Confession of the Prodigal Son

The colors of the vestments, of course, indicate that we are in the middle of

Lent, like Letare Sunday, giving us some sort of hope that Lent will be over.

And I guess one of those days on which little girls are jealous for the color

of my vestments and all of the boys are like, what are you doing, Father?

And I'm like, well, in the priesthood, sometimes you just do things you don't

want to do. You have to wear these vestments.

Pink is an interesting color, right? Some say it's rose, but it is what it is.

It's pink. And some say that real men are not afraid of pink.

I don't know what to think about that.

There was a time in my priesthood, first year of my priesthood in Macon,

you know, they do Cherry Blossom Festival.

And you wear a pink jacket. And so the pastor told me, you're going to wear

this jacket. And I'm like, I'm not going to wear this jacket.

And he said, yes, you will. So I wore the jacket and someone took a picture

and put it online. And it's been circulating for the last 14 years.

And all my friends who find that picture, nobody wants to believe that it was

a cherry blossom festival.

And I keep telling them it was. And they say, no, it wasn't.

So be careful with pink, I guess.

But this Sunday, we hear, of course,

of one of the most beloved and profound parables of Jesus, that of the prodigal

son, and as soon as we hear, you know, there was a man who had two sons,

we just kind of know, okay, it's going to be the long gospel,

and it's going to be the one we already know.

But it also indicates immediately that it's going to be something profound because

of the relationship between a parent, right, and children, but also us,

all of us, children of God with the Heavenly Father.

And showing it in a very powerful way.

When there is a man who is living a privileged life

right everything given on a silver platter and because

of broken human nature he thinks

he has it all figured it out now so let's say

he may be an 18 19 or 20 I don't

know somewhere there and he tells his father

um to give him the inheritance as if he

were saying to the father I wish you were dead now because

when you're dead I get my inheritance but since i'm

not going to wait because i already know what i want to

do with my life and i don't want to wait for it like how about you

just give me my inheritance and then he goes and squanders is on a life of dissipation

that we hear and i think everybody who has committed a moral sin or continues

to struggle with sin or continues to continues to come out of a life of sin

remembers how it feels to be defeated.

To be on the ground, spiritually speaking, or to be in a position when it seems

like there is no really a good option for me left.

Everything is going to lead to some horrible consequences.

And you know that those who have known me for the last almost three years,

but when I was of course thinking about

my life before 20 years old and I was in the seminary and trying to figure out

what quote would summarize my life I chose this one from this parable and I

think I that was a good discernment right it was the for this my son was dead because before 20,

I was dead spiritually and is alive again. He was lost and has been found because I was lost.

And not only that I was lost, but I felt lost.

Every fiber of my being was telling me there is something wrong going on.

You don't have to be in this.

You could be better, but you have to make some changes in your life.

And sometimes it will mean the best guys that you hang out with,

you're going to have to let them go. The people you think are good because they're

funny and he, he, he, ha, ha, ha, he's so cute, all of that, you know.

Sometimes women make choices based on that. He's so cute. He's so funny.

And then have a life of crying, right? And like, well, he was a narcissist.

I just didn't see that coming.

Well, that's what happens when the relationships don't develop on deeper level,

but on the external. He's cute. He's funny.

This and that. and so we all make those mistakes

just like the prodigal son did but

God gave me back then a choice

and gave me what I

call a preparatory grace and he

will give everyone that grace that is the grace to

lift you up and set you on a journey to him

but you you then have to choose to stay on

the journey it's never it's like almost like

in you know an alcoholic who has to choose not to drink

and then he has to stay on the journey because one misstep and he may be back

and that's how it is with us sometimes we can not afford to let our hands off

the plow anymore or look back we just can't afford and sometimes we become a

little bit more serious about things

because we know if I lose that seriousness, I'm going to be back with the swine

as a Jewish boy, right? The most humiliating thing ever.

He's not only tending the swine, he wants to eat what they eat.

And as you know, the Jews, this is the most impure food.

They don't even want to be any close in proximity.

And that's what happens to him. So I wish to you, if you have children who have

strayed and you are really suffering for it, just like the father of the prodigal

son who has to let him go to a distant country, right?

Like you may let your children go to a distant college or distant way of life,

something that you're not comfortable with.

They say they're comfortable, but you just say like, I raised you as a Catholic.

I gave you the opportunity to go to Catholic schools or to be homeschooled,

invested in you, sacrificed for you, and now you're going to live as if this

never happened, then you know how this father felt.

I received that grace, and it was in the lowest moment of my life.

It was so low that when I was looking around, I said to myself,

there is no good option left.

I will have to endure consequences that seem overwhelming, crushing,

and horrible because all of my dreams for a good life now are crushed.

