A father loves all his children - Even the ones that make bad choices - Once again - Do we?

Today at Holy Mass we are told in the Gospel of St Matthew that Jesus gives value to the lost - He sees value where the world sees no value…He goes to great lengths to seek out what people think cannot be found….This is the heart of God……Do we aspire to be like this? - To see value in what the world dismisses?……”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.”………Looking back on the pontificate of Pope Francis, whenever I read this passage from St Matthew, I always think of Francis…..His pontificate was very misunderstood and the media being the media manipulated many of the statements he made…While Pope Francis was a flawed man, as we all are….In my opinion, he lived out this Gospel passage read to us at Mass…Like Pope Francis or not - Agree with his methods or his approach or not - He was willing to leave the 99 for the one who was lost…….Once again, we can disagree with the way he did this but I believe in my heart of hearts that Pope Francis was sincere….His only motive was to bring the “one who was lost” back to “the fold”……..There is something about Francis’s willingness to be misunderstood that I admire…..Many in the Catholic world did not understand him……And as they were at times hypercritical of his pontificate…He continued to seek out “the one” that was lost……Many “conservative Catholics” may read this reflection and have a huge issue with it….Now I will speak personally, Pope Francis at times was very unclear, I also thought he surrounded himself with clerics that embraced what is commonly referred to as “the spirit of Vatican II” - Which if you ask me was a disaster for the past sixty years...…However, Pope Francis had a deep love for the lost - And for that, I admired him for it….If we aspire to love as God loves, we can not seek to be “comfortable”…To just build a community with “perfect people”…We must invite the lost as well - How else will they learn?…..How else will the lost be found?

“The day of the Lord is near; Behold, he comes to save us”

I am the father of five children….Each one of my children are different…..Each unique…Each with different gifts…..A father loves all this children equally….With that said, the world does not value gifts equally….Our world measures “output” - Its not about “who you are”…Its about “what you can do”, particularly in the market place…….God could careless about this evaluation process…….Mother Teresa put it best……”At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”……………….Our world today when they see priests and nuns, they somehow think these people had nothing better to do - They were “losers”, so they “settled” for religious life…..When you take the time to get to know some of the priests, nuns and even bishops…You soon find out that many of these men and women, had many options and are by every account the most gifted of people - Not all of them, but many….…But these men and women were “called” by God to live a consecrated life - This is something the secular mind can not understand…..I mention this because when I was actively serving with Mother Teresa’s sisters in New York City before I was married…I always marveled at how some of the nuns, who were highly intelligent always found themselves living amongst and serving a group of people that clearly “did not have their act together”……The Missionaries of Charity serve mostly the lost of the world - They “see” value where the world sees no value……When I would travel to Kolkata in India. In the morning I would work with handicapped children…Some of these children were literally abandoned in garbage dumps…And the sisters took them in…And cared for them…..Notice again, how the world saw no value in “such a child” but those who “see” as God does have a completely different value system………As Catholics we too must learn to “see” as God sees…….And to love as God loves……One can not manufacture this kind of “sight”…..It all comes down to grace, which we must allow God to give to us by our unconditional YES……If we can “see” Jesus in the Eucharist, a mere piece of “bread”consecrated by the hands of a Priest, we will surely see him in others, most especially the lost, the unwanted and the poor…When we “see” like that - Through no efforts of our own making - We too will seek out the “one lost sheep” out of the flock of the 99.

“Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care”

Today Jesus in the Gospel gives us a small glimpse as to how the Father loves…He does not “evaluate” others as we do - And when someone “leaves the flock” - God is deeply troubled - Are we?….Do we “point fingers” at the lost?…..Or…..Do we do everything we can to bring them back?…….To love as Christ loves - We as Catholics must develop a heart for those who make bad choices in life - To do everything we can to give a good example - To educate them…….A father loves all his children - Even the ones that make bad choices - Once again - Do we?…………….JMJ

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