All I Have is Thine
Gospel Reflection for Laetare Sunday, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him to hear him.
And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
And he spoke to them this parable, saying:
And he said: A certain man had two sons:
And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance.
And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously.
And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want.
And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him.
And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger?
I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee:
I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him.
And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son.
And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry:
Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again: was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing:
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe.
And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him.
And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends:
But as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine.
But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found. (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 DRA)
Today, the fourth Sunday of Lent, is known as Laetare Sunday, or “rejoice.” It is a time to reflect on the true purpose and end of Lent: Good Friday, when Our Lord offered the perfect act of charity on the Cross to make amends for our sins, and Easter, when He arose from the dead as a new creation in His luminous and spiritualized humanity, a preview of what awaits all those who will be raised to new life in Christ. Although suffering and sacrifice are necessary aspects of love, their pain and loss are only due to the sinfulness of man in his fallen state. God does not desire our misery, our torture or our damnation. He wants only to love us, to give us Himself in the gift of love and to enable us by grace to love Him in turn. But in our state of enslavement to sin, we require fasting and penance to see through the glamour of Satan’s temptations, for the scales to be removed from our eyes so that we may see the light of glory.
In my reflection for this day last year, I focused on the historical reasons in Tradition for the name of Laetare Sunday. For this reflection, I would like to examine the profound parable of the Prodigal Son with the help of St. Ambrose (Catena Aurea), whose exegesis of this passage is truly extraordinary, piercing into its very depths and making it applicable for us two millennia later.
As with all of Our Lord’s parables, the Prodigal Son is both literary and allegorical. It is a beautiful story, an unsurpassed work of fiction, but through its imagery it also relates, like all the best stories, truths which are perennial and transcendent. St. Ambrose, in accordance with Tradition, sees the father as representative of God, specifically of the whole Trinity in His essence. The gift of His patrimony is therefore the grace of revelation and salvation given by God to the Jews and the Gentiles in the Old and New Testaments. The willingness, then, of the father to give His gifts to the youngest even before the eldest son had fully inherited is a sign of the conversion of the Gentiles:
Now you see that the Divine patrimony is given to them that seek; nor think it wrong in the father that he gave it to the younger, for no age is weak in the kingdom of God; faith is not weighed down by years.
St. Paul gave similar advice to St. Timothy who, although created a bishop by the ordination of St. Paul, was doubted by his flock because of his age: “Let no man despise thy youth: but be thou an example of the faithful in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in chastity.” (1 Tim 4:12) One is not young or old in spirit by the age of the body. Rather, the old are those who are wise and virtuous in spirit; this is true maturity. Likewise, the young are those who are childish and immature in their mind, ruled by their passions and the opinions of others, focused on worldly affairs and distractions but unwilling to endure the hardships of training in holiness. This is why the prodigal son is truly “young,” not because of his physical youth but his spiritual immaturity. He could have fed on the spiritual food of his father; instead, “he desired to fill his belly with the husks. For the sensual care for nothing else but to fill their bellies.”
In his prodigality, the youngest son is deprived of his inheritance, not through any injustice of the father but because of his own recklessness and hedonism. It is interesting that Our Lord describes him as “returning to himself.” He “came to his senses,” but even more so, he regained his true identity as a child of the father. While sin tarnished his likeness, grace restored him to full self-possession and inspired him to seek not only consolation but service from his father. We can only give what we possess, and only by knowing and loving ourselves can we give ourselves as free gifts to others:
For what is more afar off than to depart from one’s self, to be separate not by country but by habits. For he who severs himself from Christ is an exile from his country, and a citizen of this world. Fitly then does he waste his patrimony who departs from the Church.
As St. Ambrose emphasizes, there is no greater prodigality than to depart from the Church, for a Catholic to damage his communion with the Body of Christ through sin. In this way, the inheritance of Baptism is spoiled, the legacy of divine life given by Christ to his adopted brethren is squandered and God’s treasures of love are plundered by the demonic forces of the world, whom we have allowed to burglarize our father’s house and violate His property. Not only that, we have aided them in doing so and become their slaves in turn. This is the true horror in the souls of all those who depart from Christ.
Yet, despite our sin, the Father is always waiting for us, running to meet and embrace us even when we have not yet fully arrived. We may depart from Him, but He always dwells within us, waiting only for us to turn back to Him and to accept His infinite mercy. This is the great reminder of Laetare Sunday which should inspire more celebration than any secular concert or sporting event, the incalculable and eternal gift of God’s mercy:
He runs then to meet thee, because He hears thee within meditating the secrets of thy heart, and when thou wert yet afar off, He runs lest any one should stop Him. He embraces also, (for in the running there is fore-knowledge, in the embrace mercy,) and as if by a certain impulse of paternal affection, falls upon thy neck, that he may raise up him that is cast down, and bring back again to heaven him that was loaded with sins and bent down to the earth. I had rather then be a son than a sheep. For the sheep is found by the shepherd, the son is honoured by the father.
As Catholics, we must always be careful not to fall into the prideful and begrudging ways of the eldest son, who was in fact more childish in spirit than his penitent brother. No matter how someone has lived, either before converting or before going to Confession, we must be ready and eager to welcome them back. As Our Lord says, “there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.” (Luke 15:10)
This [elder] brother is described so as to be said to come from the farm, that is, engaged in worldly occupations, so ignorant of the things of the Spirit of God, as at last to complain that a kid had never been slain for him. For not for envy, but for the pardon of the world, was the Lamb sacrificed. The envious seeks a kid, the innocent a lamb, to be sacrificed for it. Therefore also is he called the elder, because a man soon grows old through envy. Therefore too he stands without, because his malice excludes him; therefore could he not hear the dancing and music, that is, not the wanton fascinations of the stage, but the harmonious song of a people, resounding with the sweet pleasantness of joy for a sinner saved. For they who seem to themselves righteous are angry when pardon is granted to one confessing his sins. Who art thou that speakest against thy Lord, that he should not, for example, forgive a fault, when thou pardonest whom thou wilt? But we ought to favour forgiving sin after repentance, lest while grudging pardon to another, we ourselves obtain it not from our Lord. Let us not envy those who return from a distant country, seeing that we ourselves also were afar off.
The goal of correcting others is not to score points, to mock and ridicule, to “mic drop” or “own the libs,” to make ourselves look good. Its true purpose should always be to save others from damnation, showing them that sin leads only to misery, no matter what superficial pleasures or popular approval it might promise. This is what it really means to be “ambassadors for Christ,” as St. Paul described the Christian vocation. God is always waiting to forgive us, to heal us and to divinize us in the gift of Beatitude. The harvest of the Promised Land awaits us, offered even now as a foretaste in the manna of the Eucharist, if we will only return to ourselves, come to our senses and ask our Father for mercy and service:
How merciful! He, though offended, disdains not to hear the name of Father. I have sinned; this is the first confession of sin to the Author of nature, the Ruler of mercy, the Judge of faith. But though God knows all things, He yet waits for the voice of thy confession. For with the mouth confession is made to salvation, since he lightens the load of error, who himself throweth the weight upon himself, and shuts out the hatred of accusation, who anticipates the accuser by confessing. In vain would you hide from Him whom nothing escapes; and you may safely discover what you know to be already known. Confess the rather that Christ may intercede for thee, the Church plead for thee, the people weep over thee: nor fear that thou wilt not obtain; thy Advocate promises pardon, thy Patron favour, thy Deliverer promises thee the reconciliation of thy Father’s affection. But he adds, Against heaven and before thee.
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