The son got tired of being at home. He asked for his inheritance and left.

Do we get tired of being home with God? Do we take his love for granted? Do we make it a priority or do we think He will always be there when I need Him? If I think and feel this way, I am already drifting away from God. I can find myself very far away from God even though I may come to Mass every Sunday and pray to God everyday.

The son did come to understand that he was far away from God and went back to the Father.

The Holy Spirit is a gift of the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Holy Spirit is always with us calling us back to the Father; showing us the way back to the Father; and giving us the help to do this. The son paid attention to the working of the Holy Spirit. We need to do the same thing.

When we come back to the Father, it is an entirely new relationship. St. Paul tells us in the second reading that God is always making everything new.

We are in the process of merging the parishes of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Hedwig, St. Anne and St. James. The parishioners of St. Anne are losing their building and their name. The parishioners of St. Hedwig built a new church forty years ago. They have to give up that church and their name. Our Lady of Guadalupe is moving for the third time. They, too, are giving up their name.

We at St. James are keeping our church building, but we are losing our parish as well. From the day in January that we announced that the merger was going to take place, we were no longer the same parish of St. James. We had to think and feel differently. New people are going to join us. A new pastor of St. James has been named. Things are going to look differently and feel differently.

We have to die, but then we will rise. God is always making everything new. A new parish community means a new relationship with God because we go to God together. There will be new ways of knowing and loving God. We will have a new relationship with God, if we are open to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to lead us.