THE CHALLENGES OF PENANCE
Gospel Reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

We had to celebrate and rejoice! This brother of yours was dead and has come back to life. He was lost, and is found. v.32

Penance is an opportunity for joy, not a sober affair for downcast spirits. It is not a task accomplished by imposed rules against one's will but the turning point from sin to righteousness as an act of free will.

The process of penance requires effort and perhaps the guidance of a confessor, director, or superior, who could impose some helpful disciplinary measure.

SIN BRINGS DEATH; RIGHTEOUSNESS BRINGS LIFE

Sin brings death: Righteousness brings life. Sin promises happiness and fulfillment, but is a lie. Only the righteousness given as a gift in Jesus really brings freedom and abundant life. This takes discipline, patience, perseverance, and faith in times of darkness and struggle, but the effort has a big pay-off with long-lasting rewards.

THE FATHER AND THE FAITHFUL SON

The other two characters in today's parable are the father and the faithful son. The son, who never left is like many of us. We never leave the faith or the church. We never engage in dissolute living. The message to us is one of challenge and comfort: "You are with me always, and everything I have is yours." This is reassuring, but contains a challenge that confronts our jealousy when another person seemingly not as deserving as us gets a lot of recognition in the church for their "conversion."

The father did not stay safely at home and wait for his wayward son to come home. When he saw him coming toward home, even at a distance, he ran out to meet him and walked with him the rest of the way. It was more work, but the joy was greater.

CHALLENGES IN THIS SCRIPTURE

Do we meet others where they are when they show the first sign of turning back to God, or do our churches expect them to travel most of the way themselves? Are we jealous when others receive attention for their conversion to Christ when our life of consistent faith is apparently taken for granted? Lastly, do we turn back to God when we see that life outside really does lead to death? These are the challenges of today's Gospel reading.

John Michael Talbot

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Pompeo Batoni, in the public domain