Signs of the Divine Love

I hold fast to a story that does not leave us in the Lenten prayers, namely, the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). There are three signs of divine love that are manifest in the father’s stances in the story. The first sign is that, when the younger son asked for “the portion of goods that falls to him”, the father granted him his request. He endured his frivolity. He accepted that his son be free (even from him). Love is patient. The second sign is his ability to forgive. The story offers no simple parable about forgiveness. When the son, who had spent everything away from his father, came back home, his father restored to him his first status. He accepted him as a son, his own son. The third sign is joy. This was the father's answer to the older brother, who objected to what his father had done: "We should make merry and be glad...". Nothing makes God happy like our reacquiring the life of obedience. The importance of the parable is that it does not only talk about God, but also about what He wants us to learn from Him. This is what loving others means, to be patient with them, to forgive them, and to rejoice in their goodness.