Lost and found

Ask anyone who works with me. I’m always losing things such as umbrellas, keys and cell phones. A misplaced umbrella means I’ll get wet. Lost keys mean I’m locked out. A misplaced cell phone means I’m cut off from civilization (or so they say).

Losing possessions is one thing. Being lost or feeling lost is another. We may feel we’ve lost God’s friendship or that God has forgotten us. We may feel we’ve lost our friends or have been forgotten by them.

Sins, weaknesses and wounds both spiritual and emotional are part of every life. But when these get the better of us, we may think God and other people have given up on us. This is, of course, a lie, planted in our hearts by Satan, the father of lies. Yet, the sense of being lost to God and lost to our friends can seem very real.

In today’s world, many feel isolated, alone in the world. God seems far away. They lack close friends. There is an absence of love in their lives. And without love, life makes no sense. When love is lacking, so too hope is lacking. And when hope is lacking, it is all the more difficult to deal with those sins, weaknesses and wounds that bedevil us.

Recently, someone told me how much she dreads this time of year: “Daylight is short. The hours of darkness are long. That’s how I feel.” My heart went out to her in that moment and I shared with her a few words from John’s Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:5).

In the darkness of Advent, the light of God’s love shines all the more brightly, if in the grace of the Holy Spirit, we believe that God does not want us to be lost. So much does the Father love us that he sent us his only-begotten Son into the world to find us, to save us, to gather us into his family. To do this, God’s Son assumed our humanity – not just our flesh but a human mind, heart and will. As the Lord went about preaching the Good News, healing, forgiving and raising from the dead, he experienced hunger, thirst, pain and sorrow, and finally laid down his life for us. This is how far God went to find us. And, by the way, he’s still searching. He searches for you and me at this very moment.

Let us then prepare our hearts for Christmas, the feast of the Incarnation, the great reason for our hope. And how do we do this? By allowing the Lord to find us. Often, when we feel the absence of the Lord’s love, it’s because we have hidden ourselves from it. We often do this because of painful realities that are difficult to face. We blame, deflect, hide, self-isolate.

During Advent, let us allow the Lord to break through barriers that prevent us from receiving and giving love. This can happen when we make an unburdening confession of our sins. Or have an honest conversation with a trusted friend or spiritual director. Or when we reach out in love to someone in need, rediscovering the joy of giving.

During the Christmas season, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door at St. Peter’s in Rome to inaugurate a Holy Year, a Jubilee of Hope. The theme of this special year of grace is “Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. …” (Rom 5:5). May the celebration of Christmas fill your hearts with joy and hope!

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