He and she had one of those fights that keep married couples honest. She was shrill, he was insensitive; she railed, he yelled; both said things that cut the other deeply. Finally, he stormed downstairs to his workshop and she shut herself off in the kitchen.

In their own spaces, each mindlessly fiddled with dishes and tools. As she scrubbed the same pot for several minutes and he oiled every movable part of every power tool he owned, their anger turned to sorrow, their self-righteous indignation melted to sadness and regret

That was a dumb thing to say. She didn’t deserve that. Why did I make such a big deal about nothing?

After a while, he can no longer stand not loving or being loved by her. She can no longer bear the dark cloud that hung in the air.

So, he trudges up the stairs to apologize. At the top of the stairs, he opens the door -to discover her standing right there, on her way down to his workshop to say the very same thing.

Reconciliation demands that we be both the prodigal son and the forgiving father. To experience healing forgiveness, we must face up to our culpability and our selfishness that causes such rifts, as does the son mired in the pigsty -and, given the opportunity, we must be openhearted enough to welcome back into our lives those who hurt us, as does the father who runs (runs!) to meet and embrace his son. Such selfless, unconditional and complete forgiveness is the cutting edge of the Gospel.

Estrangement from another, especially  from “Someone we love, is no less than a distortion of God’s perfect creation; God calls us, therefore, to the hard work of restoring relationship and rebuilding community with those whom we have hurt and who have hurt us.

Only in healing what divides us, in crossing the chasms that separate us from one another can we dare to call ourselves Disciples of Christ, the Redeemer. May we dedicate ourselves to the difficult, selfless work to forgive without vengeance, to work to bring healing to those we have hurt, to restore to hope and dignity to those who have suffered at our hands. .

God, before whom all of us are prodigals, calls us to make our homes, parishes and communities places of patient, compassionate, unconditional love -places where we prodigals are always welcomed home by the loving Father we are all called to imitate

Lent calls us to embrace God’s grace – grace that enables us to lift ourselves out of the mud of our sins to reconnect again with family and friends, grace that empowers us to jettison our selfishness and deceptions and re-create our broken lives into new beginnings of reconciliation and restoration.