September
02
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The Lost Coin
This painting is by an artist named Jim Hasse who was a Jesuit Priest. He passed away in 2011. It illustrates the story Jesus told called the Parable of the Lost Coin. A woman who had ten silver coins loses one, and rather than being content in letting the coin stay lost, she sweeps her house and searches carefully until she finds it. Once found, she calls her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. Jesus says, “In the same way, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).
The following is part of Hasse’s reflection on this work:
When I do a painting, I am searching.
When I pray, I am searching.
When I look in the mirror, I am searching.
When I walk down the street, my eyes are constantly searching.
Why?
Have I lost something?
No.
I search because I have found something.
I search to find God more in everyone and in all things.
The more I find of this precious treasure the easier it is to find more,
And so I constantly search.
As I search, I find and am found.
I love the idea of searching because you have found something and want more of it. May God keep us thirsty for more of him. Also, this parable illustrates how God is thirsty for us. Each of us are precious and cherished in his sight. He is not content to let anyone stay lost.
Being Human connection: I stumbled upon this excerpt from a sermon by a preacher named Doug Gay and I couldn’t say it any better so I am sharing his words with you. Gay said he hoped “that everyone who feels worthless, who feels no one would miss them, who feels they have used up all the chances they deserve, who feels they can’t be worth much or else no one would have treated them like this—here’s the dream of God’s kingdom—that they would come to believe their body and soul is precious, that their life is a great treasure to God, that they are worth finding, worth knowing, worth celebrating, worth rejoicing over. They would come to know that their life deserves repentance. That Jesus is for losers and for those who lose it and for those who are lost. That in Jesus, God got down on her knees and lit a lamp and swept the house of this world and searched until she found them.”
Featured art: Jim Hasse, SJ, The Lost Coin, date unknown