Word of the Week

4th Sunday of Lent

Prodigal: Prodigire (L.): meaning "to drive away” or “to drive forth”, behind it conveys a term that speaks to wasting away.  
    
The story described by Jesus in the Prodigal Son is a capsule of the process of conversion and repentance. The centerpiece is the merciful father with the son’s inclination to sin being the portrait of all the children of God. The CCC summarizes beautifully the stages of conversion, which starts with man’s abuse of freedom: “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” (1439). In turn, this poverty leads to his conversion: “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 robe, the ring and the feast signify honor, authority, purity, joy, and covenant/family harmony. 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” (1439).

The word prodigal is never found in Sacred Scripture, and yet, it is arguably the most identifiable word among everyday Christians. We read the story of the Prodigal Son, as it has been come to be known in Sacred Tradition from the Gospel of Luke (Lk.15.11-32).
Allegorically, the parable of the ProdigalSon “narrates the exile and eventual homecoming of the historical Israel. After the reign of King Solomon, Israel split into two kingdoms, becoming like two brothers living side by side in the North (Israel—10 tribes) and the South (Judah and Benjamin)…The North went off into a far country— Samaria, and lived a life of sin. In the New covenant, God welcomes home the exiled son (tribes) and lavishes them with mercy and restoration to covenant life” (cf. Ezek.37.21-23; Hos.11.1-3, 11; Jer.31.18-20) (Hahn and Minch, 51). We can rightfully say, that the Parable of the Lost Son is, in microcosm, God’s love for man in history.

In this most popular parable, our heavenly Father reaches out from the immaterial to the material, from the intangible to the personal. A story that has captured the imagination of poets, musicians, artists, and songwriters alike, the parable of the Prodigal Son declares that God is (and for) family. The multi-layered wisdom that lies behind the story is captured in the protagonist of the story, the Father. The father, a prototype of God the Father, desires mercy and reconciliation (note that he runs to his son). In the eldest son, we have the portrait of envy and entitlement. He stands as a figure who expects, representing the popular sentiment “I deserve”. In the younger son we have the full scope of sin-repentance-conversion. Certainly, we all can identify with this cycle.

As every baptized human has their prodigal story to share, every baptized human has their opportunity into full restoration family membership. It is in the wake of the same divine genius that shared this great story 2000 years ago, that we long to hear those words from “Abba, Father” (Rom.8.15), “you were dead and now alive, lost and now you are found” (Lk.15.32). No longer wasting away in misery and despair, but renewed in joy and hope!

“The Prodigal deserves nothing…But the Father gives him everything.”

--Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D

Primary Texts Consulted

•  Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
•  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.
• Hahn, Scott and Minch, Curtis. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke, RSV, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001.

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