... To the Brother Who Stayed at Home
6.
But the parable also brings into the picture the elder brother, who refuses to
take his place at the banquet. He rebukes his younger brother for his dissolute
wanderings, and he rebukes his father for the welcome given to the prodigal son
while he himself, a temperate and hard-working person, faithful to father and
home, has never been allowed-he says to have a celebration with his friends.
This is a sign that he does not understand the father's goodness. To the extent
that this brother, too sure of himself and his own good qualities, jealous and
haughty, full of bitterness and anger, is not converted and is not reconciled
with his father and brother, the banquet is not yet fully the celebration of a
reunion and rediscovery.
Man
every human being-is also this elder brother. Selfishness makes him jealous,
hardens his heart, blinds him and shuts him off from other people and from God.
The loving kindness and mercy of the father irritate and enrage him; for him
the happiness of the brother who has been found again has a bitter
taste.(21) From this point of view he too needs to be converted in
order to be reconciled.
The
parable of the prodigal son is above all the story of the inexpressible love of
a Father-God-who offers to his son when he comes back to him the gift of full
reconciliation. But when the parable evokes, in the figure of the elder son,
the selfishness which divides the brothers, it also becomes the story of the
human family: It describes our situation and shows the path to be followed. The
prodigal son, in his anxiety for conversion, to return to the arms of his
father and to be forgiven, represents those who are aware of the existence in
their inmost hearts of a longing for reconciliation at all levels and without
reserve, and who realize with an inner certainty that this reconciliation is
possible only if it derives from a first and fundamental reconciliation-the one
which brings a person back from distant separation to filial friendship with
God, whose infinite mercy is clearly known. But if the parable is read from the
point of view of the other son, it portrays the situation of the human family,
divided by forms of selfishness. It throws light on the difficulty involved in
satisfying the desire and longing for one reconciled and united family. It
therefore reminds us of the need for a profound transformation of hearts
through the rediscovery of the Father's mercy and through victory over
misunderstanding and over hostility among brothers and sisters.
In
the light of this inexhaustible parable of the mercy that wipes out sin, the
church takes up the appeal that the parable contains and grasps her mission of working,
in imitation of the Lord, for the conversion of hearts and for the
reconciliation of people with God and with one another-these being two
realities that are intimately connected.
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