When I disobey in ignorance thy fatherly glory, I wasted in iniquities the riches that thou gavest me. Wherefore, I cry to thee with the voice of the prodigal son, saying, I have sinned before thee, O compassionate Father, receive me repentant, and make me as one of thy hired servants.
- Kontakion, Tone 3
I have been entrusted with a verdant and faultless region, but I planted evil in its soil and reaped its cares with the scythe of laziness. And I gathered my deeds into sheaves but placed them not on the threshing-floor of repentance. Wherefore, I ask thee, O divine Husbandman, to winnow the straw of my deeds with the breeze of thy compassionate love; and fill my soul with the wheat of forgiveness. Store me in thy heavenly garners and save me.
- from Vespers, Tone 1
Read more about the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, in an excerpt from Great Lent by Alexander Schmemann.
To learn more about the season of pre-Lenten preparation, please visit our Great Lent section.
Listen to Fr. Thomas Hopko's reflections on the parable of the Prodigal Son on Ancient Faith Radio: Part 1 + Part 2