Part 2 of the 6 part series: The Lost Son
The Lost Son is part of the two-week study "The Lost Series"
“After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.”
So the son goes off into a distant land, away from his father. Many of us have a conversion story. Many can relate it to being in a dark spot, away from God in search of who they are. Did you catch that though? A dark spot away from God. This is similar to the son, in both situations it is in a place away from God.
“When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.”
So the son goes out, in this distant land, and decides to spend every last piece of his father’s inheritance. Could you imagine? All of a sudden he realizes he has to do something fast in order to survive. He was in dire need. Many times in our lives we use the blessings God gives us far too quickly and then we are in this dark spot. We do not know what else to do or where to go, we are in dire need for the Lord. Dire need for food and nourishment that only the Lord can provide. I know when I have been in that dark spot, away from God, I push myself so far away that I don’t desire the nourishment that I am provided with daily, the Eucharist. But that is when I am in dire need of it. Here the son is now stuck in a rock and hard spot, he tries to find his nourishment somewhere else.
“So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave hime any.”
Instead of running back to daddy, he decides to hire himself out to hopefully get food, and find his nourishment. No such luck, here the man starts desiring the food of which the swine ate. When I was in that dark spot, I found myself trying to find the nourishment that my heart needed. Maybe it was in music, or immersing myself in activities but my heart and soul were in dire need of something bigger. We so many times immerse ourselves in everything around us and that leaves us longing for something more. That leaves us in dire need: dire need for the Eucharist, dire need for the Father’s love, dire need for nourishment.
