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Commentary on the Gospel for Thursday, November 7, 2024
A word of Jesus full of hope for when we have lost our way and are in free fall, perhaps being dragged towards some existential abyss, or when we have ceased to be vigilant and walk without a taste for prayer, without a desire to love our neighbor, and without the strength or desire to return to the sheepfold. Distracted and disoriented, unable to find our way back, we behave like sheep of the flock. If only we would wake up and realize that it is precisely in these moments that we are God’s «favorites»!
This is how it is revealed to us in stories like that of the prodigal son or in expressions like «it is not the healthy who need doctors, but the sick» or «I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners». The message is that God desperately wants to save the lost sheep, to lead us to a safe place like the heart of His Son, Jesus Christ. If we would wake up…
We are the favored ones. How can we be so foolish as to continue to choose the cold, the hunger, the distance? It is better to be in the Father’s house, and hopefully the nostalgia for lost goods will lead us to return to it. The Good Shepherd is always looking for us. He has given his blood for our salvation. His persistence is a loving call. Let us wake up. And let us face the truth of our lives and how empty and dark is the place where we wander when we turn away from God.
We are favored without knowing it, and without being surprised that when we are most lost, we are most lovingly sought. Jesus, friend of sinners, Jesus, physician of soul and body, Jesus, salvation of the oppressed, Jesus, rest of the abandoned, have mercy on us.