Saint John of Kronstadt
I will arise and go to my father (Luke 15:18)
Brethren!
All our attention must be centered on the parable of the Prodigal Son.
We all see ourselves in it as in a mirror. In a few words the Lord, the
knower of hearts, has shown in the person of one man how the deceptive
sweetness of sin separates us from the truly sweet life according to
God. He knows how the burden of sin on the soul and body, experienced by
us, impels us by the action of divine grace to return, and how it
actually does turn many again to God, to a virtuous life. We will repeat
it and discuss how necessary and easy it is for a sinner to return to
God.
One man had two sons. When they came of age, the younger one said to
the father, “Give me my rightful share of the estate.” And the father
divided the property. The elder son did not take his portion and
remained with the father, a sign that he loved his father with a pure
heart, and he found satisfaction in fulfilling his will (neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment),
and to depart from him he considered madness. But the younger, in a few
days, having gathered all his property, left his father’s house for a
distant country where he wasted all his substance, living dissolutely.
From all this it is evident that he did not have a good and pure heart,
that he was not sincerely disposed towards his good father, that he was
burdened by his supervision and he dreamed it better to live according
to the will of his own depraved heart. But let us hear what happened to
him in exile from his father’s house. When he had spent everything in
the foreign country in a disorderly manner, a great famine came upon
that country and he began to be in need. He went and joined himself to
one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to
feed swine. And he would have been happy to fill his stomach with the
food (acorns and chaff) that the swine ate; but no one gave him any.
Having come to his senses, he said, “How many hired servants of my
father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will
arise and go to my father and I will say unto him: Father! I have sinned
against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son. Receive me as one of thy hired servants.” He arose and went to his
father. When he was still afar off, his father saw him and had
compassion on him and went to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him.
He forgave him and led him to his house, dressed him in the finest
clothes and made a feast in honor of his return. And so the lost son
entered again into the love of his father.
Brethren! This is how the heavenly Father acts toward us. He does not
bind us to Himself by force if we, having a depraved and ungrateful
heart, do not want to live according to His commandments, but He allows
us to depart from Him, and to know by experience how dangerous it is to
live according to the will of one’s heart, to know what an agonizing
lack of peace and tranquility tries the soul, devoted to passions, by
what shameful food it is nourished. For what can be more shameful than
the food of the passions? God forbid that anyone remain forever in this
separation from God. To be far from God is true and eternal perdition. They that remove themselves from Thee shall perish
(Ps. 72:27), says the holy king and prophet David. It is necessary
without fail to turn from the pernicious way of sin towards God with the
whole heart. Let everyone be assured that God will see his sincere
conversion, will meet him with love, and will receive him, as before, as
one of His children.
Have you sinned? Say in you heart with full determination, I will arise and go to my Father,
and in fact, go to Him. And just as you manage to say these words in
your heart; just as you decide firmly to live according to His will, He
will immediately see that you are returning to Him. He is always not far from every one of us
(Acts 17:27), and will immediately pour His peace into your heart. It
will be suddenly so light and pleasant for you, as it is, for example,
for a bankrupt debtor when they forgive his debts, or as pleasant as it
is to a poor man whom they suddenly dress in fine clothes or offer a
seat at a rich table.
At the same time take notice, brethren, that as many forms as there
are of sins or passions, so also are there return paths to the heavenly
Father. Every sin or passion is a path to a country far from God. Did
you leave by the road of faithlessness? Turn back and, further,
recognize all its foolishness, feel with your whole heart its heaviness,
emptiness, perdition, and stand with firm footing on the path of faith,
calming, sweet, and life-giving for the heart of man, and hold on to it
with your whole heart. Did you leave by the way of pride? Turn back and
go the way of humility. Hate pride, knowing that God resists the proud.
Did you leave by the way of envy? Turn from this diabolic road and be
content with what God has sent and remember whose offspring it is—the
first envier was the devil and by the envy of the devil sin entered into the world
(Wisdom 2:24). Be well-disposed towards everyone. If you left by the
way of enmity and hatred, turn back and go the way of meekness and love.
Remember that whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer (I
John 3:15). Or did you depart from God by gluttony and dissoluteness?
Turn back and go the way of moderation and chastity, and remember as a
rule in life the words of the Saviour, Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be overburdened with self-indulgence and drunkenness, and cares of this life
(Luke 21:34), and use the words of the repentant prodigal son: We have
sinned before Thee, and are no longer worthy to be called Thy sons.
Receive us, even as hirelings. And He surely will receive us back as
children. Amen.
Originally printed in Orthodox Life Vol. 39 № 1, January-February 1989
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