"Prodigal Two" A father had two sons. The younger one took his inheritance and went off and squandered it on dissolute living. As time went on, he fell on bad days, returned home and the father welcomed him back. He even had a party for him. He and his wife were happy again, but sad too because the older brother had become somber and sullen. He was that way, not just with his younger brother, but with his parents too. There was a feeling of gloom over the homestead, about as bad as the time the younger son was lost. Often the farmer would say to his wife, "Our son is so bitter." Some time later, the brothers were working together in the fields. Exhausted, they stopped to rest. The brother who had run away told the other one how awful he felt, how much he loved him, and how guilty he was about the pain he caused their family and how sorry he was. The pain in the older brother was bad: all of the extra work, the feeling of being cheated and seeing the sorrow and sadness in mom and dad’s eyes. It was so unfair. "They never gave me as much as a kid goat to celebrate with my friends." The younger brother began to cry. Then the older brother began to cry. The younger brother said, "Can you forgive me?" The older brother hesitated briefly and then said, "I do forgive you. We’ll work it out." The two brothers, stood up and hugged each other; and then both began to laugh at this picture of two tough farm boys embracing and crying in the middle of the fields. As time passed, the brothers drew closer and closer, closer than they had ever been before. One day, their father said to his neighbor, "My son, who was dead, has come back to life." "I know," said the neighbor, "you already told me that." The father smiled, his eyes watering as he said, "No, I mean my older son!" And now you know, "the rest of the story"!
This information has been
reprinted from Holy Cross' Sunday Bulletins |
