Prayer to find lost things

We are surrounded by a multitude of things. They can range from personal possessions like gadgets, accessories, and collections to something of value like memorabilia, antiques, mementoes or important documents like a passport. They are valuable to us for they help us recall a memory which we would always like to look back on. They are important to us for they remind us of the future we planned and prayed for. We hold on to these things for, in one way or another, they inspire us to continue by being grateful for our personal history and to look forward to the promise of where tomorrow will lead us.

Losing them can be bothersome. It may take us too much of our precious time and energy to look for it. But it is an opportunity for us to segregate and declutter our surroundings. Knowing how important the thing that we are looking for is, it would only be a small sacrifice to make if we were to let go of the other insignificant things lying around. May this prayer help us clear our clouded minds and ease our troubled hearts so that we can easily remember and find our misplaced valuables.

Prayer to find lost things

Father, Creator of all things visible and invisible,

I ask for Your omnipotent help to find my missing valuables. You have created all the wonderful things in this world for us and have tasked us to take care of them. I, Your faithful steward, have strived to care for the whole of creation. In looking out for them, I have also seen the importance of the things You have entrusted me with. They have become valuable to me as they constantly remind me of my experience of Your unfailing help in the past. They inspire me to continue perfecting Your gracious plan for my life. And I hold on to them for they emanate the warmth of Your love for me.

I ask for Your forgiveness, dear Father, for the times that I have been negligent and careless of the things You have given me. My tardiness in organizing the things around me made it difficult to search for them. My obliviousness to the valuables that I have been receiving made it difficult for me to remember where I might have placed them before. Underappreciating the things You gave to me, I now see their value and importance in my life.

I hope to retrieve the lost thing which I am ardently looking for. May this prayer of mine clear my muddled mind from useless anxiety and unhelpful imaginings. May this prayer also guard my heart against bursting hurtful emotions and troubled feelings. I pray that I may recall where I might have placed them and retrieve them immediately so that I may continuously celebrate and sing Your praises in thanksgiving and heartfelt jubilation.

I ask all of these through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and through the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ,

Amen.  

Short prayer for lost or stolen items

Dear Father, I pray to retrieve the lost thing which I am ardently looking for. May You clear my mind and ease my heart to help me remember so that I may recover it. Amen.

The Word of God

“What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

Luke 15:8-9 NRSVUE

Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua to find lost things.

Saint Anthony of Padua, I ask for your miraculous intercession to find the lost thing which is valuable to me. The example of Your filial dependence on God in search for lost things has become a model of faith and a model of developing trust in God. When you yourself had lost something urgent and important, you turned towards God in openness and honesty to recover it. Through God’s help and providence, it was returned immediately back to you.

Saint Anthony of Padua, I pray that I may grow in faith and dependence on God whenever I lose or misplace something important. May I immediately kneel down and pray first before I frantically search and look out for my lost item. May you help me clear my mind so that I may remember where I might have misplaced it. May you comfort my weary heart so that I may not give in to my overwhelming emotions. I hope to gain the grace of openness in my heart to find and retrieve the lost item in God’s due time.

O Saint Anthony of Padua, come to my aid: I have lost something, and it cannot be found.

Saint Anthony of Padua, pray for us.

Amen.

Further reflection

Losing something important and valuable to us can be devastating, especially when it is urgently needed. We oftentimes go into a panic and lose track of ourselves which makes the situation worse. Others would sometimes fall into desperation and lose hope of finding it. Nevertheless, we Christians should cling to God in prayer. The shining example of the miraculous Saint Anthony of Padua should not be overlooked. His powerful intercessions in finding and recovering lost things are a consequence of his unwavering and filial trust in God.

Saint Anthony of Padua is known to be the patron saint for finding lost things. A popular anecdote of his was about a novice who stole Saint Anthony’s copy of the book of Psalms. He immediately turned to God in prayer, asking for it to be retrieved.  Eventually, the novice returned it to him. It is known among devotees that whenever one seeks Saint Anthony’s powerful intercession in finding lost things, one should pray with sincere faith and openness to receive it in God’s due time.

May in our practice of praying amidst the stress and difficulties of finding our lost things or valuables aid us in retrieving them. More importantly, may we never lose our desire to obtain the heavenly graces and God’s favor for these are things that last and will never be taken away from us. We lose the things of this world, but we should not lose God, who is the most important of all.