EX
32:7-11, 13-14
LK
15:1-32
I
FLED Him, down the nights and down the days;
I
fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I
fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of
my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I
hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up
vistaed hopes I sped;
And
shot, precipitated,
Adown
Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,
From
those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
These
are the opening lines of the famous poem by Francis Thompson called “The Hound
of Heaven”. At first blush this poem –
even the title itself – is a bit startling.
The poem compares the relationship between God and a human being to that
of a dog chasing a rabbit.
For
various reasons – either consciously or unconsciously – we are like the rabbit
fleeing from God, the hound. At different times in our life, we have probably
distanced ourselves from God. In the 1st
reading we see a clear example of this.
The people of Israel have just been saved from slavery in Egypt and now
they have run from Him to worship a golden calf. We do the same. Perhaps we have become caught
up in a cycle of sin. Maybe a death in the family has made us angry with God.
Or perhaps we have just become too busy for God because of work or school and
lived like He didn't even exist. Whatever the case, at some time we have all
ran from Him.
God
never stops searching for us. God our
Father loves us dearly and is relentless in His quest to be united with us. God
is the “Hound of Heaven”. Like a dog chasing a rabbit, he pursues us, never
stopping and always getting closer until at last we sense His presence, turn
around and meet Him. In today’s gospel Jesus is reprimanded by the Pharisees
and scribes for keeping company with sinners.
Jesus snatches the opportunity.
Through a couple of striking parables He teaches us something so fundamental
about God. God is like a shepherd who will leave behind the ninety-nine to
search out the one that is lost. God is like someone who will tear their house
apart searching for the one lost coin. This seems like madness to us; God’s
behaviour seems illogical. With these
parables, Jesus wants us to understand three things about God: 1) His love for
sinners, those who have turned from Him, is immense, 2) He will do anything to
bring them back to Himself and 3) when He is reunited with them, He is not
angry with the sinner, He does not scold them but rather His heart overflows
with joy – He throws a party to celebrate.
God, the Hound of Heaven, never, ever stops searching for a way to be
united with us.
Though we can flee at
times from God, deep down, every human being longs to be reconciled with Him. Often times we are not even aware of this
deep desire of our heart to be united with God. We yearn to be reconciled to
God our Father. In one of his books,
Ernest Hemingway, tells a wonderful story that illustrates this point. In Madrid there was a young man named Paco.
In Spanish “Paco” is short for “Francisco” and is a very common name. For
various reasons, Paco had become estranged from his father, run away from his
home and was living on the streets. His life was on a downward spiral towards
destruction. This was the last thing that Pacho’s father wanted. He desperately
wanted to find his son but knew that he could never do this just by wandering
the streets of Madrid, and so he made one last desperate attempt to locate his
son. He paid good money to publish a
large advertisement in Madrid’s largest newspaper “El Liberal”. The ad, which took up nearly a page, read as
follows:
"Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday.
All is forgiven! Love, Papa."
That Tuesday at noon
the father made his way to the Hotel Montana. When he reached the hotel he
discovered something incredible. A huge crowd had gathered, it filled the lobby
and spilled into the street. Over 800 young men named Paco were waiting for
their fathers and the forgiveness they never thought was possible. Deep down we
are all like this. We all yearn to be reconciled with God.
We have
seen that 1) God is always searching for us and 2) deep down we want to be
found by God. But, there seems to be a disconnect between these two points
because may people search for God but do not seem to find Him. They feel that
God is far away. How can this be?
Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place.
Maybe we fail to recognize God’s invitation for reunion because it is
not what we expect.
God, in
fact, often tries to connect with us through the difficult situations in our
life. It is precisely at times when life is at its most difficult when the
“Hound of Heaven” is closest. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that more people turn to God
during good, happy times or at times of difficulty and crisis, like an illness
or death in the family or some personal crisis? Often it is not till we have
hit rock bottom that we realize our need for God. Certainly God does not cause
these times of crisis or want us to suffer, but He does use them. The author of
the “Hound of Heaven”, Francis Thompson, experienced this first hand in his
life. His life was similar to Paco’s. Francis Thompson lived at the end of the
19th century in England. Initially he studied to be a doctor. He did
not take his studies seriously and never actually practiced medicine. Instead,
he moved to London with the hopes of becoming a writer. Things did not work
out; eventually he was reduced to selling matches and newspapers for a living. Things kept getting worse. He became addicted
to opium and went to live on the streets. At this time Francis started writing
poetry. Eventually a couple read one of his poems, recognized his talent and
rescued him. Soon after, Francis became a very devout man. Later Francis came
to realized that God used His period of suffering to lead Him back to Himself. This
was the only way he could have been reconciled with God. Francis captured this
experience in “The Hound of Heaven”.
Often God uses suffering and times of difficulty to lead us back to
Himself.
If you
have listened to any motivational talk, you have probably heard this anecdote
about the word “crisis”. Apparently in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of
two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity. Times of crisis are both a time of danger and
opportunity. This is especially true in our spiritual life. Difficulty and suffering
can be an opportunity to draw close to God, but unless we recognize this, these
events are just painful. Sometime soon,
somebody will come to you and share with them some painful struggle – big or
small. When this happens, help them to see this as an opportunity to come
closer to God. Help them to realize that God, the Hound of Heaven, is right
behind them, trying to draw close. Help them to stop, turn around and face their
loving Father.
