By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
September 15, 2019: 24th Sunday in Ordinary time
Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-32
Have you heard of that anecdote said of a girl who strayed into a thick forest and could not get back before it got really dark? She was there, terrified with the dark that surrounded her and the distant noises that frightened her. All that she could was hide herself behind a bush, covering herself with the dark, while her father began to desperately go in search of her! He was combing the forest inch by inch determined to find his child and at a certain point, there he stood as the beam of light from his torch rested on a pair of bewildered eyes: it was his daughter, still frightened but unable to see her dad because the light blinded her now, equally as the darkness until then did. The father was relieved and gave a sign of relief and joy, and cried her name out! As soon as the child heard her father’s voice, she shouted in joy, “Daddy! I found you!”
What a lovely picture we are presented with in the Word today – the Lord who comes in search of us! The Lord is in search of us, but are we ready to let ourselves be found by the Lord? That is the crucial question raised to us today.
BEWARE – The First Reading warns us:
The World and our life today is filled with things, events, ideals and values that can distract us and get us lost! It is first the darkness that surrounds us. Enmity, violence, intolerance, competition, jealousy, avarice and apathy is spread more and more today, knowingly most of the times and unwittingly sometimes. People give into the pressure of the crowd and end up harping on the same negativity that they wish to fight.
We need to stay clear of the negativity of the inhuman forces, the agents of hatred wish to perpetrate. Not just darkness, but sometimes what we consider light can blind us to God – self-righteousness, pride, sense of accomplishment and superiority, the tendency to look at our familiarity with God as a reason to condemn people or look down on them – these can keep us from truly encountering God… the Lord will be right there beside us and we will not realise it in our folly.
REALISE IT – The Second Reading instructs us:
Become aware of it, when you are lost! St. Paul realised how lost he was! It is a grace to “come to our senses”, just as the lost son came to his senses in the parable (Luke 15:17), that Jesus narrates today. When we do not realise that we are lost, like that little girl we spoke of, we would be imagining that we are in search of God – while actually the Lord is in search of us, looking for us amidst the darkness that we have created all around us, reaching out to us through the maze that we have thrown ourselves into.
God is looking for us and the moment we realise we are lost, we would call out to God and the Lord shall cry our name out. Remember that incident when God called out “Adam”, the first couple were hiding behind a bush! Remember that moment when God called out “Cain”, he tried hiding himself behind his connivance. The sacrament of Reconciliation is all about our realisation, our coming to senses… it is admitting with all our sincere heart, that we have gone astray, we have lost our way, we are willing to be found and taken back to God.
THE LORD WHO IS IN SEARCH OF US – The Gospel presents to us:
Oh, what a wonderful experience, to see the Lord who comes in search of us. We better not be ashamed or we will shy away and we better not be afraid or we will hide ourselves from that merciful gaze. A God who is on a constant look out; the Lord who is in search of us; the Lord who rejoices on our return – that is the image that Jesus wants us to have! Yes, the Lord is in search of us. The secret is that the Lord cannot find us, unless we let ourselves be found!
And therefore, we pray:
Oh Lord, my God,
Grant that I may stick to the path you have shown;
Enlighten my mind to single out the enticements and entrapments
that get me lost to your life-giving presence;
Infuse my heart with the humility to see the truth and accept it
specially when I find myself far from it;
Take my hand and lead me gently back to you,
however undeserving you find me to be;
for I know you love me without bounds,
you accept me without conditions, and
you watch over me without denying me my freedom!
Thank you Lord,
never let me wander too far away from you; and
help me always to let myself be found by you…
like the coin on the house floor,
the sheep in the wilderness,
and the son who came to himself…
Help me Lord,
that when you come in search of me,
TO LET MYSELF BE FOUND.
Amen.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.