The Sinner's Return to God

In a far country there lived, many years ago, a certain father who was very rich and liberal. He had sheep, oxen, and lands in abundance. He was a good man, and had two sons, whom he loved most tenderly. The elder of the two was a sensible and obedient young man; but the younger son was wild, disobedient, and reckless. He associated with bad companions, stayed out late at night, and spent his time in gambling, drinking, and debauchery.

The good father was very much grieved at the conduct of this son. Again and again, he warned him, he entreated him to forsake his wicked companions, he even had recourse to harsh words and chastisement; but all was of no avail, the young man was incorrigible.

His companions often said to him, "How foolish are you to allow your father to treat you this way! Take your inheritance and leave him. You will then be your own master, to go wherever and do whatever you please."

The foolish youth followed this advice. He went to his father and said, "I cannot remain here any longer; I do not want to be always treated as if I were a child. Give me my portion of the inheritance; I am now old enough to take care of myself."

"My child," cried the father, in heart-broken accents, "what have I done to you that you would treat me this way? Why do you abandon me? Is this the reward of my love?"

But the son, insensible to his father's sorrow, only said, "Give me my inheritance; I will not remain here any longer."

The good man, seeing the blind obstinacy of his son, gave him his portion of the inheritance, and said, "my dear son, since you will not listen to the voice of your father, since you will not stay with me any longer, take, then, your inheritance; I desire not to make you unhappy. You think that those wicked companions love you. As soon as they have squandered all your money, they will turn their backs upon you and abandon you. While as yet you were a helpless babe in the cradle, I laid aside this inheritance for you. Then you slept in my arms and called me by the sweet name of father. Then you were pure and innocent. Woe is me! that I have lived to see this day when the child of my heart forsakes me for a set of libertines. Can you so soon forget a father's love? What more could I do for you than I have done? The very walls that have so often hears my sighs and prayers for you will tell you how much I love you! Stay with me but a little, until my eyes are closed in death, and then depart in peace!"

The good father talked to a heart of stone. His son had become a slave to the vice of impurity, and impurity destroys every noble feeling and makes the heart more cruel and pitiless than a tiger's. The unnatural son took the money and hastened away.

After he had left his father's house, he went far away to a strange country. He wished to go as far as possible from his father, in order that he might gratify the wicked desires of his heart without any fear of reproach. He cast himself headlong into the most shameful excesses. Day after day, night after night, he spent in drinking, gambling, and debauchery. He passed his time and squandered his money in the company of those lost creatures--the disgrace of their sex, whose life is dishonor, and whose end is eternal torment.

At last the spendthrift had squandered all his wealth, and was himself reduced to the most abject poverty. He called upon his former friends to help him. He thought that those who had been his faithful companions during the days of this prosperity would not abandon him in his sore distress. He visited them one after the other, but was everywhere received with coldness and contempt. No one assisted him, no one pitied him. At last he tried to labor, and as his licentious character was well known, no one was willing to hire him. Besides, a great many were out of employment at the time. The poor were dying of hunger. There was a great famine in the country, and this unhappy young man was often faint of hunger. At last, as he could get nothing else to do, he hired himself to a rich farmer, and was appointed to herd the swine.

What a shameful degradation! He was the beloved of his father. He who had been clothed in purple and fine linen, who had numerous servants to wait on him, who had lived in abundance, whose every wish had been gratified, has now become a degraded slave, a wretched swineherd! He was barefoot and bareheaded, dressed in tattered garments; and to satisfy the cravings of hunger he had to eat of the husks of swine.

"Ah!" he cries in his sore distress, "even the very servants in my father's house have food in abundance, and here am I, his son, dying of hunger!"

As the unhappy young man sat there alone, abandoned and despised by every one, and dying of hunger, he entered into himself at last. He began to think of the past, and how happy he had been in his father's house. The thought of his home, of his kind father, filled him with remorse.

"Fool that I was!" he cried; "had I taken my father's advice, I would be happy. Here I am treated as the vilest slave, and I am dying of hunger. The very dogs at my father's table fare better than I do here. I will leave this wretched place, and I will arise and go back to my father--perhaps he will forgive me. I know that I have pained his heart. I know that I do not deserve his forgiveness. I know that I have not behaved like a good son; yet, in spite of all, my father's love for me is not dead. His heart will plead for me far more powerfully than I can plead for myself. As soon as I call him by the endearing name of father, he will be moved with compassion. I will go without fear and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am not worthy to be called your child; but forgive me, and receive me at least as one of your servants."

He rose up to return to his father. But the tempter stood beside him and said, "What are you doing? You cannot go back to your father in this way. You are all in rags. Your father will be ashamed of you. He will not forgive you. Besides, the distance is too great. You will lose your way. You will be attacked by robbers and wild beasts. Moreover, you are now too weak and sickly; you will faint and die on the way. Wait, yet, a few days longer. This famine will not last always. You will have better times down the road. If you go back to your father, you will be scolded and treated even more harshly than before. If you go back now, every one will say that you are a coward!"

In spite of all these devilish suggestions, the young man made up his mind to return to his father, no matter what it would cost. He was sorry for what he had done, and was determined to make reparation to the best of his power.

His loving father was anxiously awaiting his return. Day after day this good man went out and looked about in every direction to see if his son was coming. Day after day, he wept and prayed for his lost son. While sorrowing and praying, he noticed someone in the distance coming towards the house. The stranger was evidently poor and weary. He came on slowly with tottering steps. The quick eye of the father instantly recognized in that tattered form, in the pale and haggard face, his long-lost son.

With a wild cry of joy, he rushed forward to meet him. The repentant son fell on his knees, and with a heart-broken voice cried out, "O father! I have sinned against heaven and before you; forgive--" But the father would not suffer him to continue. He had already forgiven everything. He threw his arms around the neck of the prodigal; he kissed him again and again, while tears of joy streamed down his aged cheeks. In an instant the glad tidings had spread everywhere that the lost son had returned at last. "Go," cried the glad father to the servants--"go, bring the most costly robes, and put a precious ring upon his finger, and let us rejoice and make merry, and prepare a great feast; for my son that was dead is living again, and my child that was lost so long is found at last!"

The rich, liberal, and most kind-hearted father in this story represents God the Father, our Lord and Creator.

The prodigal represents all those who, in the blind pursuit of riches, pleasures, and honors of this world, have lost sight of the noble end for which God created them, and have forfeited the grace and friendship of Almighty God by Mortal Sin.

The unhappy condition of the prodigal, deprived of all human aid and comfort, represents vividly to our mind the unhappy condition of those who live in the state of Mortal Sin.

The untiring efforts of the prodigal to return to his father's house serve as a model to all those who have abandoned God, and sincerely wish to be received again into the friendship of their Heavenly Father.

The manner in which the prodigal was received by his father represents the manner in which God, in His infinite mercy, receives every repentant sinner.

The prodigal's wicked companions represent all those who live in Mortal Sin, delay their conversion until it is too late, and at last die unrepentant.

The good brother of the prodigal represents all those who to the end of their lives overcome the temptations of this world, the devil, and the flesh, and bear the crosses and afflictions of this life with patience, in the firm hope that God will reward them in heaven for their faithfulness in His service.

O my God,

I am heartily sorry for having offended you,

and I detest all my sins because of your just punishments,

but most of all because they offend you, my God,

who are all good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace,

to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

Amen.

Source:

The Prodigal Son

Original 1875 Publication

Fr. Michael Muller, 1825 - 1899

CSSR or the Redemptorists founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori