GETTING LOST, BEING FOUND

Have you ever been lost, or have lost someone or something in your life?

I was once in a pilgrimage together with my brothers. In one of our destinations, we arrived late in the evening. The bus we took was not allowed to drop us directly at the house where we would spend the night. We needed to walk through the city center. As we moved, the wheels of my luggage broke, and so I had to walk slowly carrying my thirty-kilo luggage. Little by little I grew distant from my brothers and tour guide. They took one turn after another, and eventually, I lost them. I did not know the exact address of our accommodation. I could not make any calls and texts. I could not even speak the language of the locals, and they could not speak in English too. I was lost for the first time in my life. I stopped for a while and closed my eyes to see if I was just dreaming. As I opened my eyes, I was still there in that unknown road surrounded by unknown people, with my broken luggage beside me. I continued randomly walking, hoping I would see one of my brothers or the tour guide but to no avail. Suddenly, I remembered one landmark beside our accommodation; a famous university in that city. I thought I should simply locate that university and I shall find our evening's accommodation. I started looking for locals who can help me until I met fellow pilgrims (Turkish couple) with whom I could communicate. Through their GPS (or perhaps more properly to say is through their generosity to go beyond their way to help a stranger in a strange city), they were able to help me find my way. I was lost but I was able to find my way back, thanks to that generous couple who lent me their GPS. When we are lost, we feel uncomfortably away from our security blankets. We do not know where to go and what to do. We seek to find our way back.   

The same goes true when we lost an important person or a thing in our life. We feel great sadness for we have lost a part of us. With the death of a parent or spouse, we experience pain and sorrow and a part of our heart dies too. And there is incomparable happiness to find them again in our life, albeit in new ways and perspectives.

In our life as Christians, we are lost sometimes through the gods and goddesses we have made for ourselves (cf. Ex. 32:7-11, 13-14). We have lost our way to God and heaven, as we chose to move away from the Lord; directing our own lives; worshipping gods who are convenient for us. The golden calves we make break the compass that God gives to us (His commandments and teachings), that can lead us to heaven. Our sins and idolatries lead us to damnation, eventually lost to the world that disenchanted us and distorted our values; lost to the traps laid before us by Satan.

Despite our sinfulness and being lost, God's mercy knows no boundaries. He mercifully treats us as Paul says (1 Tim 1:12-17): "Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these, I am the foremost [sinner]. But for that reason, I was mercifully treated." The response of God towards our sinfulness and being lost to Satan is mercy (more than condemnation). And through His merciful hands, we are brought back to the fold. We are lost through our folly. We are found through God's mercy. And His generosity and mercy are beyond human logic for He is willing to leave ninety-nine righteous sheep just so He may find the one lost sheep (cf. Lk 15:1-32). Where our sinfulness and being lost abound, God's grace and mercy abound all the more (cf. Romans 5:20), as it is there that it is needed most.

God searches everyone back to Him, most especially the sinners and those who are truly losing track to heaven. In the Gospel (Lk 15:1-32), Jesus relates to us three stories of lost and being found: the lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost son. But more than emphasizing one's being lost; Jesus highlights the process of being found.

After wastefully and abusively using the gifts of his father to him, the prodigal son recalled the goodness of his father not just to him but also to their servants. The prodigal son came to his senses and repented for all the transgression he had done against his father. He decided to return to his father's house, only to be surprised and silenced by the love and generosity that his father welcomed him with. The father was waiting for his son's return. So much so that on the first sight of his son in his horizon, he ran and embraced him, and restored the dignity his son had lost through his fault. He (the father) required no explanation. Should we be lost and never come to our senses, or worse lose our senses completely(as sheep and a coin had no sense), God will search for us. He takes the initiative just so we may be found. More than us finding God, it is God who finds us.  

There is much reason to rejoice in being found, for God Himself, the one who finds those who are lost, rejoice inexplicably. That joy resonates from the fact that the one who had been lost has regained his original identity and dignity as a child of God; as one destined to heaven; to be with God. The Lord searches us not because He needs us. On the contrary, we are the ones who seriously need Him to have direction and meaning in our life. The Lord searches us, though He may not need us, for the simple reason that He loves us. Ang taong mahal at mahalaga, kapag nawala, hinahanap. Do not say then, you are just a coin, just a single sheep among the hundred good sheep. Each of us is valuable to the Lord; made valuable by His love for us; by his desire for us to be in heaven. No one is a lost cause to the Lord. For Him, everyone is worth finding.

