Explore "Homeward Bound" by Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
WHEN ADAM LEFT PARADISE, he wasn't simply "kicked out. " Certainly there was an aspect of punishment, but his exile was also self-imposed. Like the prodigal son, he set out with his inheritance (in Adam's case, knowledge of good and evil), but there was always the promise that he would return. From that day when Adam left paradise, the Father climbed up to the roof of history and looked far off into the horizon (cf. Luke 15: 20). He knew the moment would come when his son returned; he knew with certainty when our flesh, now justified, would return home to his temple (cf. Luke 2: 22-38). God is a Father and knows the impatience of a father's heart when the lives of his children are at stake. More than just observing, God the Father was anxiously awaiting the return of his lost child, all of humankind, to his embrace. Even when wandering far from home, the son felt in his bones the unsettling memory of the Father's house. Although a drifter, the son was gifted with a sense of direction, and, in obedience to that gift, he sought a re-encounter with his truer self. He found space for questioning and sought to correct the direction in which he was heading. He realized the significance of that guiding star within his heart, though he knew not whence it came nor where it led. That is, he prayed-and he prayed for his return. All flesh follows its own paths, and it is precisely in prayer that the meaning of its existence falls into place. It is only in prayer that our heart comes to see clearly where it's coming "from," what it's moving "toward," and where it presently stands.
When we ask ourselves these questions, God does not stand far off, just waiting for us. No, he "draws close" and walks beside us. God the Father "takes" us where we are, in our most humble circumstances, but he leads us toward other water and other bread (cf. John 4: 7-15; 6: 35-40). Our Father does not stand idly awaiting us, but rather incites in us the nostalgic desire to be "homeward bound. " He leads us far beyond our feeble yearnings.