Religious Education
All students attending St Louis de Montfort's Aspendale have the right to feel safe. The care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people is a fundamental responsibility of all within our school.
This Sunday's gospel is a story many are familiar with, sometimes called The Forgiving Father and sometimes known as 'The Prodigal Son'. A PRODIGAL is a person who squanders money recklessly and selfishly, then comes to regret their foolish behaviour. The term PRODIGAL has come to represent the repentant return of a person, no matter the reasons they left in the first place.
One message from Luke’s Gospel, is that it doesn’t matter how far we stray from our Heavenly Father or how much we squander the gifts He provides, He is always delighted when we turn back to Him. His unconditional love is waiting for us to return home where He greets us with open arms. Every lost child (a sinner, meaning all of us) who is found (turns to God) is cause for the greatest celebration. The father’s extravagance echoes God’s extravagant and abundant grace, mercy and love.
God’s mercy does not run according to the standards of our conventions of human justice. The heavenly standard of ‘fairness’ seems ‘grossly’ unfair in our eyes; yet that’s God’s standard. His mercy is for latecomers, being one with the poor; the outcast; the sinful; the lost. And yes it seems so unfair!
Which son we relate to may change depending on where we are in our Christian journey. At times, we may be seeking God in earnest and relate to the older son. Other times, we may have let the priorities of the world come between us and God and we may relate more to the prodigal son. In any case, the parable speaks to all of us, no matter our perspective. The parable of the prodigal son is really about living your life between you and God and not worrying about keeping score with anyone else. Be thankful He’s there for you when you follow Him and will always be there to welcome you back if you fail Him.
One unanswered question in the parable is, “Did the elder brother go into the banquet or not?” This parable predominantly appears to be about the younger son and his amazingly forgiving father, but it's equally about the elder son, just as lost- jealous and hate filled. If you want to know how the story ends and want to know if the elder brother joined the party, danced merrily, ate the feast and called his brother by name If you want to, then look into your heart. The story ends with us, we write the last lines.