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Today’s Gospel passage (Luke 15:1-32) contains three related parables. They are the parable of the shepherd going after the lost sheep, a woman searching diligently for a lost coin, and the familiar parable of the prodigal son which is unique to the Gospel of Luke. The common thread running through each of them is obvious. All three stories are about being lost and getting found.
On another level, however, the message of these three stories, along with the First and Second Reading, is much deeper. In reality, they are about the value of our faith in God. In the First Reading, from the Book of Exodus (Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14), we hear about the Lord’s wrath toward the Israelites, who seem to have lost their faith. Moses implores the Lord to allow the people to find the faith they have lost, and return to them. In the Second Reading (1 Timothy 1:12-17), St. Paul speaks of his found faith, and how it has made him stronger in his mission to preach the Gospel. And finally, the Gospel provides the three scenarios about searching for and finding what is lost.
These Scriptures urge us to realize the importance of our faith and to keep it alive in our hearts. Such things as prayer, morality, the Church, and even God, can take a back seat to television and sports, to shopping malls and video games, to work and other activities. It is easy to say that we believe in God and yet have no faith; to say we are moral human beings and yet possess no morality; to say we are spiritual people, yet never pray. Today, this Gospel passage is calling us to do otherwise: to find our faith, to find our morality, to find our spirituality and to keep it alive in our hearts and in our lives.
In the timeless classic film, “The Wizard of Oz,” the main character, Dorothy, sings “Over the Rainbow” in search of her lost dreams and hopes. At the end of the movie, she wakes up from her adventure only to realize that what she thought she had lost, was actually there all along in her own backyard. All of her heart’s desires could be found in those things she had always relied upon. If we happen to lose sight of our relationship with God in the busyness of our lives, we can slow down, remove the clutter that gets in the way, and pray to reconnect with the faith that lies within the recesses of our hearts.
