Misspent youth…
The Prodigal.
“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.’” Luke 15
I have always understood this statement in reference to the Sacrament of Penance and the Mass. In this way, Jesus continues to welcome sinners and eats with them.
The meditation in “Magnificat” this morning is from Lacordaire concerning youth. He writes;
”Youth is the springtime of beauty; God who is ever young because he is ever beautiful, has willed to impart to us in our early years something of the aspect of his eternity. A young man’s face is the reflection of the face of God, and it is impossible to see a virgin soul in a pure countenance without being moved by a sympathy which is at once tenderness and respect…But this gift so great…God takes away [the innocence] from him who abuses it by precocious passions…Thus it is with all our passions; each has its earthly and revealing chastisement, designed to teach us that their way is false, and that happiness is not the term of the joys which they bring to us…” - Fr. Lacordaire
I couldn’t help but think of Aschenbach and Tadzio on the lido in “Death in Venice” after reading that, gaining a deeper perspective on Thomas Mann’s poignant novella.
