The Prodigal Son

During Mass last weekend (24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time), the Gospel passage was on the parable of The Prodigal Son (cf Lk 15:1-32). Upon hearing the passage, my mind was transported back to almost a year ago when I helped out with the SFX PJ PAG (Persons Are Gifts) Camp.

This camp was held in FRIM and was for those aged 9 to 12 (If I remember correctly). The camp is mainly to create awareness that each person is special and is a gift to one another. Although I missed the first part of the camp, I was present for the rest of the duration. The reason why my mind went back to this camp was because one session that dealt with our relationship with our father, both earthly and heavenly.

During this session, the speaker spoke of the relationship between us and our father and his love for us. At the end of the session, each participant was to write a letter to their parent. While this took place, the speaker played a song that really caused my eye to tear. I later found out that the song was titled “When God Ran” by Phillps Craig and Dean.

The part that touched me the most was this:

He ran to me,
He took me in His arms,
Held my head to His chest,
Said "My son's come home again!"
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in His voice He said
"Son, do you know I still love You?"
He caught me by surprise, When God ran...

All I can remember from that moment was the emotion that I felt. I felt like crying out to God and running back to him. It was what the teens like to call the “emo” moment. But that was what it was for me. And it lasted for quite some time before I finally got my emotions in control. That short moment was emotionally quite gut wrenching. And it didn’t help that the song was being played over and over again.

I believe that most, if not all of us, have the experience of being the prodigal son at one point of our lives. For some of us, it may be more than once. One of my strongest experience of being away was when I was in college. As I shared in one of my earlier article; I had to redo my first year of studies in college. This hurt me badly and I thought God had abandoned me. And I was angry with God. And I could not feel him or feel anything for him. Not exactly like the prodigal son but I did turn away from God.

I encountered God’s love again during a charismatic rally. It was during the healing session that I felt so strongly the love of God for me. And I remember crying my heart (I usually don’t cry) but at that point in time, I just let go and cried. And like the prodigal son, I felt God welcoming me back into his arms. I realised that God has been waiting for me to come back. That no matter what happens, I am still his beloved child. The song “When God Ran” says it all:

I was so ashamed, all alone, and so far away.
But now I know that He's been waiting for this day...

Now whenever I hear the song, I am reminded of how much God loves me and no matter how far I stray, he will always be there waiting for me to come back. And this goes the same for all of us. All of us will stray from time to time. The question is whether we will go back to God. Whatever the prodigal son’s motive may be, his father still accepted him back, and he ran to greet his son, not the other way round.

This parable gives me the assurance that God will welcome me back. As Jesus mentioned in the parable, “In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Going back to God is one thing but we also need to be repentant of our sins. There is no point in going back without a repentant heart because it would be pointless.

The day I left home,
I knew I'd broken His heart.
And I wondered then, if things could ever be the same.
Then one night,
I remembered His love for me.
And down that dusty road, ahead I could see,
It was the only time,
It was the only time I ever saw Him run.
And then...

He ran to me,He took me in His arms,
Held my head to His chest,
Said "My son's come home again!"
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in His voice He said
"Son, do you know I still love You?"

The question is, do we love him as much as he loves us? Only we have the answer to that question.