Reading Matthew’s gospel of
the parable of the lost sheep and the loving Shepherd brought back a memorable
sermon I heard once. “Sheep are nasty
animals” Father began, pointing to the statue of Jesus carrying the one lost
sheep on his shoulders. He continued, “They
are filthy and stupid, never obeying and going their own way.”
The polished beauty of the Holy Shepherd
rescuing his sheep does not quite do justice to the stark imagery in Matthew’s
Gospel. Perhaps this imagery would have
its most profound meaning for sheep farmers themselves who know all too well
the vices of sheep. As Garrison Keillor
puts it, “sheep are fine as long as sheep do what sheep want to do, but when a
shepherd tries to get sheep to do what he wants them to do, many people get out
of the shepherding business.” Thank God
our loving Shepherd has not “gotten out of the shepherding business.” That is not to say that each human being,
“created in the image and likeness of God,” is on a par with sheep. The point is, even in our weakest moments,
the Shepherd is always seeking us out to bring us back to Him who loves us and
cares for us unconditionally.
What are these weakest
moments in the human condition? While
both Matthew’s Gospel and Isaiah deal with the reality of sin and God’s
unwavering fidelity in spite of that sin, for me, the tendency is to focus on
certain acts, attitudes or habits that are part of my sinful life. On a more profound level, the true sin of humanity,
the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is the only sin that will not be
forgiven, is the sin of refusing God’s unconditional love and acceptance. As Christians, it is easy to see our sin and,
sometimes, even to let that awareness block out our beauty and uniqueness. This, however, is the greatest sin. The fact that human beings sin and stray from
the shepherd goes without saying. At
some point in our lives, we are each the one sheep separated from the
ninety-nine. Oftentimes the greatest
challenge is to accept that the Shepherd does, in fact, seek us out even in our
weakest moments.
In Isaiah we read,
“…prepare the way of the Lord.” This
period of Advent is a wonderful period of reflection, joy and
anticipation. Just as Jerusalem can rejoice
in anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promise, so too, we can rejoice in
the coming of the Shepherd who constantly seeks us out and loves us
unconditionally.
Day 7 of our novena to St. Peregrine for the victims
and survivors of cancer continues……Please add an extra prayer to the Blessed
Virgin for Darlene, as she undergoes surgery on Tuesday.
My rosary intentions today are for all of those who are out of
work this holy season. I pray that they
find fulfilling work at a fair wage.
No comments:
Post a Comment