Celebrate the Good

“Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing…He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him…’My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Luke 15: 24-32

The story of the prodigal son is incredibly well-known, and many profoundly insightful things have been written about it. I do not intend to add to that collection, at least not in this post. I wanted to highlight this passage simply because I was struck by the fact that the older son was being invited into a celebration and refused, in his anger, bitterness, resentment, and jealousy, to enter into that celebration. Pages could be spent on this son and his refusal, many more on the father and his loving invitation, on his coming out of the house to plead with his son. Those reflections would be well worth our time, but they are not what I want to talk about. Instead, I want to focus on the celebration itself.

While he was on his way back from the fields the older son could hear the sounds of the party, of music and dancing. We know that good food was prepared, the father tells us they are rejoicing, and the scripture itself put the situation quite succinctly, “Then the celebration began.” This was a time of mirth, of laughter, revelry, feasting, and it was good. The father wanted his sons, both of his sons, and all his people, to rejoice, to enjoy the goodness he had to offer.

Often the world represents, or rather misrepresents our Catholic faith, as a life of drudgery, of unceasing sacrifice, suffering, and self-denial. Christianity is seen as a rejection of all world pleasures. It is dismal faith full of gloomy people. This idea, though popular, is false. The Gospels are called the good news for a reason; they are full of life, and of hope, and give us reason to rejoice.

While it is true that we must practice self-denial and that we are reminded to pick up our crosses daily, that is only one aspect of the practice of our faith. We also pray for our daily bread, to be fed daily by a God who knows our needs and provides lavishly for us. The Lenten Season, which invites us to suffer with Jesus in the desert, is forty days long. It is followed immediately by Easter, a fifty-day celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. The rejoicing outstrips the suffering. Every Sunday throughout the year, even during Lent, the Church celebrates the resurrection. The Church encourages us time and again to celebrate, to rejoice. She does so with good reason; we are a people who have been redeemed and that is a truth worth celebrating.

It is true that we live in a fallen world and because of that there is sin and there is suffering. But at the crucifixion, Jesus took our suffering and made it redemptive. In doing so He gave our personal suffering the capacity to be meaningful, salvific as well. It is good for us to remember that reality since suffering is inevitable. But it is not all suffering. The world, which God created good, remains good. Even now, as we continue on in this pilgrim journey that ultimately leads to the fullness of joy in Heaven, we are given blessings, foretastes of the treasures in store for us.

God has visited His people; He has come out of the house to invite us into the celebration. Let us not refuse His invitation. May we not reinforce the world’s mistaken stereotype of the gloomy Christian. Instead, may we have eyes open to see the blessings showered down upon us by our loving Father, and with grateful hearts let us rejoice and celebrate the good.