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40 Days of Lent: Day 12

40 Days of Lent: Day 12

27 Mar 2023 | Office for Mission and Identity (OMI)

40 Days of Lent: Day 12

Losing something is not a pleasant experience most of the time. We can spend days looking for what is lost, longing for it, maybe even grieving for it. If we’re fortunate, it may return or be found. But there are those that can never be regained or recovered and we just go on, bearing that absence with us, accepting that such losses are part of life.

We could have been lost to sin forever. We could have languished in the misery of our poor choices. We could have been astray and never found the true home meant for us. But God would not allow this. Because we are so deeply loved, we were given a shepherd and savior to bring us out of lostness. And continuously, until now, we are being sought out and wooed, again and again offered another, better option other than to be adrift, misplaced, and exist without worth.

How have you lost and been lost? What of your true self and deepest desire do you need to regain? Which choices and actions before you should you take to accept Jesus’ salvation and return to the Lord’s embrace? God did not give up on us, never gives up on us and will never give up on us. Even when we can be so unpleasant in our lostness and sinfulness, despite the possibility that we may not return to Him, and although bringing us home and recovering us meant the burden of the cross, Christ’s persistence never faltered. For while losing something may be part of life, finding us is part of his love.

40 Araw ng Kuwaresma: Ika-12 Araw

Hindi kaaya-ayang karanasan ang mawalan. Maaari tayong gumugol ng ilang araw upang hanapin ang nawawala, mangulila para rito, o magdalamhati dahil dito. Kung mapalad tayo, maaari itong maibalik o mahanap. Subalit may mga pagkakataong hindi na natatagpuan o nakukuhang muli ang nawaglit at nagpapatuloy na lamang tayo na dala ang sakit, samantalang tinatanggap na bahagi ng buhay ang kawalan.

Maaaring nawaglit na tayo sa pagkakasala. Maaaring nanamlay na lang tayo sa pighati ng mga maling pagpili. Maaari tayong naligaw at di na nasumpungan ang tunay na tahanang nakalaan para sa atin. Subalit hindi ito hinayaan ng Diyos. Dahil sa malalim na pagmamahal para sa atin, pinagkalooban tayo ng pastol at tagapagligtas upang bawiin tayo sa pagkawala at pagkaligaw. At hanggang ngayon, patuloy tayong hinahanap at sinusuyo, hinahandogan ng iba at mas mabuting pagpipilian liban sa pagpapatianod sa kawalan, pagkawaglit, at pag-iral nang walang halaga.

Paano ka nawalan at nawawala? Anong bahagi ng iyong tunay na sarili at pinakamalalim na hangad ang kinakailangan mong ibalik? Aling mga pagpapasya at pagkilos ang nararapat mong kilingan upang tanggapin ang kaligtasan ni Hesus at umuwi sa yakap ng Panginoon? Hindi tayo sinukuan at tinalikuran ng Diyos, hindi Niya tayo sinusukuan at tinatalikuran, at hindi Siya kailanman susuko at tatalikod sa atin. Bagaman hindi kaaya-aya ang ating pagkaligaw at pagkakasala, sa kabila ng posibilidad na hindi na tayo umuwi sa Kanya, at kahit pa nangahulugan ng pagbibitbit ng bigat ng krus ang pagpapanumbalik sa atin, hindi nag-alangan sa kanyang pagsisikap si Kristo. Samantalang ang pagkawala ay bahagi ng buhay, ang paghahanap sa atin ay bahagi ng kanyang pag-ibig.