One of my favorite parables is “The Parable of the Lost Son” sometimes called the “Prodigal Son”. There are so many parallels in this parable to my own life; it’s amazing. I think it’s also true for the rest of us, or it could be if we would let it.

Luke 15:18 describes when the lost son “Comes to his senses” and he realizes he made a mistake and should return to his father. Now is the time we all need to come to our senses and head back to Jesus. We need to look to Him for guidance and help to get us through these difficult times.

What do I mean by difficult times? Look around at all the hate and anger, negativity, and the absence of any sense of responsibility; it’s everywhere. I work for my son. I look at the problems he has been dealing with concerning his employees and how different people are from when I managed my business. People don’t care about their jobs; they don’t care about the business, they care only about themselves.

It is nothing for an employee to decide in the middle of their shift to just leave. They quit for no apparent reason. It doesn’t matter that they have children at home who need to eat. It doesn’t matter that they have rent or a mortgage to pay; they just leave. They get angry because the government makes us garnish their wages for back child support; some having multiple children with multiple mothers. My work is only a small microcosm of the world.

This is what I mean when I say we need to come to our senses and bring God back into our lives. With God in our hearts, we have a sense of responsibility; we know what is right and wrong. There is no grey area.

I have had some rough times in the past, but through trusting in Jesus Christ, I made it through them. I didn’t give up. When I was younger, I would never have just left a job and not worry about my family.

In a way, this is what the prodigal son did. He left his father, taking his inheritance with him. He didn’t worry about how it would affect his father. He didn’t care about his future, where he would live, how he would eat. He just took the money and ran. Unlike so many today, at least he came to his senses after the money was gone and he was hungry and living with the pigs. He went home to his father and asked for forgiveness.

This is what we all need to do. Come to our senses and ask God for forgiveness. He will welcome us back to Him with open arms and heart. We can turn our lives around and start living with the end in mind and spend eternity in heaven.

Think of what a change there would be if everyone came to their senses. Imagine a world where everyone wanted to spend eternity in heaven. What a wonderful world this would be.

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.

New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Lk 15:17–20.