3 November 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20
Paul speaks of our body as a tent that will be folded up, and of “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” In this season of the Church we remember that our true home is the Father's house.
The younger son learns this the hard way. Far from home, hungry among pigs, he “came to himself” and set out for his father's house. The father was already watching the road. Every confession is this homecoming: the Church is the house where the Father runs to meet us.
Theme: “The Father's house.”
Paul longs for the eternal dwelling; the prodigal son returns home and is embraced.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3
“So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20
Apply: Thank God today for one sign of his faithful love.
“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:23
“For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:24
Apply: Examine your conscience tonight.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!” 1 Kings 8:27
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” John 14:6
Apply: Plan a good confession this month.
The Father is watching the road.
Let us go home.
Take-home resolution: Make a good confession before the end of the liturgical year.
Dear friends, in the season of the Dedication of the Church we reflect on our true home. Paul says that our body is a tent that will be taken down, but we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1).
The younger son learned this the hard way. He left his father's house, wasted everything, and while feeding pigs he came to himself: I will get up and go to my father. While he was still far off, his father saw him, was filled with compassion, ran and put his arms around him and kissed him (Luke 15:17–20).
The Father whom Jesus shows us is a Father who waits and runs. However far we have wandered, the door of his house is open. This week let us return to the Father's embrace through a good confession, and share with joy in the feast of the Holy Qurbana. Amen.
Children, even when we do wrong, God our Father waits for us and runs to hug us. Say sorry to someone today!
Merciful Father, you watch the road for every child who is far away. Bring me home to your house, forgive me, and clothe me again with your love. Amen.
Both readings are about going home. Paul speaks of the "earthly tent" of our body and the "house not made with hands" that God has prepared for us. In the Gospel a lost son comes to himself and walks back to his father's house. In the season of the Dedication of the Church, the house of God is where the Father waits for every child.
Setting.
In 2 Corinthians Paul defends his ministry, which is full of suffering. Just before this passage he says that "our outer nature is wasting away" while "our inner nature is being renewed day by day" (4:16). Paul was a tentmaker by trade (Acts 18:3), and he uses the image he knew best.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (5:1)
Paul does not say "we hope" but "we know". Christian hope rests on what God has already done in raising Christ (4:14).
“so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (5:4)
Paul does not long to escape from the body ("not to be unclothed") but to have it transformed ("to be further clothed"). The same picture of being swallowed up appears in 1 Corinthians 15:54.
“He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (5:5)
Our future glory is not a vague wish. God himself has prepared us for it, and has already given a pledge.
How the Church reads it.
The Church prays in the same spirit at funerals. A preface of the Roman liturgy for the dead says that for the faithful "life is changed, not ended", and that when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready in heaven. The Catechism speaks of death as the end of our earthly pilgrimage and of our going home to God (CCC 1005, 1013).
Setting.
Luke 15 contains three parables of the lost: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Jesus tells them because the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them" (15:2). Today's reading gives the first half of the third parable; the elder brother comes in vv. 25–32.
For a son to ask for his inheritance while his father was alive was a deep insult, as if he wished his father dead. Pigs were unclean animals for Jews (Leviticus 11:7). To feed pigs for a Gentile was the lowest point a young Jew could reach.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!” (15:17)
His first motive is hunger, not love. The parable is honest: our conversion often begins with imperfect reasons, and the Father still receives us.
“But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” (15:20)
The father must have been watching the road. In that culture an older man of standing did not run. The father lays aside his dignity, and runs before the son can finish his speech.
“for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” (15:24)
The robe, the ring and the sandals (v. 22) give back the place of a son; servants went barefoot. "Dead" and "alive again" are the language of resurrection.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism describes the whole path of conversion through this parable: the son's fascination with an illusory freedom, his misery, his reflection, his confession, and the father's generous welcome (CCC 1439). St Jerome, in a letter to Pope Damasus on this parable, sees in the fatted calf Christ himself, offered for us and received in the Eucharist (in substance).
Is the father in the parable too soft on sin?
No. The son's sin is not denied; he confesses it. But the parable shows that God's mercy goes ahead of us. The son is still "far off" when the father runs to him.