Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
“Like a shepherd, he feeds his flock and gathers the lambs in his arm.” It’s hard not to hear this song refrain by Bob Dufford when listening to today’s first reading. The whole reading is one of those WONDERFUL advent readings we get in this first week but it’s the end lines about the shepherd that points us to the Gospel today.
When you think about it, it’s a little strange how many times Jesus, a carpenter, talked to fishermen about being like shepherds. Today, he starts out asking “What is your opinion?” But his story has one of those “upside down world” points that Jesus offers. It really doesn’t make much sense for a shepherd to leave the 99 to search out the one silly sheep that left the flock. But that’s what the GOOD shepherd does. And that’s why we should be shouting from the mountaintops that “God is good – All the time!” God searches us out when lost and carries us back. Let us continue to ponder this tender love of God as we walk through these Advent days.
—Sr. Laura Leming, FMI