"My son, you are here with me always..." (Luke 15:31)
Today we read the gospel of the Prodigal Son at Mass, and I focused on this verse above that the Father tells the elder son. Even though the elder son never went to distant lands like his younger brother had, and even though he stayed home obeying his Father, he was still distant, still far from his Father. This is why he would not go into the house to join the feast for his brother who had been found. This is why his Father had to go out to get him just as the Father had to go out to get the lost son. The elder son complains about the feast and how unfair it is. And it is. The reception for the lost son defies logic. But God doesn't deal in logic. He deals in mercy and love. This is why, like the father in the parable, God comes out to meet each of us where we are at to invite us to come in for the feast and to remind us that even though we are far away, he is with us always.
