The good news we receive today is that in God’s heart there is a room for all people without exception. Even if we are weak and sinful, if we often fall and feel so small before God, we can count on His mercy. The first words of today’s Gospel invite us to look confidently towards a loving God. Tax collectors and sinners were approaching Jesus to listen to Him. He welcomed everybody who were lost and sat at the table with them. We too can come to Jesus and taste His love, and strengthen ourselves with His forgiveness.
It is true – it is difficult to understand the patient love of the Lord, who, despite our constant failures, shows His mercy constantly. However, this is how God loves, and His love is different from ours, which often recalculates the balance of profits and losses. The merciful father in the Gospel’s parable does not give up his fatherly tenderness, waits patiently for his son’s return, meets him with open arms, gives him a feast for joy and dresses him in his best clothes. In short, he restores his son’s lost dignity. God also prepares such beautiful gifts for us. It is only necessary to constantly patiently return to the Father’s arms, because only there is love and forgiveness. St. Paul invites us: Be reconciled to God!
You can start all over again today. The old is passing away, and now something new, better, more beautiful is born. But will you take another chance given to you from God …?