject the notion that God intervenes in human affairs, for example through miracles and revelations.
What are we jealous about, worried about, and threatened by? How do we feel, when after doing everything right in our families, schools and groups, a person who has strayed comes back and is accepted with open arms? The elder son might have been jealous, worried or threatened by the younger brother’s return and may have feared what his brother’s return might mean to his life. Maybe the elder son, wanted the father all to himself. Do we ever want God, Church all for our self? Do we share God and the richness of the Church with others? It comes down to a trust in the father, if the father is fair to the younger son, he will also be fair to the elder son. “How sweet a joy it is to think that God is just; that, in other words, he makes allowances for our weaknesses and understands perfectly that frailty of our humanity. So what have I to be afraid of? If God, who is perfectly just, shows such mercy in forgiving the prodigal son, must He not also be just to me, ‘who am always with Him’?”[xii] Those who are “good” and do the right thing and are “always with Him” have nothing to fear. They should be grateful for God’s generosity toward both saint and sinner.
Activity – Pictures of sinners
Show a picture of hardened sinners in spiritual need (prostitute, thief, gangster, stereotypes of sinners). You may also want to put a “normal” looking person. Ask: What do people think after seeing the pictures? Hatred, judgment, fear, compassion, mercy, love, dignity, etc. Do we have compassion and sympathy? Is our reaction toward these pictures the same as pictures of those in physical need (could also show pictures of those in physical need)? What is the value, the dignity, the good that needs to be restored and are we motivated to restore it?
“Notice, the father is aware that a fundamental good has been saved: the good of his son’s humanity. Although the son has squandered the inheritance, nevertheless his humanity is saved. Indeed, it has been, in a way, found again.”[xiii]
What is our attitude toward sinners? What should be our attitude toward sinners while that are “in sin” and “after they have repented from sin”? Do we rejoice when a “lost” person comes back into the hands of God? In the three parables there is rejoicing and celebration when a sinner repents. The shepherd “invites friends and neighbors in and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep’”. We see the example of the woman “when she finds it [the coin], she calls in her friends and neighbors to say, ‘Rejoice with me! I have found the silver piece I lost.’” The Father of the prodigal son said “Let us eat and celebrate because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life. He was lost and is found.” “Jesus said and repeated: ‘There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just” thus giving us to understand what a great glory a soul gives to God when, after many falls, it comes back to Him, repentant and confident. The message of this parable applies not only to great sinners, those converted from serious sin, but also to those who turn from venial sins, who humble themselves and rise again after faults committed through weakness or lack of reflection.”[xiv] As was stated above the most basic response toward a sinner is to “welcome” and to “eat”, Jesus welcomed and ate with sinners. What does this mean? It means to be charitable and hospitable, to look with kindness toward sinners. To eat is to take it to the next step. To eat with someone means you have to go to their house, or they go to yours. This means a sense of openness. It is said that Pope Saint Gregory the Great opened his dinner table each night to the homeless from the streets of Rome. The homeless came into the Vatican and ate with the Pope. This means for both parties a sense of vulnerability. This also means a commitment to sharing, communicating and fellowship.
What happens when we humble ourself and repent from sin, even venial sins by returning to the Father through Sacramental Confession? We cause God great joy and He rejoices in us. What better reward than to bring great joy to the one who created us. This does not mean that we should go out and sin a lot and then repent. There is enough sin in our life. All we need to do is examine our conscience daily and begin shining the Light of Christ in our life and the sins (even the most minor and unnoticed) will become evident. We can then repent from our sins, asking God for the Grace necessary to sin no more.
[i] Matthew 5:7
[ii] Father John A. Hardon, S.J.; Modern Catholic Dictionary, page 348
[iii] Luke 1:54
[iv] Luke 1:50
[v] Luke 1:72
[vi] Pope John Paul II; Dives In Misericordia, 6.5
[vii] Peter Kreeft; Catholic Christianity
[viii] Father John A. Hardon, S.J.; Modern Catholic Dictionary, page 50
[ix] Saint Augustine, Commentary on St. John’s Gospel, 51, 11
[x] Luke 1:47
[xi] Luke 1:28
[xii] Saint Therese of Lisieux, Autobiography of a Soul, 8
[xiii] Pope John Paul II; Dives In Misericordia, 6.2
[xiv] Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen; Divine Intimacy; Section 210