Johannine Hours              Luke 15:11-32             September 1997
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en
199709
September 1997
Luke 15,11-32
Saint Augustine offered the following commentary on the parable of the
father who welcomes his son, relating it to Jesus' words in Matthew
11,28-30:

While the prodigal son was still thinking about what he would say to
his father, (...) his father ran to meet him. What does that mean, to
run to meet him, but to assure him of his mercy in advance? "While he
was still far off, his father ran to meet him, moved by pity." Why was
he moved by pity? Because his son was miserable. "He ran to meet him
and threw himself on his neck," in other words, he put his arm around
his neck.

The Father's arm is the Son; he gave him Christ to bear; that burden is
not a heavy weight; rather it offers relief. "My yoke is easy and my
burden light" (Matt 11,30). He put his weight on his son who had stood
up, and in putting his weight on him he did not let him fall down
again. Christ's yoke is so light that not only is it not a burden, but
it offers relief. It is not light in the sense that we say some burdens
are light because, although they do have a certain weight, they do not
weigh as much as others: (...) Christ's burden is not like that; you
have to bear it in order to find relief; if you set it down, you will
be more burdened. (...) So when the father fell on his son's neck, he
did not burden him; he honored him; he was not a heavy weight. For how
could anyone be able to carry God, unless the God he carried carried
him?


How can we not remain trapped in self-reproach, but rather fix our eyes
on the Father who runs to meet us?
When, in my life, did I see Christ as an arm around my neck?


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