When reading or listening to the account of the Prodigal Son, sometimes we can put ourselves in the place of the Older Brother, thinking that we are not the Prodigal Son.
The Older Brother is the one who is upset at the Prodigal Son's return and resentful when the father held a great feast:
Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing...he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’
Often we are that Older Brother, upset at all of these "sinners" who go to Mass, or who claim to be "Catholic."
We may like to point our finger at public sinners and claim that we are not like them.
This Older Brother syndrome is not spiritually healthy, as it disposes us to have a very prideful view of ourselves.
Being the Prodigal Son
Instead of being angry at other people, we need to point the finger at ourselves and to approach our Loving Father to feel the warmth of his embrace.
St. Francis de Sales explains this in one of his meditations in the Introduction to the Devout Life:
Humble yourself in your wretchedness. O my God, how dare I come before Thine Eyes? I am but a corrupt being, a very sink of ingratitude and wickedness...throw yourself at the Lord’s Feet as the Prodigal Son, as the Magdalene, as the woman convicted of adultery. Have mercy, Lord, on me a sinner! O Living Fountain of Mercy, have pity on me, unworthy as I am.
When we are able to identify as the Prodigal Son, then we can experience God's mercy in its fullest extent:
Resolve to do better. Lord, with the help of Thy Grace I will never again give myself up to sin. I have loved it too well;—henceforth I would abhor it and cleave to Thee. Father of Mercy, I would live and die to Thee.
The next time you spend time in prayer, ask yourself, "Am I the Prodigal Son? Or am I the Older Brother?"
