31 March 2019 - no use swining about it

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,
but nobody gave him any.

What desires of ours once seemed so good but turned out to be mere pig slop when satisfied? A good sign that we were putting to must hope in the things of this world is when they come up short and leave us disappointed. But how long do we stubbornly keep after them anyway? Let's come to our senses. Let's return to our Father's house. We've been drawn this way and that by our desires. The prodigal son lives a life of dissipation, which means dispersion, diffusion, dissolution, or disintegration. It means being pulled this way and that because the one true thing meant to center us is absent. So let's find our center in the Father's house.

Coming to his senses he thought,
‘How many of my father’s hired workers
have more than enough food to eat,
but here am I, dying from hunger.

Compared to our illusions we may not recognize the fullness of joy that awaits us in the Father's house from a distance. But rest assured, if we return, we will find it.

But his father ordered his servants,
‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.

What if we remain in the Father's house but still aren't fulfilled? Have we ourselves really ever understood all the blessings that belong to us? Or are we just stoically marching forward, assuming that the house of God is meant to be a privation to be endured?

‘My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.

Let us not stray from the Father. He will bless the land he has provided for us. He will give us the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain, the Eucharist to fulfill every hunger. All sweetness is contained within.

Brothers and sisters:
Whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.

The younger brother who returns experiences himself as a new creation. And this is a truth to which he must cling, lest he become like the elder brother, ungrateful and bored with the Father's abundance. The elder brother for his part, must allow himself to experience being in a new creation. Maybe he once experienced this and lost track of it somewhere along the way. But he clearly did forget. Fortunately the Father is always ready to invite us into the feast.

So we are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.

Let's lay aside our own attempts at righteousness, at structuring our own lives apart from God, and receive what Jesus died to offer.

For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.