Homily for a missing person

The inn that shelters for the night is not the journey’s end.
Our Mass for today does not put an end to our quest or search for (Name), but it gives us a “shelter for the night”. Our celebration of the Mass reminds us Christians that if we do not know what to do when someone we love is missing, we have to stick close to Jesus. Our Mass also reminds us that whenever a tragedy strikes us, the more we have to fix our eyes on Jesus. But why should we stay close to Him? Can we not just tell Jesus that we wonder if He really cares at all about us? Can He not make miracles happen and bring us back (Name) to our family/community?
My dear friends, this is what I mean when I said that our Mass gives us a “shelter for the night” –only God can give us hope during the darkest hour of our lives and so not despair.
First, instead of questioning the goodness of God, our Mass makes us aware that before Jesus faced His suffering; He celebrated the first Mass with His disciples. In His solemn celebration, Jesus has given a new meaning to suffering. It means when we suffer, we are participating in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. St. Paul said, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, for I fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ." (Col:24).
Second, when we suffer, Jesus also carries the burden with us, and then we know we are NOT ALONE in our suffering. Like St. Paul, we can say, "With Christ I am nailed to the cross. It is now no longer I that live but Christ Who lives in me" (Gal 2:19-20). When it is no longer the “I” that live but Jesus Christ is now living in us, then we see our suffering as a moment of conversion, that is, for the rebuilding of goodness in our family/community. In sharing the same experience of suffering, the pain of losing (Name), it must bring the family closer to God and to each other. This is the time to strengthen the bond as a family because you know how it hurts to lose someone in the family. We cannot afford to lose another one. To borrow the words in John 11: 50, Caiaphas the high priest said, “You don't realize that it's better for you that one man should suffer/die for the family/people than for the whole family/nation to be destroyed."
Lastly, we pray for (Name) wherever he may be that God will be merciful on him. But for us who are hoping and waiting for (Name), let us face our emptiness comforted by the words of St. Paul in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. Yes my dear friends, each of us carries in our hearts the loss of a beloved, so that his/her life may also be manifested in our actions. Amen.