Sometimes we can get lost in life. In today’s readings, we hear about different ways of being lost. In the story of Exodus, the people of Israel have escaped slavery in Egypt, but have lost their faith in God on their journey to the promised land. They worship the golden calf, a man-made idol, instead of worshipping God who liberated them. In the 2nd 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 and unbelief until he found new life through Christ. Then, in the Gospel, Jesus tells us about the shepherd who searches for the lost sheep, the woman who searches her house to find a lost coin, and the angels of God who rejoice over the 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 are 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 and had difficulty finding them. We take our 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. I put one of my car keys in the trunk of my car when I went to the prison for our ministry, but it slipped into the wheel well and I did not realize it. I searched forever for that key and was so full of joy when I finally found it.
Sometimes we’re lost ourselves and we don’t even realize it. I remember one leg of the long pilgrimage hike I went on in Spain the first time that I went back in 2003. I left the city of Leon walking ahead of a friend that morning. I kept walking & walking, finally making it to the village destination that afternoon – the trouble was the village I expected was Valverde, but I arrived in a different village, Villar de Mazarife. I had followed the arrows on the pilgrimage route that day: how did I end up in a village that wasn't even marked on my map? After asking other pilgrims, I realized that this stage of the pilgrimage had 2 alternative routes – something my guidebook didn’t even mention. I had followed a route that I didn’t even know existed – I was lost compared to where I wanted to be, but wasn’t even aware of that fact! Luckily, my friend ended up taking the same alternative route, and we both met up in the same village that afternoon. Boy, was I relieved!
Sometimes, we don’t recognize how lost we are or how we have strayed from our faith. In those moments, we are called to recognize our need for God’s grace, to open ourselves for God to guide us. God invites us to participate in the process of redemption by calling us to a constant cycle of conversion God asks us to acknowledge the ways we’ve contributed to the brokenness of our own lives and the brokenness of the world.
As we hear these wonderful Bible stories today, we are reminded that we don’t achieve redemption on our own – redemption is always the result of God’s freely given grace. Just as Jesus brings back the lost sheep because the sheep can’t find his way back on his own, God finds us, he touches us, and he brings us back in a way that we can’t do for our own selves. 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.” Our theme for Catechetical Sunday this year is “STAY WITH US,” as we invite Jesus to stay with us, just as the disciples of the Early Church invited Jesus to stay with them when he appeared with them after his resurrection.
We give thanks for our catechists today, for all of our teachers and our volunteers who help us pass down our faith here to all of you – our children and our youth. Pope Benedict XVI once said that the 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. As we ask Christ to stay with us on our journey, may we ask him to help us live out our life of discipleship. May we ask him to stay with us to help us bring the faith to others.
We might feel a bit lost or confused at different points on our journey of faith. At other moments on our journey, we may feel like we have found the right path for us. No matter where we are, lost or found, Christ is seeking us out. He is with us.
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