9 November. Loss.   “Have you seen those adverts on street poles or been given leaflets at traffic lights about some forms of healing ministry promoted in our country these days. Is it really possible to “Bring back lost lover” with muti or other practices or is there an element of witchcraft or superstition we Catholics are not OK with.  Loss is a natural part of life, and also a consequence of original sin.  It causes much heartache and needs to be properly dealt with. Some of us pray to St Anthony to find lost things like car keys or ID books. Others go to Retrouvaille, a programme for troubled marriages hoping to “rediscover” their love that they think they may have lost. Jesus told stories of God’s care for us including for sinners and the joy of finding what was lost. He tells of the shepherd who goes after one of the 100 who was lost and the woman who goes after one lost coin out of ten.

Reflect, share, Scripture.    The woman said, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.  Just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Luke 15:3-10:    Pope Francis.  Today our challenge is not so much atheism as the need to respond adequately to many people’s thirst for God, lest they try to satisfy it with alienating solutions or with a disembodied Jesus who demands nothing of us with regard to others.  EG 89.  What we all need is an ecological conversion whereby the effects of an encounter with Jesus Christ becomes evident in a relationship with the world around us. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue.  LS 217 Action and prayer:  Remember in prayer the times of experiencing “lost and found.”