Notebook
Pope Francis said recently: “I know that many of you go to confession before Easter… Many will say to me: ‘But Father… I can’t leave the house and I want to make my peace with the Lord. I want him to embrace me… How can I do that unless I find a priest?’
“If you don’t find a priest to go to confession, speak to God, he’s your Father. Tell him the truth: ‘Lord I did this and this and this. Pardon me.’ Ask his forgiveness with all your heart with an act of contrition, and promise him, ‘afterward I will go to confession’. You will return to God’s grace immediately. You yourself can draw near to God’s forgiveness, without having a priest at hand.”
Reflect
This year of Covid has challenged us to reflect on what is most important in many aspects of our lives. We have been stripped of many of the human and religious rituals which we just took for granted but in the stripping, we see what is at the heart and the centre. Pope Francis points us to what is at the heart of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and that is our relationship with an ever loving and forgiving Father. I have often reflected on how different our experience of Confession might have been if the ritual had been based on the story of the Prodigal Son’s experience with his Father. It has been said that if Jesus only had three minutes instead of three years to tell us about his Father he would simply have told us the story of the Prodigal Son. Everything we need to know about God and his relationship with us is in that story. The wayward and petulant young son can’t wait to break for the border and find a new and exciting life away from the lonely and restrictive life on his father’s farm. But he needs money to fund this new life and demands that his dad give him an advance on his inheritance. This probably involved the father selling off a few acres to give him what he wanted. Can you just imagine that happening in an Irish rural context? This father, broken-hearted but willing to give the lad his freedom, does what is asked of him. The young son goes off with his pockets stuffed with cash and little intention of ever returning. Initially as we know, life was great. He lived the high life and while the money lasted he had plenty of friends around him. But when the money ran out, so did the friends. A bit like our experience of the last year, when he was stripped of everything he began to think about what was really important in his life. His vision had been blurred by money and a very false sense of reality. Now he began to think of home again and how much his father loved him. But had he messed up completely? How could he expect to be taken back as a son? He had burned his bridges the day he walked out. And yet home was where he wanted to be even if he just worked and lived with the farm hands in the outhouse. He made a decision to go home but before that, he took time to honestly own up to his sins and he made a list. He fully intended to throw himself at his dad’s mercy and confess everything he had done wrong.
Farmhouse
How must he have felt as he approached the familiar farmhouse at the end of the lane? A knot in his stomach as he wondered what kind of reception, if any, would he get. And then, long before he reached the house, he sees a figure almost running in his direction. Could it be his dad as this man looked so much older than he had remembered? My God it is and while there are tears in his eyes he is also smiling. The young lad doesn’t know what to do but falls to ground and all he can say, over and over again; “I’m so sorry daddy”. The father lifts him up, puts his arms around him and says over and over again; “Thank God you are home”. The young lad blurts out the list of sins he has rehearsed so many times but the father shows no interest. He is just happy that the young lad is back where he belongs. Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Prodigal Son
The priest in the classroom had been telling the story of the Prodigal Son. He was puzzled as to how to explain the phrase, “He came to himself”. So, like any good teacher he decided to ask the class. One bright spark came up with the following novel explanation. In his best inner city accent he graphically described how the prodigal first of all took off his coat, then his jacket, and then his shirt. He next took off his vest and at last, “he came to himself”.
