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     I would urge all the members of the Beloved Congregation today to read the entirety of chapter 15 of the Gospel According to Luke.  It is what might be called a "triptych," one of those three-paneled settings for icons or other pictures with the panels connected by hinges.  The three panels in this case consist of the shepherd looking for the one lost sheep of a hundred, the woman looking for one lost coin of ten, and last but certainly not least (and unfortunately lost this year because of the Lateran feast on Friday) the parable of the prodigal son.  I might also challenge you to decide which of those three parable panels you would put in the center of the triptych.  I would wager that the story of the prodigal son would win out in most cases.  In the case of the shepherd and the woman, something of their livelihood is involved, but in the case of the prodigal son, it is a relationship - the profound relationship of parent-child!

     The three parables illustrate that even when we are lost, God cares and will find a way to get to us.  In the parable of the prodigal son, however, we may find something of both sons somewhere in us.  Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, in his book THE HOLY FIRE, suggests that when we are younger, we are like the son who gets lost, but when we get older we become a bit more like the older brother who sits in judgment on both the younger brother AND the father who care for both of them.  The father goes out to BOTH of them because that older brother is "lost" without realizing it, and the younger son at least realizes that he IS lost.  Where are we in this - younger son, older son, or even the father?  AMEN