But "God will not despise a broken and humble heart." And in the prodigal son this promise was fulfilled in full: "And he was far away, when his father saw him, and he was merciful, and he fell upon his neck, and kissed him," and restored to him all his filial rights. "Such, I say unto you, is joy before the angels of God over the one sinner who repenteth," the Saviour testifies in this parable.

My beloved, our Heavenly Father will do the same to us sinners who repent. Repentance preserves us for the Kingdom of Heaven. Repentance is granted to us by God's love for mankind. Repentance erases the handwriting of sins and iniquities, purifies the heart. Every Christian soul is dear to the Lord, redeemed by the blood of His only-begotten Son. He Himself rejoices over the conversion of one sinner more than over 99 righteous men.

The Lord knows that the strength of the fighter is strong, but we are weak. And He goes to meet our will and kisses the very intention to repent. Therefore, let us not postpone repentance and delay correction. Great Lent is given to us as a time of increased repentance, turning into ourselves, so that we do not sink into the mire of vices and passions, so that, seeing ourselves in the form of the prodigal son, we arise from the darkness of sin.

The Heavenly Father is waiting for us and is ready to come to the aid of our weakness. And we, like the prodigal son, must always remember and remember that our Heavenly Father has plenty of mercy both for sons and for hirelings; and His sun shines on both the good and the evil; and it rains on the just and the unjust, and they that labor in his house do not die in sins. And we are children who have been adopted by baptism to God, and if we are spiritually starving, it is only because we do not live according to God's commandments, and we also depart to a distant country.

It is not God and God's grace that leaves us, but we leave, led by the arbitrariness of our often unconscious and even insane desires. My beloved, let us not hesitate to postpone repentance. How can we know how long God will tolerate our sins?  Will the Lord not now demand from us an account of the sins we have committed? "Foolish, this night thy soul shall be taken from thee" (Luke 12:20)

– and the judgment of Divine justice will be carried out. Are we ready for it? Often an evil thought lulls us to sleep: "God is merciful, well, what sins do I have, I did not steal, I did not kill, I did not commit fornication." And that our heart is unfaithful, full of all ill-will, impurity and deceit, and faith and love are only on the tip of the tongue; this is the darkness that obscures for us the light of God's truth and love, about which we either do not think at all, or delve into matters of the heart extremely rarely and sluggishly. But, "what has light to do with darkness"? (2 Corinthians 6:14).

And the Lord judges our thoughts and heartfelt intentions, out of mercy allowing us to be punished by our fathers, striving to bring the truth to our senses. And St. The Gospel reminds us of everything: "If we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just, may He forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). But do not the wrath of God await those who are careless, and unrepentant, and prodigals, who boldly reject the care of the Heavenly Father for themselves?

  "Destruction will come upon them suddenly,... and they shall not escape" (1 Thess. 5:3). – warns the Apostle. And just as the prodigal son, having bowed his head in repentance, expects only forgiveness, so does not everyone who has come from the fall, pray only for deliverance from the fiery Gehenna? The sinner expects little, but God grants him the inexhaustible riches of His blessings. The sinner has just thought about repentance, and the Father is already hastening to meet him: "Before you call on Me, I will say, 'Behold, I have come.'

This is what happened to the prodigal son, and it happens to us to this day. When we bring repentance, we do not hear the words of God's response, but almost immediately we see God's love for mankind manifested in deeds in our lives. "Bring him the first garment," which he lost through disobedience, and our soul feels the joy of the freedom it has received. "Give me also boots on his nose," so that he may not be subjected to a fatal wound from the serpent, but so that he may tread on the serpent and the scorpion and on all the power of the enemy.

And for some time we are sheltered by God's mercy from sinful violence and tangibly enter into the freedom of sonship. In this way God's forgiveness is testified to us.  My dear ones, let us remember that only piety and reverence keep us on the paths of salvation. Piety is the fulfillment of God's commandments, reverence is the memory of God in all manifestations of life in ourselves and around us.

When we lose reverence, we trample on God's love. The remembrance of God and the remembrance of death are the salvific bridle that protects us from destruction, granting contrition of heart and repentance, until we have yet attained filial love for our Creator. He who has renounced godliness does not take pleasure in the evil pleasures themselves, but condemns himself to constant pursuit, and to insatiability in them.

As long as the immortal soul is not completely impoverished, material abundance only sets off the approaching catastrophe of its destruction. In the Gospel parable, both sons and hirelings are next to the Father!  And who are you and me? Sons by baptism, mercenaries in life. The Divine Scriptures refer to sons those who give themselves up to righteousness and piety with their whole being, while those hirelings are those who understand the good, know the teaching, but do not give themselves to it entirely with their hearts and are not guided in the organization of their lives by the will of God.

And we all, so easily and almost constantly, lose our sonship in the vanity of life and its enticements, thoughtlessly preferring the lot of a mercenary for ourselves. And the mercy of God does not forget about the hireling, but the Lord waits, waits for those who once for the sake of His sonship rejected Satan and all his works. Let us constantly remember that repentance and prayer protect the lamps of our faith, and return us to the roof of the Heavenly Father.

And for us repentant sinners, as for His children, the Lord will rejoice, and for us He will say: "For this My son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found." "O Master, Lord, Lover of mankind, Only-begotten Son of God, we have sinned in heaven and before Thee, and are no longer worthy to be called Thy sons, but we trust in Thy mercies, we have as a pledge of Thy love for mankind Thy precious Cross, which Thou hast endured for our sake, we have mediators of Thy kindness, the former harlot and former thief.