Thursday, March 1, 2018

The Prodigal Son - 4

In the words of Saint Catherine of Siena, God has fallen in love with what he created. And in Christ Jesus, our Lord God has given us all that he is. Indeed, God, our Father has given us his Word. He says to us, “All I have is yours.”  This is another name for Jesus.  

It is finally on the cross that God’s measureless love is made perfectly clear. Because he could not bear to have us oppressed by sin and pain and death, God in Christ dies on the cross and all is reversed, for, in his Resurrection, God's unbounded love has the last word. We remember the Resurrection icon - Christ grabbing Adam and Eve by the wrists - yanking them out of their graves like a frantic mother pulling her children from a burning building. This what love does.

When we were lost and could not find our way home, God loved us more than ever and sent us Jesus his Son. He became lost on our behalf, squandering his precious life on the cross, while always trusting in the Father's love. He rose and returned to his Father and has taken us with him. We must rejoice for we were lost and have been found by God in Christ forever. Indeed, in the wounded risen Christ, God rushes toward us to bring us home and buries his beautiful face in the dirty crook of our necks.

Photograph by Brother Brian.