The Church always lives at the crossroads of times. In her calendar, events of ancient eras are relived again and again, as if happening here and now, and the present is constantly assessed through the lens of the Biblical history and the Gospel teaching.

Today, on the eve of Great Lent, we again remember the Parable of the Prodigal Son — a story of error, fall, repentance, and return.

The younger son, giving in to temptations, demands his share of the inheritance from his father and soon goes away to a foreign country with it. There, he dwells carelessly and with prodigal living for some time until he wastes everything he had. When money ends, seeming "friends" disappear. Moreover, a famine starts in the country, and the prodigal son finds himself on the brink of death. Who takes care of a poor foreigner if there is not enough bread even for one's own? Desperate, he accepts the most ridiculous work — he feeds swine, dreaming of eating at least their food.

And only after hitting rock bottom and realising the bitter truth does the prodigal son come to himself, repent, and take a decision to return to his father's house. Return not even as a son now but at least as a hired servant. And when he is still walking, overcoming shame, fear, and the pain of realising his fall, the father sees him and runs out to meet him. He embraces the sufferer and accepts him with love. He does not demand explanations, does not rebuke him — he simply rejoices that his son is alive and has come back.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is not just a story of a specific man. It is about each one of us and is relevant at all times. How often did we, like this son, separate ourselves from our Heavenly Father, God, and renounce our brothers, our common roots, origins, and traditions? How often did we forget about shrines and values for the sake of false lures and wrong ideals? And not only did we forget, but we also destroyed our spiritual and material wealth with our own hands, feeding on the poison of malice, hatred, and vengefulness. Every such fall left behind scorched desert in the souls, the abomination of desolation, and ruins.

Today's Gospel story shows us that the bitterness of defeats can also become a saving cure. Like the prodigal son, who realised his disastrous situation, we should come to ourselves, gather our strength, admit our mistakes, and make the first step towards repentance, towards common sense, towards hope for peace and well-being. It is said in the Holy Scripture: "There is more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons." Why? Because a person who repents does not live in illusions, he clearly realises his dependence on God. Like the publican, he humbly beats his breast, saying: "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" Like the prodigal son, he admits: "I am not worthy to be called Your son." And the good God, Who, as is known, resists the proud, will always supply the unworthiness of a humble person with His generous grace.

Very soon, Great Lent will begin — a true spring for a repentant soul, a time of recovery of sight and transfiguration.
I sincerely wish you, dear brothers and sisters, that this Great Lent may become for us a path of cleansing our hearts, a time of reconciliation and return to God and to our true selves — as we were made and as we are called to become again.