Luke 15: 1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
God is Searching For Us
“Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”
When we lose something, our keys, that unfinished document, it’s mostly an annoyance. It’s not really lost, just misplaced. And we know that it will probably return to us or at least be replaced.
Once I was lost in a protest in Mexico City, separated from the person I had come with. Amid thousands of people, I was alone! I could do nothing; so, I sat and waited!
But sometimes what we lose is irreplaceable—our health, our reputation, our loved one, our very self, even our sensed presence of God. Then what? It is then that we must sit and wait. We must trust that the “Hound of Heaven” is tirelessly searching for us, “down the night and down the days… down the arches of the years… down the labyrinthine ways… and in the midst of tears… and under running laughter.” And, when we are found, the “Hound” rejoices with us.
—Jean Ellman, SSND, is a facilitator of the Spanish Spirituality Programs at Casa Romero Renewal Center, a Jesuit urban retreat center in Milwaukee, WI.
Prayer
Dear One, fill me with trust and patience in this time of loss. I know you are looking for me as I sit and wait. Sustain me in your love. Amen.
—Excerpt from “The Hound of Heaven” by Francis Thompson
Pray with the Pope
The Holy Father’s Monthly Prayer Intentions Brought to you by Apostleship of Prayer the first Friday of each month.