The Parable of the Prodigal Son is like a kaleidoscope: it offers countless beautiful insights into what it means to follow Christ.
One of the insights we often overlook has to do with the greatest danger we face as so-called "practicing Catholics": the danger of living our faith only on the surface, of not letting it penetrate the depths of our hearts.
This parable teaches us that it is possible to live "in the Father's house" without really getting to know the Father. The younger son didn't really know his father. He didn't know how much his father loved him and how eagerly his father wanted to bequeath him prosperity and joy.
As a result, he paid his father a colossal insult by demanding his share of the inheritance while his father was still alive. It was a way of saying that his father would be of more use to him dead than alive. The older son was no better. On the surface, he seemed to do everything right, but he had no idea about how much his father cared for him, and so he resented the celebration at his brother's return.
Although they had lived their entire lives under the same roof, the two brothers had never opened their hearts to their father; they had closed themselves into the petty little world of their egoism.
We can easily do the same: spend our whole lives as "practicing" Catholics, going through all the right motions and looking great on the outside, but not opening our hearts to God, not getting to know him on a personal, intimate level.
That's a risky way to live our faith: we could easily end up separated from the Father for good, eating corn husks and missing out on the joyful celebration of the Father's love.
Too Busy for Christ
In July 2007, a group of Christian sociologists published the results of a study that they had been conducting over a five-year period called, "The Obstacles to Growth Survey." It was conducted on 20,009 Christians with ages ranging from 15 to 88 - the majority of whom came from the United States.
The survey found that on average, more than 4 in 10 Christians worldwide say they "often" or "always" rush from task to task. About 6 in 10 Christians say that it's "often" or "always" true that "the busyness of life gets in the way of developing my relationship with God."
According to the study, professionals whose busy-ness interferes with developing their relationship with God include lawyers (72 percent), managers (67 percent), nurses (66 percent), pastors (65 percent), teachers (64 percent), salespeople (61 percent), business owners (61 percent), and housewives (57 percent).
The authors of the study concluded that the accelerated pace and activity level of the modern day is distracting us from God.
Here was their line of reasoning:
- Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry, and overload, which leads to
- God becoming more marginalized in Christians' lives, which leads to
- a deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to
- Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to
- more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry, and overload. And then the cycle begins again.
It is possible to ascribe too much weight to sociological studies, but this one certainly harmonizes with the experience of the two sons in the parable.
Something made them so self-centered and distracted that they were never able to get to know their father. Maybe it was busyness, maybe it was something else. If nothing else, the survey gives us food for thought.
Two Antidotes to Hypocrisy
It is frightening to think about the two brothers from this parable. Both of them thought that they knew their father. They didn't realize that they were blinded by self-centeredness.
How can we avoid falling into the same tragic situation, of living in the Father's house without really letting the Father's grace touch our hearts?
First of all, we need to humbly ask God to help us recognize our faults so that we can work to overcome them. One simple way to do this is to live our weekly celebration of the Eucharist consciously, to make a concerted effort to mean the words that we say during the Mass, and to mean the words that the priest says.
The words of the liturgy are full of the mystery of God. They are a template for a deep relationship with the Father. If we make a conscious effort to listen to them and to mean them, they become a source of enlightenment and renewal, not just a routine.
One way to help ourselves make that effort is to arrive a few minutes before Mass, so as to let the noise of life's busyness die down before the sacred celebration begins.
Secondly, if we truly want both to live in the Father's house and get to know the Father's heart, there are no better means to do so than regular and frequent confession.
This is the constant and undeniable experience of the saints. Confession forces us to exercise the virtue of humility, the unbreakable shield against superficiality and hypocrisy.
When we receive Christ today in Holy Communion, let's ask for the grace to stay always close to his heart, and let's promise him that we will do our best to make that grace take root.