Today,
Jesus makes it known that God wants all men to be saved and «doesn't
want even one of these little ones to be lost» (Mt
18:14). With the parable of the shepherd who looks for the sheep that
has gotten lost, he presents us with a figure that deeply moved the
first Christians. In the title page of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church we find, engraved, the figure of
Jesus the Good Shepherd who as early as in the catacombs of Rome is
present among the first images of the Lord.
God's desire for our
salvation is so strong that, from the uttering of these words, up to
His unconditional sacrifice of the Cross, it is Christ who is looking
for us so that we can —with complete freedom— come back
to his friendship. We Christians need to share this same desire: that
all be saved and get to know the Truth! As Josemaria Escrivá
liked to say, «we are all sheep and shepherd». There are
people —our husband or wife, our children, relatives and
friends, etc.— for whom we may be the only chance they have of
recovering the happiness of faith and a life of grace.
We can always leave
aside ninety-nine percent of the things we are doing, to pray for and
help that person whom we have near, that we love and that we know is
missing something in their soul.
With
our prayer and mortification, and with our loving faith, they can
achieve the grace of conversion, just as Saint Monica got her son
Augustine to become the “first modern man”, one who knows
how to explain in The Confessions the way in which grace acted
in the conversion that would lead to his sanctity
We ask the Mother of
the Good Shepherd for the joy of many conversions.
