December 7/Second Tuesday of Advent
Feast of St. Ambrose
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? ~ Matthew 18.12
Plenty of people I know, and probably plenty of people you know, have wandered away not only from organized religion but from the very notion that there exists a loving God who cares deeply about his creatures. They aren’t strongly opposed to faith, they just don’t think what they believe, or whether they believe, particularly matters. One young scholar calls this phenomenon “apatheism;” it is the shrugged-shoulders approach to faith. And it is perhaps an understandable response to the presence of rampant suffering (could a loving God let this happen?), widespread institutional hypocrisy, including the institution of the church (is this how supposedly Christian people act?), and a proliferation of appealing alternatives, from yoga and meditation to nature walks and bird watching. Even those of us who are committed to staying on the path towards God sometimes wander off, lured by the call of the golf course or the sporting event. And yet, as today’s Gospel passage assures us, we do matter: the one of us means as much to God as the all of us. If even one of his creatures strays, God will go after her to win her back. And as God’s agents in the world, we should strive to do likewise. When someone we know is wandering spiritually, we should not just let it go. When a family member fails to call or a friend falls out of touch, we should not just say that it’s on them to reach out. When we hear that a fellow parishioner has drifted away, we should not just shrug. No matter how far we stray, our faithful shepherd pursues us and gathers us up in his love. May we do likewise for those whose lives are linked with ours.
O Lord, whose love brought each of us into being, Help me to care for the people in my life with the loving watchfulness and determined vigilance of the faithful shepherd. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120721.cfm
To hear the St. Clement’s Choir (Philadelphia) sing “The King of Love My Shepherd Is,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkWmNMwy7Ps
