In Luke 15, the Pharisees and scribes are seething with suspicion and envy. They complain that Jesus is hanging out with sinners – welcoming them with kindness, dining with them, and curiously getting to know them. The Pharisees feel like those sinners need to know the truth! How can they stop sinning if we don’t tell them clearly the difference between right and wrong?

Jesus responds by telling them three stories. God the Father seeks out the lost sheep, seeks out the lost coin, and seeks out his lost sons. In each story God’s desire is not to scold or to punish, but to pursue what had been lost, to embrace with delight, to reconcile, and to restore.

 

The younger son comes to his senses and begins to tell the fuller truth to himself – not just about the legal rules he has violated, but about how much harm he has caused to his relationships. He has sinned against heaven. He has sinned against his good father. He rises and returns to his father’s house.

As much as the son desires to return, the father’s desire is infinitely greater. He sees his son from afar, hastens to meet him, and embraces him.

Here is where the Pharisees and scribes have it so wrong. The Father’s embrace comes first. In his eternal love and kindness, he eagerly seeks us out. He embraces us with delight – while we are yet sinners! Full conversion will come in due time – gradually, and always in a way that keeps inviting us to come further up and further in.

If we are not secure in the Father’s embrace, there is no way we will keep committing to the journey of conversion. If we are like the younger son, we will (sooner or later) return to the smallness of old behaviors that harm self and others. If we are like the older son, we will stay small by self-righteously clinging to “the truth” – which is really just a list of propositions that allow us to feel good enough about ourselves. If we can control and manage our behaviors, we can style ourselves to be good and not like those other people who disregard “the truth.”  But what we are calling “the truth” is only a very partial glimpse of the living God. Without the relationship, it becomes a caricature and a distortion.

Yes, morality matters. Yes, moral relativism is a problem and a threat. When each person gets to define for himself or herself what is true, good, or beautiful, innocent people will indeed suffer!

But the answer is not the answer of the scribes and Pharisees. They are fixating on the rules while ignoring the covenantal relationship that is the foundation for all those rules! Jesus teaches us that every single law hinges upon the two great commandments of loving God and loving neighbor.

What would the experience of the younger son have been like if he returned home and was greeted, not with his father’s embrace, but by his older brother?

This is not an abstract question! In our church families, heartbroken humans emerge, month after month. Desire is awakening in their hearts, even though their lives are a mess. They are trying to find their way back to the house of the Father. And what do they encounter here? The Father’s embrace and an invitation into a growing relationship? Or a checklist of expectations for how they are to behave if they want to belong to our club?

Truth-telling is indeed important, but I find that many of us Christians today (like those Pharisees and scribes) are more interested in comparing, categorizing, and condemning. We want to tell “the truth” about particular moral issues while ignoring the deeper and fuller truth about who God is and who we are as human beings.

God tells the truth with kindness, never with contempt. His pursuit and embrace tell us the Truth of our dignity and our destiny. He reminds us who we are and emboldens us in our desire. THEN we begin to grow and mature and bear fruit.

The contempt of the older son is a symptom of his underlying shame. I’ve learned to watch for that connection. Whenever contempt for human poverty shows up – whether it’s the poverty of “those people” or my own poverty – it’s a symptom of shame. It’s a symptom of seeking to earn love rather than receive it.  It’s a struggle to believe the amazing and foundational Truth of the Gospel – that God makes the first move, that he is always eager to embrace, and that he desires to share everything with us.

 

We all desperately need that Good News – usually more than once. We are shattered by sin, and there are many shards of our heart that still don’t know this Truth. The more fully we receive the Gospel, the more we grow and mature and bear fruit.

The saints are those who keep growing into the Father’s embrace. Their deepest suffering is an increasing realization of the infinite gap between themselves and God. The more they grow, the more they realize how far they are – no longer in shame or discouragement, but in a loving longing that aches for union and realizes there will still be a wait before all fullness comes.

This gives true saints an incredible kindness to sinners. The gap between God and the saint remains infinite. The gap between the saint and the sinner is miniscule. The saint begins to share in God’s desire for every sinner to be embraced, reconciled, restored, and celebrated. The saint begins to share God’s delight in human dignity, treating self and others with honor rather than contempt – especially when human poverty shows up. That welcoming of God’s honor and delight – for both self and others (especially those we don’t like!) – is the deeper meaning of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

We need help for various tasks at the parish. Dusting, vacuuming, and washing are just some of the ways we keep our parish a beautiful and welcoming place to worship and gather. Our experience tells us that the best help comes from within the parish. Please contact Bonnie Firkus if interested in helping.

Jan 21. Youth Ministry Sledding. 3-5:30pm. Pinehurst Sledding Hill

Jan 21 & 22. Blessing for Lectors at Masses.

Jan 24. Catechism in a Year Discussion Group. 9am. St. Mary

Jan 25. First Reconciliation Service. 6pm. St. Mary

Jan 25. Parish Ensemble Rehearsal. 6:30pm. St. Raymond

Jan 26. Coffee Community. 8:45am. St. Raymond

Jan 26. Catechesis of the Good Shephard. 9:45am. St. Mary

Jan 26. Spanish Choir Rehearsal. 4:30pm. St. Mary

Jan 26. Spirit Choir Rehearsal. 5:30pm. St. Mary

Jan 26. First Reconciliation Service. 6pm. St. Raymond

Jan 27. Couples Social. 7pm-9pm. St. Mary

Jan 29. Cookies for Seminarians. 9:30am. St. Raymond
Jan 29. Spanish First Reconciliation Service. 2pm. St. Mary

Jan 31. Catechism in a Year Discussion Group. 9am. St. Mary

Feb 1. Family Faith Formation: Evangelization. 6pm. St. Mary

Feb 1. Parish Ensemble Rehearsal. 6:30pm. St. Raymond

Feb 2. Coffee Community. 8:45am. St. Raymond

Feb 2. Catechesis of the Good Shephard. 9:45am. St. Mary

Feb 2. Spanish Choir Rehearsal. 4:30pm. St. Mary

Feb 2. Spirit Choir Rehearsal. 5:30pm. St. Mary

Feb 4. First Saturday Devotions. 7:30am. St. Mary

There are many ways to financially invest in our communities. Would you prayerfully consider treating one of the parishes as one of your children in your will or estate planning? For more information contact Bonnie Firkus.