“the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country”

 
The story of the Prodigal Son is one of the most popular stories in the Bible.  In the story there are essentially three main characters: The younger son, the older son, and the father. This lesson will focus on the younger son.
 
What does the younger son ask from his father? The younger son asks for his inheritance. Why is this bad? To ask for an inheritance first shows a sense of an entitlement. The son felt he was entitled to or somehow deserved his money. Secondly, an inheritance is normally received once someone has died, thus the younger son theoretically told his father, “You are dead to me”. Of course, the father did not die, here rather ironically, the younger son is the one who would die a spiritual death.
 
What does the younger son do with his inheritance? The Gospel tells us he goes off and squanders it on a sinful life of alcohol and sex. Why does the son do this? Since this is a parable there are multiple ways to interpret as to why he did those things. He had wandered far from home, and with each further step he lost more and more of his identity until he no longer knew who he was. In his heart, he had already lost his father; he had given into sin and lost his way spiritually.
 
In what way does the inheritance of the son parallel the sacraments? As the son asks the father for his inheritance, so do Catechumens ask Baptism of Mother Church. In Baptism, we ask for our inheritance. We put on Christ, we have access to the sacramental life, and we inherit heaven. What will we do (or what have we done) with our inheritance? Will we squander the inheritance given us at Baptism?
 
Who does the younger son represent? “That son, who receives from the father the portion of the inheritance that is due to him and leaves home to squander it in a far country ‘in loose living’, in a certain sense is the man of every period, beginning with the one who was the first to lose the inheritance of grace and original justice. The analogy at this point is very wide ranging. The parable indirectly touches upon every breach of the covenant of love, every loss of grace, every sin”[i].
 
What makes the son come to his senses? At his lowest point, the son sees how far lost he truly is. Think of a time when you were lost. How did you feel? What did you think? Like us, the younger son is willing to do whatever it takes to get back home. “His memory of home and his conviction that his father loves him cause the prodigal son to reflect and to decide to set out on the right road.”[ii]Saint Jose Maria Escriva says, “Human life is in some way a constant returning to our Father’s house. We return through contrition, through the conversion of heart which means a desire to change, a firm decision to improve our life and which, therefore, is expressed in sacrifice and self-giving. We return to our Father’s house by means of that sacrament of pardon in which, by confessing our sins, we put on Jesus Christ again and become his brothers, members of God’s family.”[iii]
 
In what way does the son’s repentance parallel the sacraments? The son has squandered the graces of his inheritance (Baptism). He has fallen and is in need of what the Church Fathers have called a second Baptism, he is in need of the waters of Reconciliation, waters produced by his own tears of sorrow and repentance. The son examines his conscience, has sorrow for his wrong choices, resolves to change his life, decides to confess all to his father and do whatever penance necessary to be united back to his father’s household, even if that means being a servant in they household.
 
What does the son learn? God uses the son’s disappointment and remorse to bring our souls back as the son learns the errors of his way.[iv] The son sees he must return to his father with humility and thanksgiving.
 
How can we relate to the Prodigal Son and his conversion and repentance? The Catechism teaches us, “With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a ‘confession’ of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son,’ we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.”[v]
 
Why does Jesus tell the parable from the younger son’s viewpoint? “The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father. The fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father’s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy – all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of the new life- pure, worthy, and joyful – of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father’s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.”[vi]

In what way does the son’s return home parallel the sacraments? Once the son is reconciled with his father, the father throws a festive banquet for his son and they eat together at the same table. When we have turned from Our Father through mortal sin, we must be reconciled to Him prior to partaking in the banquet (the Eucharist). Once we have been reconciled we sit at the festive banquet of the Holy Mass—a taste of the supper of the Lamb, which we look forward to in Heaven, our true home.

[i] John Paul II, Dives in misericordia, 5
[ii] Commentaries of Gospel of Luke, pg. 175
[iii] J. Escriva, Christ is passing by , 64
[iv] cf. Divine Intimacy vol. II, pg. 71
[v] CCC 2839
[vi] CCC 1439