It's not going to happen.

And so God, through an inspiration, I guess, because I didn't know,

I thought to myself I'm going to do like the people in the Bible do bargain with God,

I will say to him what people in the Bible have said in the past and that's

what I did I knelt down in the middle of the night in the room I was,

and I said Lord if you get me out of this and one day when I'm leaving this

parish I'll tell you what this actually was not that before because you wouldn't

believe or you're just like what yeah.

So this is not to top anybody else's bad life, but to make you understand that

we all may have those moments when everything seems like a bad option or it's just impossible.

And you can do that. So I knelt down and I said, Lord, if you get me out of

this, I will give you my life.

Of course, I didn't know what I was saying, but I was serious because the situation

was so serious that I was ready to bet everything.

And the next day, before you know it, there is an option that allows me to not

endure these consequences and gives me a new life.

Now have it, an opportunity, you take it or leave it.

What are you going to do? And of course, this is where the seriousness begins of your life.

You thought you were going to live this way. You thought you were going to do

these things. And now you have to consciously cut it out.

That's why you become kind of serious, because you're killing,

in a sense, dying to part of yourself that you thought was going to be your

life, and you have to die to it.

So you have that option. If things get really seriously bad,

you can say that, Lord, I will serve you for the rest of my life.

You don't know what you mean.

But you cannot give anybody else's life, right? Because it's your life.

Somebody else's may have their own life. You can consecrate a child,

but then, you know, it's always risky what they're going to do,

how you deliver on that promise.

But with you, you can make a promise.

Even if your child is struggling, you can say like, Lord, my child is struggling.

I can't look at this anymore.

I will serve you faithfully for the rest of my life. Save that son. Save that daughter.

He will do it, but you will have to hold on to this promise.

You have to do it because, you know, as you know, when children are leaving

for college or they can't wait to be an adult, they are like this prodigal son.

I want to leave home. I want to stop going to church. I want to go to college where nobody knows me.

So if I don't get up to church and I go to church, nobody will know who I am,

who are not, who I'm hanging out with.

I can always come back home and just kind of clean up and say, everything is good.

How is college? It's good. It's good.

It's good. Yes. I like that. Like the accent. Um,

yeah, we can fake it, fake it until you make it.

That's what I used to do before my mother, before, you know,

everybody else until that night when everything was exposed,

when everything fell down.

And I had to face my family completely disappointed, which they never thought

it would happen, completely disappointed.

And they didn't even have to say anything. They just are looking at me as I'm coming back home.

And I could feel the weight of that look.

You may have experienced that when your father or mother looks at you with a

disappointment, not because they have crazy expectations and they're almost

like never believe in you, but because you totally disappointed their trust.

And the way it is overwhelming, they don't even have to say anything,

you know, deep inside. Now the question is, what are you going to do about it?

Because you don't have to continue and i think the

gospel is all about giving being given

another chance everybody can get it

like this prodigal son he loses his money on prostitutes like okay what what

was worse can you do a life of dissipation right there is nothing worse you

can do you like the squandered your your family's inheritance and now he says to himself.

In my father's house, slaves are treated better than I am treated here,

right? That's the spiritual state.

You know, sin causes that, that our souls rot, that they are destroyed in a sense.

The life and the joy is gone because we are disappointed with what we set out to do.

And so he says, I'm going to go back to my father and I will say to my father,

Father, I am no longer worthy to be your son.

I have sins against heaven and against you.

You see what he's doing? He's making a confession.

That's what happens in a confessional. He's owning it.

And when he goes to the father, you know, he sees what? A father excited to see him.

So he could say what? Well, he's kind of excited about seeing me.

So maybe I'll just not say this, right? And see how much he's going to give me.

So I don't have to humiliate myself and just pretend everything is fine.

But he doesn't do it. He owns it. And that's the crucial message.

The father is excited to see him. But the father knows what the son has been doing.

And when the son sees him, says, Father, I am no longer worthy to be called

your son. I have sinned against heaven and against you.

You know, that's what the sacrament of confession restores you to,

the community of the church as well, not only to God, but also to everybody else.

Acknowledging guilt with a contrite heart is the

most beautiful thing a human being can do the

most beautiful thing a human being can do

is to acknowledge own up because it melts everybody's

heart sometimes even the judges that judge you you know send you to prison but

when someone is contrite they acknowledge that so much more than our heavenly

father and so the grace breaks through And I wish to you that just like my mother

experienced my conversion and change,

that you, your children, or you experience that in your children one day.

I don't know after how many years, maybe many tears, maybe callous on your knees,

but eventually it will come.

Because when grace breaks through, we come to our senses and we say,

this is not what I was made for.

