Saint Damasus I, Pope (Optional Memorial)
He rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine. (Matthew 18:13)
More rejoicing over finding one lost sheep than the ninety-nine that stayed where they were supposed to be? That sounds backwards. Doesn’t Jesus expect us not to stray? Doesn’t he want us to follow him faithfully and obediently?
Of course he does! And of course he rejoices over our faithful obedience. But Jesus also wants to do for us what he was trying to do for Israel’s religious leaders when he first told this parable: he wants to turn our vision upside down in order to teach us how to value what he values.
Of course Jesus loves and values every one of us. But when it comes to the unsettled, the confused, or those mired in sin—these people tug at his heart in a special way. He doesn’t want to see any of these people get lost or left behind. And neither does he want us, his disciples, to turn away from them. He wants us to share our love, our faith, and our material resources with them.
This call to care for those who are wandering often requires two shifts in our perspective. First, we need to take on Jesus’ vision so that we actually “see” people who have strayed. It’s easy to live in a world of our own making, safely cut off from anyone who is different from us. How can we care for someone if we don’t notice them?
Second, we need to take on Jesus’ heart by moving from judgment to compassion. We can be tempted to look at those wandering and search for character flaws that may have caused them to take a wrong turn. But unless we replace our judgmental attitudes with respect and goodwill, we won’t be able to help them or lead them back to the Lord.
Take a look today at your disposition toward the people you tend to judge harshly. It could be a group of people, like the tax collectors, who upset many of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. Or it could be just one or two people you know. Ask God to forgive you for any negative attitudes you might have toward them, and tell him you want to learn how to love them. Let Jesus open your eyes. Let him soften your heart.
“Jesus, turn my thinking upside down. Teach me how to seek and save the lost.”
Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 96:1-3, 10-13
Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938)
Religious Sister
Diary, § 1589 (©Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy)
"Will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?"
The soul awaiting the coming of the Lord :
I do not know, O Lord, at what hour you will come. And so I keep constant watch and listen As your chosen bride. Knowing that you like to come unexpected. Yet a pure heart will sense you from afar, O Lord.
I wait for you, Lord, in calm and silence, With great longing in my heart And with invincible desire. I feel that my love for you is changing into fire, And that it will rise up to heaven like a flame at life's end, And then all my wishes will be fulfilled.
Come then at last, my most sweet Lord And take my thirsting heart There, to your home in the lofty regions of heaven, Where your eternal life reigns everlasting.
Life on this earth is but an agony Since my heart feels it is created for the heights. The lowlands of this life hold no interest for it For my homeland is in heaven – this I firmly believe.