Rev. Fr. Michael Mueller - The Sinners Return To God: The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal Son

or

The Sinner's
Return to God

Father Michael Mueller

WITH THE APPROBATION OF HIS EMINENCE THE CARDINALARCH BISHOP OF NEW YORK.

MICHAEL AUGUSTINE,

Archbishop of New York.
1897.

Copyright 1974 by Marian Publications, South Bend, Indiana.

Copyright 1983 by TAN Books.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 82-74244

ISBN: 0-89555-205-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

1983

King of Love

" And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall he white as wool ."

Isaias 1:18

CONTENTS

The prodigal represents all those who, in the blind pursuit of the riches, pleasures, and honors of this world, have lost sight of the noble end for which God created them, and have forfeited the grace and friendship of Almighty God by mortal sin. The unhappy condition of the prodigal, deprived of all human aid and comfort, represents vividly to our mind the unhappy condition of those who live in the state of mortal sin. The untiring efforts of the prodigal to return to his father's house serve as a model to all those who have abandoned God, and sincerely wish to be received again into the friendship of their Heavenly Father.

INTRODUCTORY.GOOD READING,

A TRAVELLER once found himself alone on a dreary moor. The ground was covered with snow. The bleak winter wind moaned and blew in fitful gusts. All nature seemed dead around him, and scarcely a star-light gleamed on the dreary tomb. The poor lonely traveller had lost his way. He had been wandering long amid the snowdrifts. He was benumbed with cold, dispirited and weary. Must he lie down upon this bleak moor and die? Must the ice be his bed and the snow his winding-sheet? He thinks of home, but the thought fills his soul with bitterness. Never again shall he feel his fond wife's embrace, never again shall his children welcome him with the" merry laugh and the warm, tender kiss. The poor traveller sinks upon the ground in weakness and despair. A distant sound strikes upon his ear, rouses him from his stupor, and fills him with hope. It is the sound of the convent bell ringing the matin chime. The lost traveller shakes off the sleep of death. He sees in the distance a glimmering light. He urges on his weary steps. He reaches the convent door, and is safe.

The state of this unhappy traveller is but a faint image of the unhappy condition of a soul that has strayed from Godfrom the true faith; that is wandering about in darkness and doubt, and has sunk into blank despair. At last this unhappy soul reads a pious book. The light of truth flashes upon his mind. He hastens to the church. He enters her portals, and there finds a peace and contentment of heart that surpass all understanding. He is saved.

A good book is indeed a faithful friend, that will give as counsel without cowardice or flattery, on the one hand, and without any personal bitterness, on the other. It is also one of the best missionaries of the Church. It can enter places where priests cannot penetrate. A stern hater of the Catholic Church, who on no consideration would hold intercourse with a Catholic priest, will often take a volume of Catholic truth and read it by his fireside.

La Harpe was an infidel and a great friend of Voltaire. He wrote several works against religion. When the French Revolution broke out he was seized and cast into prison. In the silence and solitude of his cell he found time to examine the truths of religion, which he had hitherto neglected. He tells us how sad and lonely he was in his cell. To while away his time he read a few pious books that had been given him. Gradually the light of faith began to dawn in his heart; but the heavenly light filled him with terror. All the sins of his life came up before him. He knew that death was at hand;for in those days there was but one step from the prison to the scaffold. For the first time in forty years he turned to God with an humbled, sorrowful heart, and began to pray. There was no priest near to prepare him for death. They were all either dead or banished. After having offered up a fervent prayer, he opened at random a copy of the Imitation of Christ and read these consoling words: "See, my son, I have come to thee because thou hast called me." The words filled him with unspeakable consolation. His heart was touched; he fell upon his face and burst into tears. This was the beginning of a new life. La Harpe was afterwards set free; but he remained ever after faithful to the good resolutions he had formed whilst shut up in his dreary prison.

Dr. Palafox, the pious Bishop of Osma, in his preface to the letters of St. Teresa, relates that an eminent Lutheran minister at Bremen, who was famed for several works which he had published against the Catholic Church, purchased the Life of St. Teresa , with a view of attempting to confute it. But after reading it over attentively, he was converted to the Catholic faith, and from that time forward led a most edifying life.

A thousand such examples might be offered to show that the reading of pious books is well calculated to lead sinners to a life of grace, and to encourage the just to walk steadily onward on the road to perfection. The tendency of pious reading to induce men of the world to change their ways and enter on the path of a holy life, may be seen from the conversion of St. Augustine. The extreme repugnance which, previous to his conversion, the saint felt in his soul at the thought of parting with the false pleasures of sense and surrendering himself in full to the service of Christ, is well known to readers of his life. What a terrible conflict, what fierce attacks, he experienced within his heart! The story of the conflict, as told by himself, moves us to pity. He tells us that he groaned as he felt his own will, like a heavy chain, holding him fast; and that the enemy of man kept even his power of willing shackled by a kind of cruel necessity. He went through an agony of death in ridding himself of his vicious habits. When just on the point of resolving to renounce them, the old fascinations and false delights dragged him back, and he heard low voices murmur, "Do you mean to forsake us? From this moment forth are we never, never more to be with you?" But what was it that finally, after so fierce a struggle, overcame the heart of the saint? What won that heroic soul to God? The final victory was due to the reading of a pious book. To this is to be attributed, under Almighty God, the glory of gaining to the Church so renowned a doctor and saint. It happened that whilst Augustine was fighting with the wild thoughts that filled his breast, he heard a voice saying to him, "Take and read" He obeyed the voice; and taking up a book which lay near him, read a chapter from St. Paul Shortly after the dark clouds passed away from his mind, the hardness of his heart yielded, and peace and calm took possession of his soul, where before tumultuous passions and despair were striving for the mastery. The chains of his bad habits were broken; he gave himself up without reserve to God, and became the great saint who is admired by all the world, and revered upon the altars of the Church.

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