By Jeffrey A. Beer Jr. –
Can you believe that the summer is over already? Perhaps you are not feeling very ready to be back in school. Or maybe you’re actually pretty excited to be covering new textbooks, meeting new teachers and gearing up for a new year. But regardless of where you fit into that spectrum, you are undoubtedly at least a little bummed to see summer go. I, for one, love the summer. I love playing volleyball at the beach, seeing movies on a random weeknight, and poolside barbecues. But as much as I love the summer, a part of me also welcomes the consistency and schedule that comes with the school year.
I don’t know about you, but for me, the summer is usually a little bit tough on me spiritually. During the school year, it is easier for me to get my prayer time in every day, and make it to mass on Sundays. It is also easier to be kind to my siblings and parents when I am not home as much. And certainly there are always more temptations and opportunities to screw up during the summer. But one of the great things about a new school year is how much of a clean slate it is; how even though we may not be going to a new school, a new year is a new start. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be coming into this new year a little more mature than last year, but also with a set of things you really need to work on.
The reading this Sunday from The Gospel of Luke is perfect for this time of year. In it, Jesus talks about repentance, and about how important it is to God that we come back to Him. After being criticized for hanging out with sinners, Jesus tells a story about a shepherd having one hundred sheep. Upon losing just one of them, he would leave the ninety nine to go look for the lost sheep, and would rejoice and celebrate when he found it. Jesus says, “I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people…”
Next Jesus tells another story about a woman who had ten coins and lost one of them, and again compares her joy at finding the lost coin to the celebration in heaven when someone comes back to faith. And finally, Jesus goes on to tell the most famous parable of all- the story of the prodigal son. A son ungraciously collects his inheritance from his father, leaves him and goes away to a far off, distant country where he squanders all his money on a “life of dissipation” (dissipation means overindulgence and debauchery). The son ended up completely poor in every way, and was even starving to death. So he decided to go back to his father to work for him, not as his son, but as an employee. But when he returned home, even though he had mistreated his father so badly, and done many wrong things, his father still ran out to greet him and celebrated his return home.
The father of the prodigal son shows us the kind of love God the father has for us. Even when we go astray from Him and waste all the gifts He has given us, He not only greets us back with open arms, He even celebrates our return. The start of this new school year may find us a little more distant from God than we meant to be. Maybe over the summer we got into some bad stuff. Or maybe we just developed some bad habits in the way we speak to our friends and family. Or maybe we got a little lazy. But whatever it is, now is a wonderful opportunity to come back from all that. And even when we feel unworthy, or think He won’t take us back, God will still be waiting there for us with open arms, ready to celebrate because we came back to him.