THE LOST ARE FOUND
“He was lost and has been found.” – Lk. 15:32
The parable of the prodigal son is a Biblical favorite. It’s a story about forgiveness, compassion, overcoming pride and finding family. It’s also a joyous celebration complete with lively music and dancing. It’s one of Jesus’ most remembered and loved parables in the Gospels told so richly in detail.
It also resonates with so many of us broken, lost, wandering hearts looking for home. We spend so much of our lives running, searching for that next thing to fulfill us—whether that’s success, stability, relationships, or elsewhere. We search on and on until we can find some semblance of happiness in a broken world. The younger prodigal son did this, squandering his savings until he was left with nothing.
And then, as St. Luke tells us, the prodigal son “came to his senses.” He returned home.
True, everlasting peace rests only with the Father. He who knows and fills us completely, wholeheartedly. He who forgives endlessly no matter how far we run.
The way the loving father celebrated and embraced his imperfect, prodigal son, God finds us time and time again. He welcomes us home.
My restless, wandering soul seems to be learning this lesson over and over again—on the running trail when my feet are flying, in airports when I am itching to go somewhere, in the chapel when my heart aches, longing for a sense of home.
But I am realizing more and more each day that home is so more than just an address.
As St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
Am I willing to lay down my life of worldly wanderings for a life with Christ?
Allyson Escobar