9/15/2013 – Exodus 32:7-14; 1 Tim 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10

     Sometimes we can get lost in life.  In today’s readings, we hear about different ways about getting lost.  In the story of Exodus in the first reading, the people of Israel have escaped slavery in Egypt, but have lost their faith in God on their journey.  They worship the golden calf, a man-made idol, instead of worshipping the Lord who liberated them.   In the 2^nd reading, Paul tells us about how he was lost in life before his conversion to the Way of Jesus.   Paul was trapped in an endless cycle of arrogance, unbelief, and blasphemy, until he found a new life in God’s love and mercy.  And in the Gospel, Jesus tells us about the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep, the woman who sweeps and searches her house to find a lost coin, and the angels of the Lord who rejoice over the one lost sinner who finally repents. These readings teach us about what we can do when we get lost on our journey of faith, about what we need to do once we are found again.  

      We feel incredible joy when we find something that was lost; we’re much happier at having found the lost object than if it had never lost it.   Think about the last time you lost or misplaced a set of keys & had difficulty finding them. We take keys for granted when they’re always there, when they’re in our pocket each time we unlock the front door or the car.   But, when we misplace our keys, what a relief and joy it is to finally find them.

      Sometimes, we don’t recognize how lost we are or how we’ve strayed from our faith.  In those moments, we’re called to recognize our need for God’s grace and mercy, to open ourselves to the ways He will guide us. God invites us to participate in the process of redemption by calling us to a constant cycle of repentance and conversion.  God asks us to acknowledge the ways we’ve sinned and how we’ve contributed to the brokenness of not only our own lives, but of our world as well.

      Most importantly, as we hear about the lost coin and the lost sheep, as we hear the story of God reaching out to the ancient Israelites who’ve lost their way, we’re reminded that we don’t achieve redemption on our own or by our own initiative – redemption is always God’s work.  Just as Jesus brings back the lost sheep because the sheep can’t find his way back on his own, God finds us, touches us, and brings us back in a way that we can’t do for our own selves.  But, it’s up to us to turn our lives toward God, to look God-ward no matter where we are and what we’re doing on our journey of faith. 

     Today, as we hear about finding our way back after we get lost, we celebrate Catechetical Sunday.   The word “catechesis” describes the effort in which we the Church make disciples in Christ.  Our word “catechesis” comes from the Greek word “to echo the teaching.”

      We give thanks for our catechists today, for all of our teachers and other volunteers who help us pass down our faith here at St James – to pass down the faith to our children, our youth, and to other adults as well.   Pope Benedict XVI said last year that lay people should not be regarded as “collaborators” of the clergy in the work of evangelization and bringing others to the faith, but, rather, as people who are really “co-responsible” for the Church's being and acting.  I like the image of the Door of Faith that we have been recognizing all this year.   Open the Door of Faith is the theme for this year’s Catechetical Sunday.  We need to help open that Door of Faith for ourselves, but we help others through that door as well.   And I don’t think opening the Door of Faith is an action that only happens once in our lives.  We go through the door each day – and we help others through that door again and again as well.   In many ways, our catechists and our teachers of religious education are responsible for opening so many doors in the way they reach out to others in the faith.

       We might feel a bit lost or confused at this moment in our lives on our journey of faith.   Or we may feel like we have finally found the right path for us at this moment.   No matter where we are, lost or found, Christ is seeking us out.  The Door of Faith is there for us to go through.