December 11, 2018

Mt 18: 12-14

What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

God’s Deepest Desire: Our Closeness

Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep is one we have heard very often. In the context of Advent, we can imagine not only ourselves, but the entire world as a lost sheep. At one point in the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius invites those making the retreat to look down on the world with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They see the world for what it is, the holy, the profane, and the mundane. They look on us now, too. They see people loving and hating, at peace and at war, some starving and some in luxury, those working for justice and those who (hopefully) unknowingly work against it. Those who have wandered, and those who are close to his heart. They see our own hearts, at times following the law written in our hearts, at other times turning away from our creator. And they say in unison “It is time for salvation to come. It is time for them to know how great Our love is.”

—Mike Tedone, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Jesuits West Province in his first year of regency at Sacred Heart Nativity Schools in San Jose, CA.

Prayer

Lord, at times I am in the fold. Other times, I am lost and wandering. But you come and search for me, to bring me close to you. Grant me the grace to see you as you enter into my life each day, so that by your grace I may live in such a way that others may see that I am inspired by you, the Good Shepherd. Amen.

—Mike Tedone, SJ