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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus
On the Prodigal Son and Spiritual Maturity
"Now We Know God: He is Our Father"
H.H. Benedict XVI
March 14, 2010
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
On this Fourth Sunday of Lent the Gospel about the father and the two
sons is proclaimed; this parable is better known as that of the
"prodigal son" (Luke 15:11-32). This passage from St. Luke constitutes a
meeting point of the spirituality and the literature of all time.
In fact, what would our culture, art, and more generally, our
civilization be without this revelation of a God who is a Father full of
mercy? It does not cease to move us and every time that we hear it or
read it is always able to suggest new meanings to us. Above all, this
evangelical text has the power to speak to us of God, to make us know
his face, better yet, his heart. After Jesus has told us about the
merciful Father, things are not as they were before. Now we know God: he
is our Father, who out of love created us free and endowed with
conscience, who suffers when we are lost and celebrates when we return.
Because of this, the relationship with him is built through a story that
is analogous to what happens to every child with their parents: At the
beginning the child depends on them; then he asserts his own autonomy;
and in the end -- if there is a positive development -- he arrives at a
mature relationship based on reconciliation and authentic love.
In these stages we can also read moments of man's journey in his
relationship with God. There can be a phase that is like childhood: a
religion moved by need, by dependency. Little by little as man grows and
emancipates himself, he wants to liberate himself from this submission
and become free, adult, able to rule himself and make his own decisions
in an autonomous way, thinking he can do without God. Fortunately, God
does not dispense with his fidelity and, even if we distance ourselves
from him and are lost, he continues to follow us with his love,
forgiving our mistakes and speaking within us to our conscience to
recall us to himself. In the parable, the two sons behave in opposite
ways: The younger one leaves and falls further and further, while the
other one remains at home, but he too has an immature relationship with
the Father; in fact, when the younger brother returns, the older one is
not happy like the Father, but becomes angry and does not want to enter
the house. The two sons represent two immature ways to relate to God:
rebellion and infantile obedience.
Both of these [immature ways of relating to God] are overcome by the
experience of mercy. Only through experiencing forgiveness, recognizing
ourselves as loved by a gratuitous love -- that is greater than our
misery, but also greater than our justice -- we finally enter into a
truly filial and free relationship with God.
Dear Friends, let us meditate on this parable. Let us see ourselves in
the two sons, and above all let us contemplate the heart of the Father.
Let us throw ourselves into his arms and let ourselves be regenerated by
his merciful love. May we aided in this by the Virgin Mary, "Mater
misericordiae."
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
[After the Angelus the Pope greeted the pilgrims in various languages.
In English he said:]
I offer a warm greeting to all the English-speaking visitors present for
this Angelus prayer. Today's Gospel presents the touching parable of the
prodigal son. Jesus invites us to trust in the Father's infinite mercy
and to return to him with hearts purified by repentance. Through our
Lenten observance and reception of the sacraments of Penance and the
Eucharist, may we grow in sorrow for our sins and discover anew the
Father's loving embrace. Upon you and your families I invoke God's
blessings of joy and peace!
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