More than our GDP - Lent 4 - March 30, 2025

 

Homily for Lent 4

March 30, 2025

More Than Our GDP

 

            I’d like to make four points about this famous parable of the Prodigal Son, and then tell you a saint story!

            First point. Is a person merely a cog in an economic machine? Is everything reducible to commerce? Or is a person a gift, to be loved and cherished? This dichotomy is a major theme in this parable. We begin, for example, with the younger son asking for the inheritance – to him, his father is merely a bank account – give me what you owe me! More on that later.

            Second point. Where does the son take this money? The words in Greek are quite evocative: chora makra, which literally means “the great emptiness.” It’s not just a foreign country – it’s a place of no return, a vast expanse of emptiness, a deserted wasteland, the limits of human existence. Oh yes, people lived there – but there can be great emptiness and deserted wastelands even in the midst of crowds and parties. Last week in the first reading, God introduced Himself to Moses with the name, “Yahweh: I Am.” God is Being Itself, pure existence. So the farther one gets away from God, the more they are in the “great emptiness” where our human degradation and dissolution creeps upon us, until we are filled with a void.

            Third point – hedonism is boring. Hedonism is the belief that the only thing that matters is pleasure. Of course we think of decadent Roman emperors throwing lavish parties, but it is also the most common philosophy of the world today. I can’t tell you how many young people refuse to pray or attend Mass because “it’s boring.” Since when is “being entertained” the most important value in life? We live in a world with every pleasure at our fingertips at all times.

            But the truth is, hedonism eventually gets old. There are only so many slices of pizza one can eat, only so many impure websites we can look up, only so many vacations we can go on. Eventually it just gets dull. That’s why so many celebrities and rich people are so unhappy: they have every pleasure money can buy, and then find that it won’t buy fulfillment. But we don’t have to be rich to be a hedonist – many regular Americans believe that we should always seek pleasure, no matter what. But that just gets so boring!

            So the young man runs out of money – which brings us back to the first point. Where are his friends? Now that he has no money, they have abandoned him. He was only as good as the parties he could throw. Even when working “for pay”, the owners of the swine refused to give him anything extra. It was nothing but commerce, pure and simple. No relationship, no compassion, no love – just a worthless, utterly replaceable drone in the economic machine.

            Sound familiar? John Paul II says that the opposite of love is not hate – no, it is using. Treating a person as a mere means to an end. No one hated this young man – he had no enemies. But no one loved him, either – he was only a means to an end, totally disposable. Under Communist Russia, Stalin imprisoned about 18 million of his own citizens in the Gulag system, forced to work in inhuman conditions. One of their projects was to build a canal between the White Sea and the Baltic Sea, a 141-mile long canal. One day as it was nearing completion, they dug too close to the sea, and water began rushing through the unfinished canal. The commandants began ordering the prisoners to try to fill the hole with dirt, starting a major wheelbarrow brigade. But the dirt wasn’t coming fast enough to fill the hole, and the canal was in danger of bursting. So the commandants began throwing the prisoners into the water to fill the hole with their bodies. Later they explained their actions: it was hard to get more wheelbarrows, but easy to get more prisoners. A worldview that sees a person as disposable, only as useful as what they can produce.

            What a contrast to his return home! The father embraces him as a person and, rather than requiring repayment, gives gifts. He is given a ring and a cloak, symbols of a rightly-restored relationship. As John Paul II says, “Love is self-gift.” The son is human again – no longer just a faceless employee of a heartless employer, he is a son – a word that designates a relationship, since there is no son without a father!

            Interestingly, this older son also reduces relationship to commerce. See how he argues with his father – I served you, so you owe me a goat to feast on! But the Father brings it back to relationship – I have shared everything I have with you, for I love you.

            Do you see your earthly relationships in economic terms? Sometimes marriages fall into this trap – “I did the chores for the last three days, so I should get to buy the new pair of shoes!” Sometimes kids will play that game with their parents – “Mom, Dad, buy me that new iPhone!” – as if they are owed. Sometimes, our relationship with God becomes one of commercial exchange – “God, I will go to Mass every week if you will heal my mother from cancer.” But love is much more – love is, “How can I lay down my life for you?” Love is “I just want to be in your presence.”

            Fourth point, which is our takeaway. Everything in our relationship with God is gift, pure gift. Our life is a gift. His grace is a gift. And Heaven is a gift, free and unearned. I want to reemphasize this last point most strongly. I am amazed at how many good Catholics tell me, “I think life is a test to see if you’re worthy of Heaven.” My friends, no one is worthy of Heaven, no one! It is completely and totally a gift of God’s grace. Life is not a test, it’s an invitation. God has already purchased Heaven for us with the Blood of Jesus – we claim it by a faith that is lived out in love. I don’t know about you, but I hate tests – and I love invitations. Tests stress me out – what if I do it wrong? What if I don’t pass? Invitations allure, delight – someone loves me and wants to spend time with me! If our faith is a “test” then it becomes a burden, and we fear the test-giver. If our faith is an invitation, then it is a delight and I can’t wait to meet the Divine Inviter! Heaven is a free gift, given to us unearned by a good Father.

            There are a myriad of saints who lived out this parable powerfully, but I’d like to share the story of St. Mary of Egypt. Mary was from a small farming town down the Nile River, but she had heard of the bright lights of the big-city Alexandria – kind of the New York of its day. So at 12 years old, bored with her farm life, she ran away from home and went to Alexandria – and it was quite the experience…until she ran out of money. Not too many economic opportunities for a young girl, so she began to sell her body for money. For ten years she lived this lifestyle, never considering that there was a better way to live. Finally, a group from Alexandria undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and Mary came along – not out of devotion, but simply curiosity. She enjoyed seeing a new land and visiting the churches, but as she was about to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is built over the site of Jesus’ death and burial, suddenly a force prevented her from entering past the doorway. A second time she tried, and couldn’t get past the strange force-field. A third time, same result. She realized it was due to her sinful lifestyle, and was stuck with sorrow. Seeing a statue of Jesus and Mary in the courtyard, she begged for mercy, and tried a fourth time to enter the church – this time, able to go in. She made a good Confession and then heard a voice say to her, “You will find rest in the desert.”

            She made her way to the desert across the Jordan River, and there lived as a hermit in fasting and prayer for twenty years. One day she happened upon a priest, and asked for Holy Communion. She received Communion from him, and that night died of joy. A truly repentant sinner, she is now the patron saint of sinners who seek mercy.

            This prodigal young man saw the world in terms of hedonism and economics – everything was for sale. But this only led to the chora makra – the great emptiness. He was rescued, then, by the free and lavish grace of a Father who restored him to relationship in the house of love. Isn’t that our story, too?