Originally published at crisis magazine
The parable of the prodigal son has to be one of the most touching parables of God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness. It is a parable of hope if we are willing to admit our deficiencies and to reconcile with God. However, there is an unsettling aspect to the homilies that one often hears pertaining to this parable, an aspect that, in my humble opinion, reflects an overemphasis on psychological concepts over spiritual reality and personal responsibility.
When this parable comes up in the liturgical calendar, it is not uncommon to hear homilies that explicitly or implicitly focus significantly on our personal relationships with our own fathers and how this colors the relationship with God the Father. It often feels as if the earthly relationship is being used as an “excuse” for any woes that we may be experiencing in our relationship with God the Father. Is there not an underlying, implicit statement here potentially teaching the individual to deflect any personal problems in the relationship with God the Father onto someone else? Let’s assess this in a bit more depth.
This article is by no means intended to dismiss the importance of our earthly relationship with our father (and mother) and its
