Loading...Dear St. Peter’s Family and Friends,
At some moment in our lives, we have probably all wanted to be free from the restrictions of other people telling us what is best for us. As children we often long for autonomy, the ability to not only make our own decisions but to put them into action. In time we discover that being an adult involves many people telling us how to behave, what to learn, what we are or are not permitted to do. We progress from parents, grandparents, and teachers to college professors, dorm supervisors, and counselors, to employers and government officials. Throughout our lives there are rules, laws, and social expectations.
Some people are never adept at following the rules, and others seem to be happiest when doing so. However, at some point, each person will be expected to comply with something for the “common good.” Some of us are better, apparently, at determining the “common good” than others. Others chaff at the restriction and question who’s good is more of a common experience. “The common good, may indeed be a universal compromise that will lead to the preferred outcome for the majority of the population, like rationing supplies during a famine, but it may also be used to promote one person’s agenda or pet project, and be good for some people but an undesirable outcome for others.
Sometimes the common good feels like a Damocletian sword in that we may be asked to decide between two equally beneficial activities when either choice contains potential for disaster. For example, I may want to visit a housebound person, to bring them comfort and the Eucharist, but being unwell myself might incur the risk of exposing them to a contagious illness, leading to serious complications for the first person. I am then torn between the imperative to protect someone and the imperative to provide pastoral care. Whichever decision I make, I will feel inadequate and leave people feeling hurt or neglected.
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, each character, the father, the younger son, and his older brother are all in positions where they must make tough decisions which will affect many people’s lives. The father navigates this path with compassion, choosing inclusion, forgiveness, and joy, acknowledging that each of his sons are important and valued. The younger son forges ahead with his own self-interest before recognizing the importance of his family and seeking forgiveness. Whereas the older son keeps making the best choices for the good of the family, and neglects to seek anything for himself, leading to aggrieved resentment when his brother is welcomed home despite his transgressions.
We all have the ability to be any of the characters in this parable. We all have the capacity for selfishness, resentment, self-justification, and hard-heartedness, and we all have a capacity for inclusion, forgiveness, compassion, and joy. It is up to us how we respond to the choices we encounter. Do we accept that the common good may not be our personal good and choose the path of Christ, striving to keep our baptismal promises, and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as we love ourselves?
Rev. Courtney+
