As parents, I suspect we have all experienced the same feeling Mary and Joseph did when they could not find their son.
It happened to my wife and me in a large department store. My wife was looking for a dress, and our then four-year-old daughter was right next to us one moment and gone the next. We were frantic. Security was about to lock down the store when our daughter poked her head out from under the circular dress rack we had been standing by. We were so relieved to have found her that there was no time to be mad at her for slipping away. For the rest of the trip one of us held her hand, for we did not want to repeat that terrifying experience.

Now just imagine what it must be like for God our Father, who is constantly watching over each and every one of us and seeing us, too, getting lost. Lost in how we live our lives as Catholics, lost in how we share the Gospel with others, lost in how share God’s love with others. What a source of worry we must be for God. Yet, like the parent who finds their missing child, the first words God speaks to us are not words of anger, but words of love and joy when we turn back to God in our thoughts, prayers and deeds.

So, as we continue our Lenten journey, let each of us vow not to get lost in the endless distractions that cloud our Christ-like focus, lost in the noise that interrupts our prayers, or lost in our commitment to serve others. But rather, like the children we are, reach out and keep our hand extended, knowing that God’s hand is there waiting to hold it and safely guide us.