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. The sound of music fills the air. Everyone is busy preparing, arranging, and decorating. The kitchen staff is overworked. The fattened calf is killed. There is new energy and unbounded joy. The father becomes young once again. He runs, he embraces, he kisses, he dances. He calls for the best robe, ring and shoes. The younger son stands in amazement at the lavishness of the father and his ability to dance. He comes to know his father for the first time.

The shepherd searches for the lost sheep, he finds it and comes home with the lost sheep around his shoulder and tells everyone, “Celebrate with me, for I have found my lost sheep.” The woman searches for the lost coin until she finds it and calls her neighbours and  friends and says, “Celebrate with me for I have found the coin I lost.”  The father runs until his hands are on the shoulders of the prodigal son and he comes home with him and orders the servants to bring  the ‘finest robe’ and “to put a ring on his fingers  and sandals on his feet”  and “ to kill the fattened calf”  The father orders, “ we shall celebrate and have a feast for this son of mine was dead and has come back to life, He was lost and is found.” “And they began to celebrate”  – ‘they’, the younger son, the Father and the whole household except one who is in the servant’s quarters.   

The celebrating shepherd, the happy woman, the dancing father is the answer to the Pharisees’ complaint, ‘Why does your master eat with sinners?’  God runs when he has an opportunity to forgive. He celebrates when his lost son returns.  God becomes young when he gets an opportunity to embrace.  God  dances when his children return home.  

Today, on this day of Resurrection, the Son returns home from the ‘far away country’ and the words of the father of the Prodigal son are the words of God the Father. “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 run, to embrace and kiss. Allow him 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, rings and sandals? Kill the fattened calf. Celebrate. Give God a chance to dance. 

                                                            -Fr T.V. George sdb