Dives in Misericordia: “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” (5, continued)

Chapter 5 of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “An Analogy.” It continues as follows:

“5. . . . It is at this point that he makes the decision: ‘I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.’ ’⁶³ These are words that reveal more deeply the essential problem. Through the complex material situation in which the prodigal son found himself because of his folly, because of sin, the sense of lost dignity had matured. When he decides to return to his father’s house, to ask his father to be received – no longer by virtue of his right as a son, but as an employee – at first sight he seems to be acting by reason of the hunger and poverty that he had fallen into; this motive, however, is permeated by an awareness of a deeper loss: to be a hired servant in his own father’s house is certainly a great humiliation and source of shame. Nevertheless, the prodigal son is ready to undergo that humiliation and shame. He realizes that he no longer has any right except to be an employee in his father’s house. His decision is taken in full consciousness of what he has deserved and of what he can still have a right to in accordance with the norms of justice. Precisely this reasoning demonstrates that, at the center of the prodigal son’s consciousness, the sense of lost dignity is emerging, the sense of that dignity that springs from the relationship of the son with the father. And it is with this decision that he sets out.”

63. Luke 15:18-19.

 

To access the complete document, please visit:

Pope John Paul II: “Dives in Misericordia”