The prodigal son

Today's gospel reading was the parable of the prodigal son. This, along with the story of Mary Magdeline, is one of my favorite scriptures. To me, the prodigal son is a story about a man who loses his soul to the world. He forgets all about the love his father has for him, even though his father never forgets how much he loves his son. And then there is the other brother. The one who never left. The father explains that everything that the father has this son too has but that his other son was lost and is now found. An interesting interpretation of this is that the son who is jealous and mad, is now the son who is lost. I mean, what is lost? Jesus says to forgive and this parable is the type of forgiveness I think He means. I know I have a handful of people that I can't seem to forgive that way. And so I am more like the brother when it comes to forgiving and less like the father. God forgives us each time we fail and come back to Him again. He loves us and he opens his arms and rejoices to see us return. As I was going through RCIA I asked the priest about this very thing because of my family. His answer was that as long as people continue to harm you then you should forgive but not let them back in. If they are through harming you then yes, you should forgive and let them back in. This is a part of the story I often forget as I ponder it. The prodigal son chose to go back to his father and he begged for forgiveness. The father had forgiveness in his heart all along, but he didn't rejoice with his son until his son came to him. It's a slight consolation for me anyway. I haven fully forgiven but I'm working on it.