On this Sunday, we hear a parable that we probably know from our childhood. A parable about a father who loved his children; his two sons – one older and one younger. We call this parable: The Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Every year, as we listen to and read it, I think, we become more and more convinced that this is not a story about just one son. First and foremost, this is a parable about family relationships. This is the story of a loving father who loves both his sons very much. This is a story about a younger son who wants to live his life like many of us. He wants to decide for himself what belongs to him, when it suits him, and to be free to make his own choices. This is also a story about another son who remains close to his father and listens to him, but does not feel happy.

Read more:

Therefore, this is a parable about our relationship with our Loving Father. Because, we are His children, we – each of us – you and I – are the same children. Some are younger, and some are older. Some are those who want to live their lives and forget everything, and move away from the Father. And there are those who continue to remain near the Father, but do not feel happy, because we have not learned how to build proper relationships.

This parable teaches us about a good relationship, with our Father in heaven. After all, He never abandons us. He loves us, so He gives us what we need. The younger son wanted to take everything and leave – and this was difficult for his father, but he did not hold him by force, he let him go. The older son, on the other hand, accused his father that he had nothing, and he gives everything to the younger one. And the father says that it is not so; that “all mine is yours”.

God, our loving Father, has given us everything. He is the love that does not wound us. But do we know how to build our relationship together with him? The younger son, this prodigal son, is a good example for us of the realization that without God we lose everything. Since he went to a distant land and squandered everything he received from his father, and had nothing, and was near pigs, and then he realized that with his father he can live a full life, but without him – there is nothing. So we, in our life, must see and realize that only life with God and in God gives us completeness and joy; makes us sons and daughters and heirs of His Kingdom. The share of the inheritance that the younger son wanted is ours. God gives it to us. He has prepared it for us from the foundation of the world. But we need to understand that only with Him we are free. When we want to live the way we want, we become slaves, paupers and strangers.

But when we realize this, when we come to the Father and say: I am sorry – He will hug us, clothe us and take us back to His home. So, let’s keep that in mind.

Looking at the eldest son – let us not be unhappy when we are in the house of our Father. There are many dwellings here, God gives us gifts, and all that is His is ours. He gives us everything to make us happy. Do not make our Christian life one that seems that we are only ticking off a list of things that we must do. We do not have to pray, we do not have to go to

church, and we do not have to do works of charity. But!!! If we want to be happy and live joyfully in our Father’s house, then it must flow from the nature of our life. Because we want to communicate with God – that is why we pray. We want to be with Him and with our other brothers and sisters – that is why we go to church and pray together, glorify God and participate in the Holy Mysteries. We want to be His good children – that is why we do His will.

So, listening once again to this parable of the loving Father, let us look at these two sons, let us look at ourselves… and let us begin, in this time of the Great Lent, which is soon to come, to build a right relationship with our Loving Father in heaven. Amen.