THE OTHER SON

THE OTHER SON

Today we are celebrating the fourth Sunday in Lent. And today's gospel talks about the story of
the prodigal son. we often hear about the compassion of the father and the return of the son; we
hear about the forgiveness and acceptance but today I am going to talk about the other son who
stayed behind with his father, being obedient and faithful. The son who did everything well
according to his father's expectation.
When the second son asked his dad to divide his property, there was no help from the other son. He didn't share his wisdom and knowledge with his brother or helped him anyway.
Once a man called Joe who had a neighbour who never went to Church or practiced faith. While on Sundays Joe went to Church, his neighbour went fishing. Every time, the man saw Joe, he said, "come on Joe, let us go fishing" and Joe used to say, "No, I am going to Church". And one day, the man looked at Joe and said, "Every time I go fishing, I always invite you and how come you never invite me to Church".
Many people stopped coming to Church for various reasons such as not having anyone to take them to Church or having some indifference with others or angry at God and so on. And we who are filled with the gifts of the holy spirit should help them to come back to Church to experience once again the unconditional love of God. The god-given life is in everyone and everyone wants to complete their spiritual journey with the hope of entering into heaven and at the same time, they need our help who practice our faith, they need our help who are kind and compassion with one another. And all they need from us is just to tell them, "God loves you".
When the prodigal son came back home, there was a big celebration. His dad invited everyone for the celebration saying, "My son who was dead is alive now and he who was lost is found. come and celebrate with me". But the other son who was so faithful and did everything well got so mad at his dad and began to blame his brother and his dad. He even refused to enter into his own house.
Once a spiritual master had a neighbour who was leading an immoral life. Every time he saw the woman thought to himself, "This woman will definitely go to eternal punishment because she is not keeping the commandment of god and is leading a life of adultery". Then one day, the woman died and some months later the spiritual master also died. Then the angels and saints came to take the spiritual master into heaven and before entering into heaven, he saw the woman being there, so he refused to go in and got mad at god. Then God said, "Son, this child of mine was dead and is alive now because at the last moment, she felt sorry for her sins. she was lost but now she is found. come on in and celebrate with me".
When we have the ultimate experience of the love and kindness of God, when we are enlightened by the compassion and blessings of Jesus and when we are filled with wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Spirit, we become pure spiritual masters who accept all with who they are and help others to improve their lives in every possible way. And let us fulfill our spiritual invitation by helping others to know and love god more and more. Amen.