We live prodigally when we act according to love or goodness or beauty rather than primarily efficiency. The overflowing cup which God gives David in the twenty-third Psalm is prodigal. Strictly speaking, there is no need to fill a cup until it overflows. The expensive ointment Mary uses to anoint the feet of Jesus is prodigal. As Judas observed in John 12, a more efficient use of the ointment would have been to alleviate poverty. Our very lives are prodigal. God did not need to create us. But He did, and it was and is good.
