Angelus News | February 24, 2023 | Vol. 8 No. 4

LETTER AND SPIRIT
SCOTT HAHN
Scott Hahn is founder of the
St. Paul Center for Biblical
Theology; stpaulcenter.com.
Children of God, lost and found
Have you ever seen a small child lost in a shopping
mall?
There are few sights so sorrowful. You know the
child’s parents are probably close by, but that’s no comfort.
The child sees only an impersonal crowd, a lot of movement,
a lot of bright lights, but no security, no safety.
Sad to say, many of the adults in that fast-moving crowd are
living their lives the way that child is living his moment of
separation. They’re lost. They’re separated from Father God
and Mother Church. All of life comes at them as so much
movement, so many stimuli. It has no coherence for them,
and they get through it only by entertainment and constant
distraction, grazing from text messages to kitten videos to the
worst of the latest news cycle.
These are God’s lost children. These are today’s sheep
without a shepherd.
They lack what you and I have. They lack Jesus Christ, the
eternal Son, in whom they’ll see the Father. But they don’t
even know who he is or what they’re missing?
You and I are just beginning to make our way through
Lent, and that’s a privilege. We have heard the good news
and accepted it as our own. We live in the same scary
world as everyone else. But we know our Father is with
us. We know we’re loved, and that love gives coherence
to everything else. It gives meaning to our sorrows. It even
makes a sort of sense of the evening news. We’re part of a
grand story. It has its ups and downs,
“Good Shepherd,” by
Bernhard Plockhorst,
1825-1907, German.
| WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
but we know how the story ends.
During Lent we’re drawing closer to
the Father. Of course we know he’s
near. But we’re turning to see him
more clearly and take his hand more
firmly. “Turning” is the literal meaning
of the word conversion, and this season
is all about our conversion. It’s a project that never ends, but
in Lent we try to open our hearts to receive greater grace. We
try to turn more decisively.
The Greek word for conversion is “metanoia.” It means
a change of mind, a better worldview. It means we see the
world not as something random and absurd, but as a gift
from our Father God.
We don’t ignore sin and suffering. But of all the things
that are wrong with the world, none should concern us so
much as ourselves. When someone asked G.K. Chesterton,
“What’s wrong with the world?” he answered “I am.” That
should be our answer, too, and it should be what we’re working
on this Lent.
Let me propose a task we can share in the days that stretch
between now and Easter. Let’s try to find occasions to be
hopeful — publicly hopeful. When conversations take a
downturn at work or at home, let’s try to be the Catholic
voice. Let’s show people the joy and confidence of God’s
children — sons and daughters who have our Father’s hand,
who know how the story ends, who know that God answers
every prayer.
We can do our part to change the worldview of others. We
might be surprised to discover what the effort does to our
own outlook.
32 • ANGELUS • February 24, 2023