AFFIRMATION

24TH Sunday C 9AM Luke 15: 1-32STORY In one of the Peanuts cartoons, Lucy is holding a helium balloon. She turns to Snoopy and says, “I’m going for lunch. Hold onto this balloon till I get back.” She sticks the string between Snoopy’s teeth. “Now don’t let go,” she scolds. Snoopy sits there with the balloon between his teeth for the longest time. Finally he falls asleep. While he’s asleep, he yawns and of course the balloon takes off into the wild blue yonder. Snoopy wakes up in a panic. The last frame shows Snoopy walking down the railroad tracks in the moonlight, with his belongings in a little bundle on a stick over his shoulder. Snoopy mutters to himself, “Make one mistake and you’re doomed for life.” Unlike Snoopy you believe that you will never be doomed for life because God’s forgiveness is always yours. William Bausch in his book, The Yellow Brick Road: A Storyteller’s Approach to the Spiritual, calls God the God of second chances Bausch cites the woman of the tears and perfume forgiven at the banquet, the woman caught in adultery, the good thief, Augustine and in our own day, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. The reality, as soothing as a warm embrace, is that our God is the God not of second chances but of infinite chances. If anything the story about the prodigal son reinforces your belief in God’s infinite mercy and forgiveness. Let’s face it. We are all mistake makers and we will continue to be mistake makers. One of the most captivating aspects of Jesus’ parable is the fact that the wayward son’s father forgives his son before he can get his whole practiced apology out. What a revelation of how God reacts to our sins! Do you really understand what you mean when you say, God is infinitely merciful? Jesus’ stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son tell you as clearly as a streak of lightning in the midnight sky that God never gives up on you. God’s love for you is as persevering as the shepherd’s love for his lost lamb in our gospel story – only infinitely and unconditionally more so. Do you believe this? Really believe? What practical lesson can you take from this parable of the prodigal son? There are many lessons but the one I would like of emphasize today is this: For me, Jesus’ parable is about affirmation, an affirmation story as wonderful as his words, “Love one another as I love you.” I think you can identify with how one human being – you! -- can not only forgive others but complete the cycle by affirming another human being’s feelings of worth and value. You have the power to say to another human being (perhaps someone very close to you) what the father in the parable said in effect to his son, “You have a lot of worth qualities. You are a worthwhile person. You are valuable enough to be loved.” What a far cry from the unnecessary, often petty, criticisms people level at one another like the line up of nuclear warheads! How different from all the fault finding that goes on and on like a needle stuck in a old time record. Harold Kushner in his taped lecture, How Good Do We Have To Be, says, “We misinterpret the message of religion if we interpret this message as urging us to criticize and condemn others rather the message of religion is encouragement and affirmation.” In the movie, Dead Man Walking, there is a magnificent line. “Everyone is worth far more than his or her worst act.” Imagine what your relationships would be like if you lived that insight! “Everyone is worth far more than his or her worst act.” Isn’t this what the father said to his wayward son? You’re worth far more than this, your worst act of deserting me, your father. Isn’t this what makes this story so fascinating? So passionately attractive? Like the Prodigal Son, everyone has lovable qualities no matter what faults they may also have. It’s up to each of you to forgive the faults and seek out those lovable qualities in others. Then you can affirm those lovable qualities by telling people, especially the members of your family, that you recognize and appreciate their lovable qualities. You might also try to do some self-affirming instead of always putting yourself down like the man in this story: HUMOR A noted psychiatrist was a guest at a gathering of humor editors, and his host naturally broached the subject in which the doctor was most at ease. "Would you mind telling me, Doctor," he asked, "how you detect a mental deficiency in somebody who appears completely normal?" "Nothing is easier," he replied. "You ask him a simple question which everyone should answer with no trouble. If he hesitates, that puts you on the track." "What sort of question?" "Well, you might ask him, 'Captain Cook made three trips around the world and died during one of them. Which one?'" The editor thought a moment, then said with a nervous laugh, "You wouldn't happen to have another example would you? I must confess I don't know much about history." THOUGHTAlways affirm others with hopeful optimism.