The Missing Puzzle Piece

Thursday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel of Luke 15:1-10

"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?.....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 for repentance."

I've always enjoyed working on jigsaw puzzles.  After I first moved into my home, I bought an amazing 1500 piece half-mooned shaped puzzle featuring a beautiful Japanese garden and young Geisha girls.  I was half way through with the puzzle when I noticed a middle piece missing.  I looked all over the table, in the carpet, and  in the original box.  I feared my dog ate the puzzle piece! Or worse that the maker of the puzzle forgot to add all of the pieces to the box. After some heavy scouring, and cursing under my breath,  I discovered the piece right next to a leg of the card table.  It was turned upside down so the cardboard backing blended with the beige carpet.  Finding it required the aid of a flashlight.  I was ecstatic!  I finished the puzzle which took me over a month to complete.

I persevered and worked many hours putting that puzzle together.  I was determined to finish it and felt this huge disappointment when I thought I'd "lost" that piece forever.  How awful to spend so much time putting together an incomplete puzzle.  In the end, Perseverance won!  I don't think I would've appreciated  the entire completed puzzle as much if it was NOT for the missing piece.

How rewarding finding something lost.  It may be a lost set of keys, loose change, a $20 bill stuffed in a winter jacket, or even our lost pet. We experience the joy of recovering the lost just like the "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents."

Many times in our lives we do not have the strength or will power to search for what we have lost.  I think of when children distance themselves away from their parents.  They do not try to reconcile or return to the family.  Their sins prevent them from seeking familial comfort and love.  Then there's the instance of the "cradle Catholic" who becomes "lost" in secular college culture.  He or she stops going to Mass and becomes involved in drinking, drugs, and promiscuity.  Sometimes these young fallen away Catholics never return.

Why do we seek to find lost things of material value but forget about the lost things that will make us holy? 

Reception of the sacraments like communion and confession can help us repent for our transgressions and open our hearts to Christ's loving grace.  He wants to find all of his lost children. It's up to us not to remain hidden and afraid.


-J.