This life is not good. it takes away my joy doesn't give me joy and sin will always trick you.

And so the father's example is a good father.

He shows his tenderness and love because while he was still a long way off,

meaning the father would go every day to check on his son. Is he coming back?

Is he not coming back? He runs to embrace him, wrapping him in forgiveness before

explanation can even be given. He doesn't need it. He can deal with him later. And he says what?

Put a robe on him, a ring and sandals, symbols of restoration and grace, honor and belonging.

He commends the fattened calf to be slaughtered and lavish and joyful feast.

He says, because the son of mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and has been found. It is right to celebrate.

Above the door of our confessional is written what?

There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over many

who don't need repentance.

That's the greatest joy of a priest and of the Catholic Church when people go to confession.

So don't even imagine going to this Easter without having a good confession

because it will be a waste of time and a waste of grace of Jesus' cross.

You better make preparations for a good confession. The church's precepts are clear.

At Easter, you must receive communion, but also go to confession once a year.

So you must only when you can. Of course, if you cannot receive communion,

then do something to restore yourself to grace. I'm all ears.

And so the second son, just very quickly, is the older son.

He's not so excited about his brothers coming back. That only says something

about their weird relationship.

Maybe he's jealous. Have you ever been jealous because somebody had committed

all these sins and he got away with it?

Oh, yeah. To be jealous for somebody else's sins. That's a real thing.

How did he get away with this? And now he can be this, he can be that.

And like, I had to be so careful and all of that.

Yes, some have to be more careful than others.

And so he's angry. And he says all these years, he says it to the father.

I've been so self-righteous.

I've always been here. But the father is a good father and he's also a good

teacher. Look what he does. He doesn't dismiss the son.

He pleads with this one too. He says, yes, you are right.

You've always been with me and everything is mine is yours, but it is right to have a feast.

You know, he reminds me of this. Have you ever seen, I'm not promoting it again,

just in case, but for the adults, have you seen a Scarface? There is a, yeah.

I'm sure many of you have seen that movie Scarface. You may remember the mother in that movie.

She's like my mother, kind of. Tony Montana was this guy who everybody was afraid

of right he would kill on a spot he has no mercy to anyone and he comes back

home like making money in America now being from Cuba sent here by Castro,

and he's kind of this like you know yeah I have it all figured out until he

walks into the mother's house and she sees through him and she says take this

money away from here she can tell she's poor,

it would help her take this away from here and what does she do she slaps him across the face.

No more he would kill everybody else but with this mother he's reduced to that small,

parents don't be afraid to correct your children

i'm not talking about little kids your adult

children i think there is this atmosphere that

have has developed in many years now of almost being afraid to tell something

to the child they are living like as if god did not exist but nobody says anything

fathers mothers you have a god-given authority to correct your child,

No matter what they are in life, they may be, you know,

president of the United States.

They can be governor. They can be judges. They can be doctors.

No matter what they are, you can threaten them in a sense.

When you say something, what you're doing is wrong. It will stay with them.

Not talking about a slap across the face, although sometimes last resort.

Last resort. Have I been slapped in the face by my mother? Once.

That's not funny.

Once. Now, everything was boiling inside of me, but I also saw how she was struggling inside too.

How she never wanted to do it, never lived to the day when you have to do it to your own son.

Because I could see how difficult it was for her. And I was reduced to that small.

And you know, out there I could be, ah, let's have some party.

And here in front of your mother or your father, that's the truth.

That's small. And you know deep inside something is not right with your life.

And sometimes that's what we need from God.

And he does it sometimes and we are angry with him, but we shouldn't be because

deep inside he's calling us to figure out what's wrong.

What is wrong? And so, of course, it leaves a mark on you, but you know.

And when I look back, I'm like, I deserved it and deserved even more.

And that was a strong mother who did not hesitate.

And so when we experience God's love and mercy, sometimes we are confused.

Sometimes we are the younger son. We experience forgiveness and we are like,

I cannot believe I'm restored to grace.

But then a time passes by and we're just kind of comfortable with God's forgiveness

and we can become the older son.

We forget how it is and when we somebody else restored to grace, we're jealous for them.

And we have to be very careful and a sacrament of confession prevents from that

because if you continuously every month or every few weeks go to confession

all of your life, you know who you are.

You know the truth about yourself and you know how much you need God because

we are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures but we are the sum of Father's

love for us, said John Paul II the Great.

Holy Week is coming. We will be called to attend the most beautiful liturgies

of the whole year. Holy Thursday, Good Friday.

Make your hearts pure so that you can appreciate God's great gift of mercy as

we now appreciate the God's gift of the Eucharist, God's presence,

and the presence of his mercy among us.