What delays you from finding your way back to God?

What hinders you from letting God find you?

REMEMBER THE GOODNESS OF GOD

Who among us did not sin or are not capable of committing sin? Even saints committed sins. St. Peter betrayed Jesus. St. Augustine was an adulterer. Bl. Bartolo Longo was a former satanic priest. All of us have offended God in one way or another in some points of our life. What makes sinful men and women saints despite their sinfulness? It is their will to allow God to realize His plan in their lives.

God loves us and He has good plans for us. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ (Jeremiah 29:11). And God fulfills His plan. In the book of Joshua (5:9, 10-12), we read the fulfillment of God's plan to the Israelites to remove the reproach of Egypt from His people. That is, to reconcile them to God fully, to restore their capacity to do good again. The people of God once again were able to eat the produce of the land through unleavened cakes and parched grains. They ate the works of their hands, through the sweat of their brow. The manna ceased to fall from heaven as they themselves are again capable of feeding themselves, a capacity they had lost when they offended the Lord. And so, they began a renewed life in God, as God accomplished His promise to bring them in a new land. Peace was in their hearts as the burden of their sins was removed through their reconciliation with God.

Sin moves us away from God and renders our relationship with Him broken. Sin is the source of discomfort in our hearts and in our lives. As sin leads us astray, we come to realize that we have done something wrong and consequently, our hearts are disturbed. God does not desire that we live away from Him; away from His good plans. He reconciles us to Himself. He made covenants with man, which time and again, man broke. And in the fullness of time, He sent His only begotten Son to reunite us with Him once and for all. All these are initiatives of God so that we may return to Him. Weak as we are, we still sometimes move away from the goodness Christ offers to us in lieu of other things that appear to us deceivingly as good.  Thus, St. Paul appeals to us to reconcile ourselves to God (2 Cor 5:17-21).    

How should we repent, come to our senses, and return to the Lord? It is by remembering how good God has been to us in the past, and how we wasted that goodness He offered to us. Since God is unchanging, He remains to be the Good Father waiting for His prodigal children's return to Him. Yes, the Father is waiting for our return so that He may put back the dignity we have given up when we chose to sin and distance ourselves from Him.    

THE FATHER IS WAITING

If there is one common reality among us human persons, it is sin. All of us may have committed sin in our life. Even saints did sin. St. Peter betrayed our Lord three times. St. Thomas the Apostle doubted the resurrection of Christ. St. Augustine was an adulterer before he was converted. St. Paul had a thorn in his flesh. Who among us did not sin? But what separates condemned sinners and exalted saints is the attitude towards sinfulness. Repentance turns sinners into saints. It is the response of man to God's invitation to be made clean, through his grace and mercy, from the muds of sin. It takes courage to admit our faults and imperfection, especially in our world that only admit flawlessness.   

In the story of the prodigal son (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32), the younger son sinned against his father by dishonoring him through loose living and by squandering all his inheritance. And for doing so, he lived a miserable life; the consequence of his sins. But he came to his senses and realized his worth to his father, more so, the worth of his father as one capable of forgiveness; one whom he can approach even if he had transgressed him. He rehearsed what he was going to say to his father as he would meet him. He summoned all the courage left in him, and went to his father. The father must have waited for the return of his younger son, for he saw him from a distance. Without waiting for his son to approach him, the father ran towards his son and embraced him. The son was not able to utter his rehearsed script, save from the simple admission of his guilt. The father mentioned no words to his repenting son. But his actions spoke louder. He brought back his son’s dignity by clothing him, giving him a ring, and throwing a feast in his honor. He showed him mercy more than condemnation and a demand for justice. That is an image of God who is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4); our God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency (Mi 7:14-15, 18-20).

The mercy of the Father is only valuable to a repenting heart. The self-righteous who believe that they are perfect will never experience the beauty of forgiveness; the warm embrace of the Father.

In life, we can focus on our mistakes and resort to self-pity, or worse: succumb to our sorry state of life and enjoy sinning. But we have a better choice: to repent and embrace our true identity as children of God, capable of repenting, of rising above sinful situation, and to be good again. Will you come to your senses, and repent? The Father is patiently waiting for you.