User:This lousy T-shirt/Parable of the Prodigal Son
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"Prodigal son" redirects here. For other uses, see The Prodigal Son (disambiguation).
The Prodigal Son, also known as the Lost Son, is one of the best known parables of Jesus. However, it appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. According to the Gospel of Luke (Luke 15:11-32) a younger son is given his inheritance. After wasting his fortune (the word 'prodigal' means 'wastefully extravagant'), the son returns home and repents. It is the third and final member of a trilogy on redemption, following the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg/640px-Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg)
In Western Catholic tradition, this parable is usually read on the third Sunday of Lent, while in the Eastern Orthodox Church it is read on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son.