The son who ran away from home came back, I think, on the sabbath. Maybe “ran away” is too strong a phrase for the young man who we usually refer to as the “prodigal son.” Running away from home means getting out from under the authority of parents who insist on curfews, errands, homework, and all those rules which seems so arbitrary at home. Sometimes you just want to do what you want to do and for once, have a good time. That is what the younger son was looking for once he had arrived at the age when he could rightly demand his inheritance from his father.
It was the sabbath, perhaps several years later, when his father saw his run-away coming down the road toward the house. He could scarely believe his eyes.
I think it was a sabbath because the boys’s father was out on the porch. He wasn’t working, he was resting and thinking about life. His younger son was never far from his thoughts. Was he O.K.? Was he happy? Did he care about his family anymore? Was he even alive?
He embraces his repentant son and welcomes him back to the family. He calls for a party, a feast. The fatted calf who had been treating this sabbath as any other, a day to eat and rest, was now going to be the main course of the welcome home party.
The father brings out his son’s finest clothes and the boy –now a man– cleans up pretty well. I hope his mother was still alive to hug her youngest at that moment. “Give him a gold ring and let the party begin!”
“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath,” is not an option, it is a commandment. We Catholics observe Sunday as our sabbath, the day Jesus rose from the dead. Every sunday is Resurrection Sunday. That day should be celebrated as a day given as a gift by God to us.
How to observe the sunday sabbath:
Cease! Don’t go to work today. Stop living in the past. Bury the old hurts and let them decay. Just stop.
Rest! It’s a day to recover your emotional and physical strength. You are weary. Rest awhile.
Embrace! Isn’t there someone you should touch today? Someone to shake hands with; someone to kiss; someone to hug warmly, someone to be intimate with? Embrace life!
Pray! You may be right. There’s not much time to pray during the work week. Sunday should be a day of praying with the Church in community at the Eucharist. It should also be a time just to sit, or stand, or kneel in thanksgiving, in wonder, in peace.
Feast! There is a time to enjoy food and drink and good company. It is sad thing to try to feast alone.
Sunday should be a shared meal of dinner or just pizza and drinks. It is not a day to fast.
The young man missed so many sabbath days with his family. Now he came home on the sabbath and drinks in the warmth of his family life with its values and commitments.. His father explains this to the older brother: “We have to rejoice. Your brother was dead and has come back to life.”
I love the sabbath.
(Photo: courtesy of sxc.hu/FruitJuice)