A Chance to Dance

“This son of mine was dead and has come back to life,

He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate”   Lk 15 : 24

           ‘They’ began to celebrate - the father and the son. The house is once again filled with light. There is sound of music in the air. Everyone gets busy preparing, arranging, decorating. Kitchen staff is over worked. There is new energy, fresh unbounded joy. The father becomes young once again. He runs, he embraces, he kisses, he dances. The son stands in amazement of the dancing father. He comes to know his father for the first time.

The shepherd comes home with the lost sheep and   calls for a celebration. The woman who found the lost coin calls neighbours and  friends and celebrates. The father  orders for the ‘best’ robe, ring and sandals and  kills the ‘fattened ‘ calf and celebrates.  Jesus said these  parables in answer to a complaint by the Pharisees,  “Why does your master eat with sinners?” The celebrating shepherd, the happy women, the dancing father is the answer.

 God celebrates when he can forgive. God become young when he gets an opportunity to embrace.  God  dances when his children return home.  God is God when he can forgive. His name is Mercy.

After the Son has returned home, from the ‘far away country’, taking on himself and dying for the sins of the world, we hear the voice of the Father once again, on the day of Resurrection, “this son of mine was dead and is alive, he was lost and is found.”

Let these words be reechoed for each of us during this Easter. Give God a chance to celebrate. Give God a chance to become young once again. Give God a chance to be God by allowing him to forgive. May you be the reason for the celebration.  Though you lived with him all your life, recognize the Father, may be, for the first time. May there be a new energy, the sound of music, the best of robes and rings and sandals. Kill the fattened calf. Celebrate. Give God a chance to dance.  “And they began to celebrate.” Let the dance be not just by you only  but by ‘they’- the Father and you !   

-        Fr T.V. George sdb