Lost sheep

Tuesday, December 10, 2019
2nd Week of Advent
1st Reading: Is 40:1–11
Gospel: Mt 18:12–14
Jesus said to his disciples, “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 get lost. It is the same with your Father in heaven: there they don’t want even one of these little ones to be lost.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
In its September 15, 2003 issue, The Philippine Daily Inquirer published this news item: “Australia has offered to give away 57,000 live sheep to an unnamed country in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia rejected the shipment on health grounds, Trade Minister Mark Vaile said Sunday. Animal rights activists had demanded that the sheep be put down, claiming 3,400 of them had died after being stranded for 5 weeks in searing temperatures on the vessel dubbed as ship of death. Saudi Arabia refused to take the sheep last month after veterinarians found 6% of the sheep were suffering from the disease scabby mouth.”
These sheep are perfect illustrations of our status. Sin devalued us. There is nothing inherent in us that a divine being should find interest in. But unlike the sheep that ended up with no takers we ended up in the arms of a savior. We have a God who is willing to leave behind 99 perfect sheep in order to run after the defective ones. But many prefer to hide from God. Some hide because they simply “hate” the light; others because they are “indignant” about certain experiences; still others because they “desire to keep both cakes and eat them too”; while some simply want to “extend” their luck. (We have arranged them to form the acronym “hide” for easy recall).
There is no chance for those who continue to hate the light. A person so used to darkness will hate seeing even a streak of light. On the other hand those who are indignant about certain negative experiences will stop the sulking when they grow spiritually mature. But those who want to keep both cakes and eat them too will end up with nothing. Nobody can feign repentance at the end of a dissipated life. The same can be said of those who wallow in sin intending to repent at the last minute in order to get to heaven.
How the sheep ended in that Inquirer story will not happen to us because God values us for who we are. But if we continue to hide from God we call destruction and damnation upon ourselves. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M.