Looking back I see how easy it was to blame God when I was the one who had gone away—forsaking the healing sacrament of God’s grace. I believed that private prayer, nature walks, meditation and the study of spiritual readings would help me find answers. And these things did bring relief from stress and a sense of God’s presence. But still, no answers were forthcoming.
The process of leaving and returning, of judging and then releasing judgments, of arrogance and then humility has been a healing journey. I share this story so that others might feel encouraged to turn around and begin that journey home. I share this story so that parents who worry about their adult children straying from the Church will have some understanding and hope.
—from St. Anthony Messenger‘s “A Prodigal Daughter Returns“
by Judith Costello, MA
