11 December. Tuesday of Advent, Week 2

1st Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11

God’s people will return with joy from their exile in Babylon

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

Responsorial Psalm — Ps 95:1-3, 10-13

R./: The Lord our God comes in strength.

O sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Proclaim his help day by day. (R./)
Tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’
He will judge the peoples in fairness. (R./)
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,
let the sea and all within it thunder praise,
let the land and all it bears rejoice,
all the trees of the world shout for joy
at the presence of the Lord for he comes,
he comes to rule the earth. (R./)
With justice he will rule the world,
he will judge the peoples with his truth. (R./)

Gospel: Matthew 18:12-14

The shepherd rejoices to find the lost sheep

Jesus said to his disciples,
“What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. ”

And now I’m found

I once was lost, And now I’m found. There is a hidden depth in each one of us which, when it is found by God, our Good Shepherd, will become God’s instrument for transforming our existence. We will have joy because the ninety-nine percent of ourselves will be transformed by this one percent. The lost sheep is that buried, secluded or forgotten part within each of us.
A good example of the lost sheep is seen in the prophet-author of Second Isaiah, telling of his prophetic call that originated in God’s heavenly throne room. God calls to the many celestial beings around his throne: “Comfort, O comfort my people!” One after another these angelic creatures shout, as it were, to the earth below:
A prophet of mighty ability replied with the question: “What shall I cry out?” and then began a prophetic career leading to the composition of the most golden poetry in the Bible. Yet, for the prophet himself, the people’s return to their homeland, away from the Babylonian exile, turned out to be a way toward rejection and oblivion. His name was forgotten and his exquisite poetry simply added to the scroll of the earlier prophet Isaiah. He was like the lost sheep waiting to be found by the Lord.
Jesus and his first disciples turned to this prophecy. Through it they could see John the Baptist as preparing the way of the Lord, and it helped the disciples find peace after their Master’s death by execution, as they read passages like chapter 42 and chapter 53. We look forward to Christmas when Jesus steps anew into our lives to uncover hidden meanings, talents and hopes that can turn our lives around.

Valuing the individual

At first sight, the decision of the shepherd in this gospel story seems impractical or even foolish. He leaves ninety nine sheep on the hillside and goes off searching for one sheep that had rambled off and into danger. Why would he leave the rest of the flock undefended, to go out looking for the lost one? Why should he risk the ninety nine for the sake of one that went astray. The attitude of the shepherd is the opposite to that of Caiaphas the high priest who said about Jesus, “It is better for one man to die for the people than to have the whole nation perish.” In other words, it is better to murder one innocent man than to put the nation at risk; that one individual is expendable for the sake of the many.
The shepherd in today’s parable did not share that pragmatic outlook. That shepherd was an image of God, and indeed of the caring outlook of Jesus himself. God in Jesus is concerned about the lost one. The Lord values each one of us; he calls each one of us by name; none of us is worthless in his sight. He cares equally for each one of us. The story invites us to value each other as much as the Lord values each of us.

Saint Damasus, pope

Damasus (305-384), from Egitania, Portugal, was bishop of Rome from 366 to 384. He had earlier served as deacon at the Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls, and became pope following the death of Pope Liberius. He was a strong opponent of Arianism and presided over the Council of Rome (382), which fixed the canon of Scripture. He encouraged Saint Jerome in his Vulgate translation of the Bible, and did much to encourage the veneration of the Christian martyrs, creating access to their tombs in the Catacombs of Rome and marking them with inscriptions, many composed by himself.