I was poking around the internet looking for something recently when I came to find out that I am on the list of “Missing Classmates” for my high school alma mater. It’s a long list of people who graduated from the school that the alumni association can’t find. They are seeking me.
Now, I’ve moved around a bit since high school, and somehow my alma mater has always been able to track me down. I always wondered how they know where I’ve moved to. Pennsylvania, Worcester, different addresses in Boston, a time in the seminary, they never lost sight of me. But apparently, after I entered the Franciscan community, they lost me. Now, I am missing, and they are seeking me.
I wonder to myself, why don’t they check my parents’ house, the address that I was at when I was at the school? Why don’t they check my father’s house? If they did, they wouldn’t just get my father to speak to – they would find me, myself! You see, right now, I am in my father’s house.
When Mary lost Jesus, she found Him by going back to square one, the origin: His Father’s house. She did not find a lead there, or a clue as to where He was – she found Him.
“And he said to them, ‘How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’” (Lk 2:49)
Do you feel that you’ve lost Jesus, that your prayer life is dead, that you have no inspiration and frankly have lost any desire for spiritual or religious activities or fellowship? Do you want to find Him? Then go to His Father’s house. You won’t find a clue, a lead, a helpful hint.
You’ll find Him.
“One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in his temple.” (Ps 27:4)