DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Why are there so many divisions among us?

At the close of the parable that we commonly refer to as The Parable of the Prodigal Son (though it might more accurately called The Parable of the Unforgiving Brother), we have this interaction between the father and the older brother ….

”The older brother then said, ‘But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ To this the father responded, “‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” – Luke 15:30-32

Inspired thought by way of inspired writing … the juxtaposition of the older brother referring to the father’s son against the father referring to the older brother’s brother. And such is the insight provided by Christ … Love is about how we perceive our relationship to others. Are they yours or are they mine? What is the significance of God being the Father/Parent of us all.

Are those people of another color to be considered my people?

Are those people who live within another nation’s declared borders to be considered part of my family?

Are those people who understand the faith in ways different from my own to be still considered as members of my family?

Are those people who stray away and squander their inheritance still to be thought as family?

In God’s Realm, in God’s household, God sees us all as family, though some members of the family disagree. And if God loves them as family, so ought we to love them as family.
But sadly … we are too eager to have them belong to someone else. And God is so disappointed when do.

In His Service always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz