The father

Inner fire that never dies; 

the fire of love.

The unique heart of the father.

The grief is so deep 

because the heart is so pure.

To say more with his touch 

than his voice.

The father welcomes home

Father and mother:

• Father's left hand is strong and muscular.
• Hold or grasp
• Right hand is refined, soft, tender.
• Caress and stroke.
• The caressing of the father parallels the bare, wounded foot of the son, while the strong masculine hand parallels the foot dressed in a sandal.
• The right hand protects the vulnerable side of the son, while the other hand reinforces the son's strength and desire to get on with his life.
• The leaving causes grief and the returning causes gladness.
• The table prepared.
• The dilemma is to accept or reject that his father's love is beyond comparisons; to dare to be loved as his father longs to love him or to insist on being loved as he feels he ought to be loved.

No more or less:

• The father's heart is not divided into more or less.
• The father does not compare two sons.
• A divine love is a love that cedes to all people their uniqueness with no comparison.
• Be grateful to work for God, and even more grateful to see his generosity.
• Look at the world with the eyes of God's love.
• He does not measure out his love to his children according to how well they behave, then I quickly see that my only true response can be deep gratitude.

The heart of God:

• God has been trying to find me.
• "How am I to let myself be                      by him?"
• God needs me as much as I need God.
• Stays home, doesn't move, and expects children to run to him, apologize for their aberrant behavior, beg for forgiveness, and promise to do better.
• leaves the house, ignoring his dignity by running toward them, pays no heed to apologies and promises of change, and brings them to the table richly prepared for them.
• He is the one who looks for me while I am hiding.
• The core of my spiritual struggle:  self-contempt, self-rejection, and self-loathing.

A first and everlasting love:

• The real sin is to deny God's first love for me, to ignore my original goodness.
• Claim the first love to stay in touch with my true self.
• Fully sure that I am loved as I am.
• The parable of the prodigal son is a story that speaks about a love that existed before any rejection was possible and that will still be there after all rejections have taken place.  It is the first and everlasting love of a God.
• It is the love that always welcomes home and always wants to celebrate.

The father calls for a celebration

Giving the very best:

• Bare feet indicate poverty and often slavery.  Shoes are for the wealthy and the poweful.  Shoes offer offer protection against snakes; they give safety and strength.

An invitation to joy:

• Invites others to rejoice with him.
• What I am called to is to enter into that joy.
• Be accustomed to rejoicing in things that are small, hidden, and scarcely noticed by the people around me.
• Don't be accustomed to living with sadness, and so have lost the eyes to see the joy and the ears hear the gladness that belongs to God.
• See joy where only sadness is expected.
• Choosing for the light, life, and the truth.
• The reward of choosing joy is joy itself.

Not without sorrow:

• Challenged to let go of doom and allow the small joys to reveal the truth about the world I live in.
• Joy has been the mark of the people of God.
• Cynicism and joy.
• There is darkness but I don't have to live in it.  I choose not to live in it. I choose to live in light.
• Every thought, word, action I have can be cynical or joyful.
• The man of sorrows, but also the man of complete joy.
• The end of return is not to remain a child, but to claim the sonship and become the father himself.