By Sister Teresa Margaret, O.C.D.
During this Lent, I have been reflecting on the parable of the Prodigal Son. St. Joseph stands before us as the quiet contrast to the prodigal son. In the Gospel, the younger son’s demand — “Give me my inheritance” — sounds cold, almost blasphemous, as if he wished his father dead. Yet as Mother Mary Francis teaches in A Time for Renewal, even words born in distortion can be transformed into prayer when addressed to the true God. Just as she reflects on the devil’s taunt to Jesus — “Turn these stones into bread” — and shows how it can become a plea of surrender (“Yes, Lord, turn these stones of my heart into bread…”), so too the prodigal’s audacious phrase can be redeemed. The difference is not in the words themselves, but in the heart that speaks them — and in truly knowing the One to whom we speak.
The prodigal son did not yet know his father’s heart. He knew the father’s house, the father’s wealth, perhaps even the father’s authority — but he did not know his father’s love. St. Joseph did. At the end of his earthly life, tradition places him on his deathbed with the Son of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary beside him. What intimacy. What knowledge. Joseph knew exactly who stood before him. He had lived decades in hidden communion with Jesus. He had held Him, protected Him, labored for Him, and listened to His voice. If from that deathbed Joseph prayed, “Give me my inheritance,” it was no demand of distance but the cry of a son who knew he was loved.
And what would the Father — what would Jesus — give to such a man? The inheritance granted to St. Joseph is nothing less than the very Heart of God. As in the parable, the Father runs to meet the son; but here there is no squandering, no famine, no far country. Joseph receives the inheritance fully, reverently, eternally. He does not grasp; he receives. He does not waste; he treasures. The Sacred Heart becomes his portion — and now, in heaven, his heart beats in perfect union with that Heart. Having known mercy so intimately, he now reflects the merciful love of the Father without distortion.
So, we are invited to pray boldly — even daringly. “Give me my inheritance!” But not as strangers. Not as those who doubt the Father’s goodness. Rather, as sons and daughters who know the Heart of the One we address. Ask big of St. Joseph. Ask him for the Father’s Heart. Ask him to obtain for you the inheritance that does not fade: intimacy with Jesus, transformation of your stony heart into bread blessed and broken for the life of the world. Like Joseph, may we receive that inheritance with humility and spend our eternity — and even our earthly days — distributing the riches of His Sacred Heart. Amen.
