It is not the will of your heavenly Father

TUESDAY 10 DECEMBER (Mt 18,12-14)

From the first sin committed, it was always the Lord who went in search of man. So he did with Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes of the garden: “When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God then called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” ” (Gen 3,8-11). From this moment on the Lord never stopped looking for man. He never gave up.

First, he announces to Cain that he can dominate his murderous instinct. Then, he reassures him. Abel’s blood cries to him from the ground. But He is not the God of revenge, but of forgiveness and mercy. After sin, He Always gives way to repentance: “So the Lord said to Cain: “Why are you so resentful and crestfallen? If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master” (Gen 4,6-7). “Then the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord then said: “What have you done! Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil! Therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord: “My punishment is too great to bear. Since you have now banished me from the soil, and I must avoid your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, anyone may kill me at sight.” Not so!” the Lord said to him. “If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.” So the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight” (Gen 4,9-15).  

From Adam to Jacob it is the Lord who personally intervenes to look for the lost sheep in order to lead it to his fold. With Moses the dual mediation of prophecy and the priesthood is born. With Samuel the other great mediation of royalty. Priests, kings and prophets are the ministers of the Lord, each according to a particular mission and ministry that must always work so that the people do not get lost or once lost return to their Lord and God. We know that priesthood and royalty failed in their mission. Only the prophecy remained in its truth. Prophets were always the Lord’s voice, because they were not by descent, but by direct call of the Lord. God has always entrusted them the mystery of the Word. The divine Word resounded in the people whole and pure through them.

What is your opinion? 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.

Today, the Apostles of the Lord are the ones who must go in search of the lost sheep and also of those who are not sheep of Christ Jesus. They are the ones who have to go all over the world to call every man so that he becomes a disciple. But it is also they who must be vigilant so that no sheep entrusted to them is lost, nourishing it with truth, grace, light, justice and eternal life. In collaboration with the apostolic ministry, according to specific ministries, received sacraments and gift of grace and truth, every other member of the body of Christ. But always in hierarchical communion with the apostolic service, never without it, never against it and never as a parallel path to it. If the missionary of Jesus is shipwrecked in his mission the whole flock is lost. If he lives it incorrectly or with a great deal of distraction, the sheep will soon get lost, they will go astray.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, arrange that no sheep of Jesus is lost due to our fault.