Parable of the Prodigal Son

For those of us who are catholics, I'm sure the parable I mentioned is one of those that we pretty much can retell off the top of our heads. It is one of those stories which gets retold every year and is always to talk about God's unending love and how all we have to do is ask for His forgiveness and He will accept us back in his fold.

You might be wondering why the sudden talk about this parable, well it was one of the readings read during the Gospel last Sunday and it was also read during a prayer meeting which I attended while my in-laws were in town.

I'll admit that at some point, one tends to drift off when one is listening to it, or to the Homily that follows given that the moral of the story has pretty much been the same always. But this time, I guess for some reason, I thought about the parable and came out with a few thoughts about it as well.

One of the main ideas is the the fact that God is there, willing to forgive us and rejoices in our return to Him. And that the repentant son, has realized the error of his ways, and asks for forgiveness.

But I guess what struck me, was the fact in which the son comes to that realization. It is in the lowest point of his life that he comes to this realization. In some ways, I feel that one of the lessons we have to pick up is that we shouldn't fall into despair. It is indeed easy to wallow in self-pity or to just give up and just surrender to whatever fate we are in. But that is the trap that we must not fall into. We must also remember that God is there waiting for us to come back and guide us with open arms. It just necesitates that we are willing to accept Him into our lives, and not push him away or walk away, just as the son did at the start of the story.

That's really what I thought of during the Mass, that we really must try to stay away from the feeling of despair. It is indeed understandable to go through a period but to allow ourselves to remain in such a state is unacceptable for us, knowing that the Lord indeed is there, and that He has a wonderful plan for us. (on a personal note, I really didn't believe in this as well, but after all that has happened to me the past few years, I really am a firm believer in this!)

Just a little something I thought I'd share...