Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 18:12-14
December 6, 2022 | Tuesday
What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you, when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it, than about the ninety-nine that did not go astray. It is the same with your Father in heaven. Your Father in heaven doesn’t want even one of these little ones to perish.
Today’s Reflection:
Jesus describes God as a Shepherd who does not want anyone to go astray. When one is lost, He finds ways to bring him back to the fold (v. 12). He does not play favorites (cf. Rom. 2:11; Deut. 10:17; Job 34:19; Acts 10:34), but rather makes His sun shine on good and bad people alike, and he sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike (Mt. 5:45). He does not easily give up on His people for He has loved them with an everlasting love; He has drawn them with unfailing kindness (Jer. 31:3). In Deutero-Isaiah, God as a shepherd engraved his people on the palms of his hands (Isa. 49:16), hence, they should not fear, for he has redeemed them; he summoned his people by name; they are his. When they pass through the waters, God as their shepherd will be with them; and when they pass through the rivers they will not sweep over them. When they walk through the fire, they will not be burned; the flames will not set them ablaze (Isa. 43:1-2). /Vulnerasti, 2022
