Nineteenth Tuesday of Ordinary Time

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? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.  In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.

When we lose something, we often spend a lot of time and effort looking for it. Whether it is something of great value or small, we still will look. We don't like the idea of losing things and so we, like the shepherd rejoice when we find what was lost to us… no matter how small. Even if the effort involved in finding the thing is out of proportion to what was lost, we are excited to find lost things. In the same way, God is overjoyed when one of his lost sheep is found and returns to His beloved flock. He sees each of us as worth every effort to save and in light of this, we all should look at each other as worth saving, too. This isn't to say everyone can be saved, but rather we should make the effort to save others when we have the chance.

Are we more like the lost sheep or the shepherd? How can we not only follow God, but also lead others back to Him? What can we do to ensure those who are entrusted to us are brought closer to God through our words and works?

O Lord, seek me when I am lost and help me to lead others to you.

Amen.