While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him

The the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you." Therefore the place is called Gilgal to the present day. 
While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth of the month. 
On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day 
after the Passover on which they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan. 



Psalms 34(33):2-3.4-5.6-7. 
I will bless the LORD at all times; 
his praise shall be ever in my mouth. 
Let my soul glory in the LORD; 
the lowly will hear me and be glad. 

Glorify the LORD with me, 
let us together extol his name. 
I sought the LORD, and he answered me 
and delivered me from all my fears. 

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, 
and your faces may not blush with shame. 
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, 
and from all his distress he saved him. 




Second Letter to the Corinthians 5:17-21. 
Brothers and sisters: Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, 
namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 
So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 



Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 15:1-3.11-32. 
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, 
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." 
So to them he addressed this parable. 
Then he said, "A man had two sons, 
and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.' So the father divided the property between them. 
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. 
When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. 
So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. 
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. 
Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. 
I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 
I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers."' 
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. 
His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.' 
But his father ordered his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, 
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.' Then the celebration began. 
Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. 
He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. 
The servant said to him, 'Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 
He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. 
He said to his father in reply, 'Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. 
But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.' 
He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. 
But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'"

“While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him”

      “O Lord, you have read my thoughts from afar; you have marked my path and my journey's end; you have foreseen all my ways.” In other words, while I am still a pilgrim and have not yet reached my true country, my thoughts are an open book to you. Think of the younger son of the parable… Not so the elder son; he stayed at home and worked in the fields, representing those holy men of the Old Testament who carried out the duties imposed by the law and obeyed its precepts.

      But the rest of the human race by its lapse into idolatry, had left for a distant country. Nothing, in fact, re moves us further from the God who made us than the false gods we make! for ourselves.
The younger son, then, left for a distant country, taking his money with him, and, as the gospel tells us, he squandered it... When he was worn out by hard labor, affliction, and want, his thoughts turned to his father, and he made up his mind to return to him. “I will arise,” he said, “and go to my father”… But is not he whom I have forsaken everywhere? “You have read my thoughts from afar.” In the gospel story the Lord tells us that the boy's father went out to meet him because he had read his thoughts from afar, he had marked all his paths. What was this path but the ill-chosen road which the boy took when he left his father, furtively trying to escape observation and punishment? Would he have been worn out by hardship or sent to feed pigs unless his father had wanted him to be punished in his absence so that he could welcome him on his return?...

      So he was caught like a runaway slave, overtaken by the well-deserved chastisement of God who punishes us for our unlawful desires, no matter where we go or how far we travel. So, like a slave caught on the run, the son says: “You have marked my path and seen all my ways.” However long my path, it could not hide me from your eyes. I had walked a great distance but you were there at my destination. Before I had even entered, before I had even set out, you saw it all beforehand. And you allowed me to follow my paths in hard labor so that, if I should not want to labor any more, I might return to your ways… I confess my sin before you: I went my own way and wandered far from you; I left you with whom my best interests lay, and it was for my own good that everything went wrong for me without you, for if all had gone well for me without you, the chances are that I would never have returned to you.