Failure, Humility, and Repentance

One of the most well know parables in scripture is that of the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32)  Told in only 22 versus, this story is still powerful today.

Most people relate to this parable because they have been either a prodigal son/daughter, the one welcoming back a lost child, or in some cases, both.

Poor Choices

Just as in today’s world, the prodigal son made bad life choices.  In the parable, “he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.”  This means he descended into drunkenness and sexual debauchery.

He continued this downward spiral until he was broke.  The Gospel does not say how long this took.  It may have been days, weeks, months, or even years.

Be that as it may, we do know, “When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.  So, he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.  And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.”

The poor lad squandered all his treasure and was now starving. And no one came to his rescue.

“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.  I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’  So, he got up and went back to his father.

Why did he return to his father?  The Gospel says, “He was in dire need.”  He was starving and desperate.

Examining the Prodigal Son’s Father

When reading this parable, one notes that the father gave his son his inheritance early.  Even when I first heard this story as a child, I thought that peculiar.  The father acquiesced without objection.  The father set no requirements or boundaries of behavior, nor any expectations for investment.  It did not make sense to me.

The father also never sent servants to search for his son to find out how he was doing.  He never knew his son was deep in sin and throwing away his fortune because he did not seek him out.

The father did nothing – until he finally caught sight of him while he was still a long way off.  Then, “He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”

The father waited until his son returned on his own.  Is this not what our Heavenly Father does?

Never Rescued

The parable raises a number of questions. Would the prodigal son have returned to his father repentant if someone had fed him?  And would he have returned to his father if his cup was kept full of wine?  Would he have returned and repented to his father if he was given enough to fill his belly and continue a life of illicit sex.

In short, would the prodigal son have returned home if he was rescued?

Christ does not specify how long it took the prodigal son to come to his senses.  Ultimately, it does not matter.  The son returned home humbled, confessing his sins, wanting to be accepted not as a son but as just a hired worker.

The Gift of Failure

Christians take no pleasure in watching someone in pain.  However, failure, and the humility failure brings, is often a pathway to redemption.

Many stories can be found of people who lost everything to sin and then turned their life around after repenting.  The communion of Saints offers many examples.

Although raised in a Christian home, Saint Augustine practiced Manichaeism and engaged in relationships with concubines.  He had a son out of wedlock and never married.  After his conversion he became a priest and later bishop, and is now considered to be the greatest of the doctors of the Church.

St. Mary of Egypt was a prostitute until arriving in the Jerusalem where she reconciled her sins.  She became a hermit continually fighting temptations of depravity until her death.

Inigo Lopez de Loyola was not the model Christian when a cannonball shattered his leg.  This injury led to his repentance and founding of the Society of Jesus.  He is known today as St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Would any of these Saints have found their way to the Father if they had been rescued?

Conflict in Our Hearts

Many Catholics, me included, struggle with what appears to be conflicting missions.  This is a subject I have written about before.  Christ instructed Christians to give to the poor.  However, how does one do this without enabling sinful behavior and potentially derailing someone’s path to repentance?

As someone who struggles with this, I have accepted the counsel received from other Catholics to focus on giving people what they need, and not necessarily on what they want.  If someone asks for money so they can buy food, I will give them food which ironically has been refused in some cases.  In those cases, they wanted money for something other than food.

Today’s world is very plentiful, especially in the West.  Numerous programs, both government and charitable, are in place which often make people comfortable while they lead lives of sin.

In many cases, people do not become, “in dire need” until they are near death with some fatal disease.  Often such circumstances lead them back to the Father.

I pray for the lost sheep who have no warning of their demise.  Too often they do not see their dire need to return to the Father.