I lose stuff all the time. I lose my keys (almost daily), my shoes (because they are usually in my car somewhere), my coffee cup (because I’ve set it down somewhere), my car in the parking lot (because Leprechauns must move it), my mind a lot of times (because I work with teenagers), my patience for sure (it’s a lovely family trait), and countless other items. I lose things mostly because I’m too busy and my mind is always multi-tasking doing several things at once, or I don’t pay attention to where I left things, or I’m not rooted in prayer so my patience is thin, or I’m too tired because I am always on the go. Losing stuff is fairly easy for me to do, however, finding my lost stuff varies in difficulty, process, and time. Sometimes I just need to stop what I’m doing and take a moment to think about it and I’ll remember where I put it, other times there has been couch cushions flying, tables turned upside down, pool table dismantled, refrigerators scoured through, trash picking, and once I did almost dive into a dumpster. Obviously, the amount of effort depends on the value of the lost item right? We’ve all experienced the joy, relief, gratitude, and excitement of finding something that was lost particularly if it was extremely valuable (i.e. a wedding ring) and if it was lost for a very long time.
Now let’s make ourselves the lost item except we haven’t been misplaced, we have wandered off on our own. Good Lord, if all my lost objects had legs and could just roam around freely, I’d be in some serious trouble and literally would NEVER find anything again. Because we are free, we are free to roam, to wander, to leave, to get lost, but that does not mean that God is not in hot pursuit of us. He’s on our heels all the time because the value of His lost ones is worth the highest price, which He has already been paid in Jesus Christ. The tricky part is that we need to let ourselves be found. Unlike in today’s gospel, we are not sheep, we live and move and have being, reason, free will, and the choice to be found or not. God makes it so easy for us to just stop in our tracks, turn around and we will literally fall into His arms.
I think a lot of times I get caught up in the chase and what I really need is to be caught in the arms of mercy, love, and forgiveness. I run because I am fearful and ashamed and He chases me because He knows that. He just wants to hold me and to let me know that there is only rest in His embrace. I know that I relentlessly search for silly things like my keys and my sunglasses, but how much more relentless is God searching for me to just sit and hold his hand? I know that most days I feel worthless of this kind of pursuit, but today’s gospel shows me that God is not like me, He is not limited, shallow, and guilt ridden; He is infinite, deep, and free. You see in my pride I have tried to mold God into my own image and have forgotten that I have already been breathed into existence in the image of love. How can I ever feel worthless with that amazing gift so lavishly poured into my soul?
There is no accident that this gospel falls on the feast of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is his heart’s desire to pursue us, to find us, and to save us from being lost. Let’s stop and be found today so that we can rest in the embrace of infinite love and let mercy wipe away our shame so that we can relentlessly pursue God because He is by far the easiest to find if we just stop and look. It is well with my soul.
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lectionary: 172
Reading 1 EZ 34:11-16
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I will lead them out from among the peoples
and gather them from the foreign lands;
I will bring them back to their own country
and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel
in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places.
In good pastures will I pasture them,
and on the mountain heights of Israel
shall be their grazing ground.
There they shall lie down on good grazing ground,
and in rich pastures shall they be pastured
on the mountains of Israel.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I will lead them out from among the peoples
and gather them from the foreign lands;
I will bring them back to their own country
and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel
in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places.
In good pastures will I pasture them,
and on the mountain heights of Israel
shall be their grazing ground.
There they shall lie down on good grazing ground,
and in rich pastures shall they be pastured
on the mountains of Israel.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.
Responsorial Psalm PS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6.
R.(1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Reading 2 ROM 5:5B-11
Brothers and sisters:
The love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Alleluia MT 11:29AB
R. Alleluia, alleluia.Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord,
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Or JN 10:14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.I am the good shepherd, says the Lord,
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel LK 15:3-7
Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes:
"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'
I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance."
"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'
I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance."
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