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<\/p>\nThere is no greater agony for a Catholic mother or father, than to see their adult child abandon the Church and faith. It is a real tragedy which causes deep divides in many families. The wound is deeper if the son or daughter had been devout before. It is a source of unspeakable pain if it is a case of lost vocation. I have been shown first communion photos and images of special audiences with John Paul II, of confirmations and even of an ordination. Fresh, trustful faces, sincere and open\u2026 and yet so soon they would belong to quite vicious enemies of religion, or even worse, the indifferent.
\nThere is always deep pain in the eyes of those mothers or fathers, handling these mementos with unspoken question \u2013 what has happened to my sweet, saintly child? Who has stolen her or his soul?
\nHow do we leave God\u2019s sheepfold, His home?<\/p>\n
In my experience, we Catholics do not abandon Church to become \u201catheists\u201d or \u201cagnostics\u201d due to some kind of special personal revelation or months of philosophical deliberations. Even less often, unless something terrible happens \u2013 and this is extremely rare – such a spiritual transformation is due to encounters with a \u201cbad\u201d priest or a nasty nun. 99% of such explanations are smoke screen, hiding real reasons.<\/p>\n
In most cases, the first and foremost cause of our flight from the sheepfold is our personal, grave sin. When we become unable or unwilling to break the dark bonds caused by it, we get stuck in it. If the sin is known to others, it feels like a brand, a label, a mark. The longer this uncomfortable situation lasts, the less we, the sinners, feel comfortable among all those good people sitting in the pews beside us.\u00a0 Skipping Sunday Mass becomes a relief\u2026 followed by avoiding all those who go to church, because they ask questions. And so, gradually we begin to keep company with those who are religiously indifferent. In the meantime, we try to erase our sin from the 10 Commandments, and soon we question other articles of faith, too. Finally we deny the very existence of God.
\nIf there is no God, there is no one to judge what is a sin and what is not. All cats are black at night.<\/p>\n
And so, before we realized what was happening, we are outside the God\u2019 fold and only our saintly mothers are secretly weeping, rosary in hand.
\nToday\u2019s Gospel brings amazing hope to us, the sinners. If we look back at our lives in all honesty, we have to admit that it is about us \u2013 you and me. Each and every one of us has been and still is, or has a real potential to become that lost coin and that lost sheep.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What Jesus promises us, however, is that He will not leave us in our sorry state and walk off.
\nIt is not a good pastoral practice to leave 99 sheep alone in order to save one, the lost one. In the first place abandoning the flock may end up in loss of a large number of animals. Who cares about just one sheep? Every farmer knows that certain animals have no sense of direction, or are naturally weak and unable to keep up with the rest. They inevitably perish.\u00a0 A calculated loss, you may say. A law of nature.
\nWhat Jesus says is that he is NOT like a human pastor. He does not abandon even one of his sheep when they stray or get lost, or simply \u2013 run away from Him. No sheep is of less value than others \u2013 and there is none that He considers a write \u2013 off.
\nGod says to us: \u201cI will not let you perish. I will never stop looking for you and I will save you.. No matter what. No matter how often you run away, I will bring you back. I will create in you a new, pure heart, I will teach you a new song..
\nAnd my angels and saints will rejoice when they see you return\u201d.<\/p>\n
Our God is faithful, so no matter how far our children may have strayed away \u2013 He will find them and bring them back.<\/p>\n
Most often than not I am a stray sheep and a lost coin \u2013 both in need of being found and rescued. We all are, even the best of us. I do not know anyone who would leave 99 perfectly healthy and obedient sheep to look for a stray one.
\nA clean heart create for me, O God,
\nand a steadfast spirit renew within me.
\nCast me not out from your presence,
\nand your Holy Spirit take not from me.<\/p>\n
There is no greater agony for a Catholic mother or father, than to see their adult child abandon the Church and faith. It is a real tragedy which causes deep divides in many families. The wound is deeper if the son or daughter had been devout before. It is a source of unspeakable pain if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n