I found a hymn that is meant to
be sung to accompany the story of the Prodigal Son (which is the Gospel passage
for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Year C).
As you probably have noticed, I
base a lot of my reflections on hymn texts, since I am a musician, and since I
believe that a great many hymn texts are good teaching tools and provide a
poetic interpretation of good theology.
The first verse of the hymn is
as follows:
Our Father, we have wandered and hidden from
your face;
In foolishness have squandered your legacy
of grace.
But now, in exile dwelling, we rise with
fear and shame,
As, distant but compelling, we hear you call
our name.
(Kevin
Nichols, 1929-2006 © 1980, ICEL. Used with permission.)
The whole text could be a prayer
uttered by the Prodigal Son when he was still wallowing in a misery he had
created for himself (do we do that
sometimes?). In fact, the second verse mentions calf and robe and ring.
By praying the hymn text, we
become the Prodigal Son. We have foolishly squandered our legacy, a legacy
filled with blessings which we did not receive because of our own stubbornness,
ignorance and misdeeds. Oh, what our lives might have been like if we had been
open to all of the graces that the Lord has tried to send us! Oh, what
our lives might become if we remain open and faithful from this point on and
waste nothing of what we have been given. The prophet Isaiah cries out to us, Why do you spend your wages on what fails to
satisfy? (Isaiah 55:2) and then he exhorts us: Eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance.”
I also hear an echo in this poem
of the plight of Adam and Eve, hidden from God because they realized they were
naked, and then thrust into exile. Are we
in exile as well? And how is it that
we are in exile?
The Prodigal Son, while lost in
his sinfulness, still hears the faint voice of his father calling for him. The
voice is distant but compelling, the hymn says. I am reminded of John the
Baptist in prison and how Herod found something compelling about his preaching,
but was afraid to draw near and heed. Is
the Lord trying to say something to us which we are not ready to hear?
But yet, God is calling us by
name, and continues to call us by name until at last we let go and surrender
ourselves into his arms. The Son felt fear and dread about what his fate would
be. We have no reason to fear. Christ died for us while we were at the lowest
point in our lives, that our sins might be wiped away in his blood. What do we
have to fear other than our own resistance?
God bless you.
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