A Beacon Of Light… Faith In The Midst Of Chaos
By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON, Jr.
Today’s world is filled with so much confusion and chaos. There are times when people feel lost. Lost, because they don’t know where to turn or in whom they can find solace. Loneliness and depression are often the results of the chaos and confusion that exist in today’s world, and sadly, this often leads to untimely deaths or even suicide. The world is lost and is misguided in the liberal ideologies that have destroyed the moral compass of society. The “new compass” of society leads to only one place: selfishness!
With this in mind, I want to focus on the parable of the Lost Coin. This parable is found in St. Luke’s Gospel: “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:8-10).
Within this parable we see a woman who loses one of her ten silver coins. She keeps searching for it until she finds the lost coin. When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her that the coin is lost no more. In this parable the lady represents God, the coin represents the people, and the “lost coin” represents a lost soul that God will work tirelessly to bring back to Him, rejoicing upon their return.
This parable is reminiscent of those who are lost in today’s world. Each day the media portray how lost we really are. There are many examples that clearly show this reality in which we are living. The destruction of innocent human life through abortion and euthanasia, the distortion of the dignity of human sexuality and the gender confusion caused by so many, along with the total disregard for enforcing the laws and allowing heinous criminals to walk free by reducing the consequences for certain crimes have caused so much confusion and chaos that it lends itself to this feeling of being lost in society.
Worth Fighting For
How do we find our way through the chaos and recapture the lost souls of society? We do this by keeping in mind three very important aspects of God’s love for us.
First, every lost soul is worth fighting for. God loves every person so much that He works tirelessly to bring all the lost souls back to Him. Even though He already has many obedient followers, nothing compares to the great joy our Lord feels when one of the lost returns to the fold. He rejoices upon each one who turns to Him. This is why Jesus’ Incarnation was so important and necessary in the first place. That’s why Jesus associated with “sinners,” and this was His main lesson for the Pharisees and teachers of the law when He told the parable. His mission was to get the “lost” people to turn to God.
There are so many moments in Sacred Scripture where Jesus put Himself in the presence of sinners so that He might plant within them the seed of faith. We see this in the encounter with Zacchaeus, who was a sinner and yet, Jesus went and dined at his home to show the Pharisees that even sinners are important to the Lord. What about the woman at the well? She was another one whom Jesus offered “life-giving water.” She was lost and Jesus offered her salvation. There are so many others, but in each encounter, Jesus is fighting to bring that soul into His Kingdom.
Second, God does not stop searching. This is recorded for us in Sacred Scripture: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Parable of the Lost Sheep shows that Jesus left the ninety-nine to go in search of the one lost sheep. He goes to great lengths to offer so many opportunities for us to return to Him.
One of the greatest opportunities He offers us is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In this “Sacrament of Mercy,” Jesus listens to our plea for help to conversion from our sinful ways to the path that leads us to Him eternally. And most important, Jesus offered Himself on the cross and accepted death. This shows how far Jesus will go in search of those who are lost. In fact, God went to great lengths to create our world, and plan every detail, even creating human beings with innate goodness, for us to follow Him on the path to our eternal salvation. God’s love for us goes beyond any human love. It goes beyond our comprehension. It’s the highest form of love there is, and we can only strive to display this love in our own lives. When we understand the depth of God’s love, it’s easier to see that He would never give up in searching for one lost soul and celebrate its return.
Third, in this parable, Jesus wants to instill in us the idea that we are as valuable as anyone else. Accepting the fact that we are valuable, and each one matters in his own right, seems contradictory because society disregards personal value.
Today there are so many who are neglected in society and are not considered valuable. For instance, our military veterans are treated as second-class citizens and a burden to society. These wonderful men and women sacrificed so much for our freedom, some are maimed from war, and living in a world that devalues them, makes it hard to accept Jesus’ invitation. Even so, the invitation is there and doesn’t expire. Jesus spoke this parable over two thousand years ago, but His message still applies personally to us today.
And so, where do we go from here? First we must stop being the ones who are causing the confusion and chaos in the world, and begin to counteract it. We do this by recognizing that each of us is extremely important to God, and because of this, we need to return to Him by living good and holy moral lives. Living in this world is a gift given to us by God, it is not ours, we do not own it! And yet so many have become lost because they have allowed the world to dominate how they experience their lives.
If ever you let yourself drift away from God or intentionally leave Him, He will not stop trying to get you back. He is always searching, hoping, and waiting for you. His love never fades. He may have billions of loyal followers, but if you are not with Him, He’s searching for you. All you have to do is turn back to Him.
It is time that we act as true disciples of Christ by going after those lost souls and showing them once again the path to authentic harmony in order to live in this world. That harmony can only be found in our Lord Jesus Christ!
Faith In The Midst Of Chaos
I hope that the following prayer can help us to live in this chaotic world:
Dear Lord, help me — every single morning — to find faith in the midst of the chaos. Give me the desire and ability to see You, hear You, talk to You, and give thanks to You. And as I do, I pray that I will draw nearer to You, and that my faith will grow as I understand in new, and deeper ways, that You are everything I ever hoped for and so much more. Amen.
