The Return of the Prodigal Son - Luke 15

1. The Church Calendar
July 11

2. the RETURN of
the PRODIGAL son

6. I leave home every time I lose faith in the voice
that calls me the Beloved and follow
the voices that offer a great variety of ways
to win the love I so much desire.

7. But when I forget that voice of the first
unconditional love, then these innocent
suggestions can easily start dominating
my life and pull me into the “distant country.”
It is not very hard for me to know when this
is happening. Anger, resentment, jealousy, desire
for revenge, lust, greed, antagonisms, and rivalries
are the obvious signs that
I have left home.

8. The world in which I have grown up is a world so
full of grades, scores, and statistics that,
consciously or unconsciously, I always try
to take my measure against all the others. Much
sadness and gladness in my life flows
directly from my comparing, and most, if not all,
of this comparing is useless and a terrible waste of
time and energy. Our God, who
is both Father and Mother to us, does
not compare. Never.This is not easy
for me to grasp.

9. In a world that constantly compares people,
ranking them as more or less intelligent,
more or less attractive, more or less successful, it
is not easy to really
believe in a love that does not
do the same.

10. As soon as I recognized the difference between
the two hands of the father,
a new world of meaning opened up for me.The
Father is not simply a great patriarch.
He is mother as well as father.
Now I understand better also the
enormous stillness of this portrait of God.
There is no sentimentality here,
no romanticism, no simplistic tale
with a happy ending.

11. What I see here is God as mother,
receiving back into her womb the one
whom she made in her own image.
The near-blind eyes, the hands, the cloak,
the bent-over body, they all call forth
the divine maternal love, marked by grief,
desire, hope, and endless waiting.

12. Through the Church, in the Body of Christ, God
calls us to a new way of living, a new way of
relating to God, to others, and to the world. Paul
believes the Church is meant to be
a community whose way of living runs
contrary to the prevailing culture.
We would call it countercultural today.
It is a way of cooperating rather than competing, a
way of giving rather than getting, a way of sharing
rather than hoarding, a way of sacrifice rather
than comfort…

13. …a way of faith rather than knowledge,
a way of relationship rather than anonymity,
a way of love rather than animosity.
Through membership in the Body of Christ, this
way of living is a sharing in the life
of Christ

14. Loving God, you fill all things with a fullness and hope
that we can never comprehend. Thank you for leading us
into a time where more of reality is being unveiled for us
all to see. We pray that you will take away our natural
temptation for cynicism, denial, fear and despair.
Help us have the courage to awaken to greater truth,
greater humility, and greater care for one another.
May we place our hope in what matters and what lasts,
trusting in your eternal presence and love…
Closing Prayer

15. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing
of our suffering world.
Knowing, good God,
you are hearing us better
than we are speaking,
we offer these prayers
in all the holy names of God.
Amen.
Closing Prayer