Love is shown through action
Love is shown through action
Those who love are not exclusive
Those who love are not exclusive
Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep. (Luke 15:6).
Shepherds in the Ancient East used to count sheep when they returned from the pasture and were always ready to set out in search if one was missing. They would even brave the desert and the night, in order to find those sheep that had gone astray.
This parable is a story of loss and finding again that clearly demonstrates the shepherd’s love for the flock. He notices that one of the sheep is missing, searches for it, finds it and carries it on his shoulders because it is weak, frightened, perhaps wounded and unable to follow the shepherd unaided. He brings the sheep back to safety and, finally, full of joy, invites his neighbours to celebrate together.
Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.
Three actions – getting lost, finding and celebrating – are the recurring themes in this story.
Getting lost. The good news is that the Lord goes out to find those who are lost. We often lose the way in the various situations we encounter or in which we live or even take refuge. These may include experiences of abandonment, marginalization, poverty, misunderstanding or disunity. They are like the desert where the path ahead is unclear. The shepherd searches for us even in these places, and although we may lose sight of him, he will always find us.
Finding. Let us try to imagine the scene of the shepherd’s frantic search in the desert. It is an image that is striking in its expressive power. We can understand the joy felt by both the shepherd and the sheep when they find one another: this encounter restores that sense of security to the sheep because it has escaped danger. Thus, the ‘finding’ is an act of divine mercy.
Celebration. The shepherd gathers his friends together to celebrate because he wants to share his joy, just as the main character does in the other two parables that follow this one: that of the lost coin and that of the merciful father[1]. Jesus wants us to understand the importance of sharing joy with everyone and immunizes us against the temptation to judge each other. We have all been ‘found again’.
Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.
This Word of Life is an invitation to be grateful for the mercy God has for us all personally. Rejoicing and celebrating together present us with an image of unity, where there is no opposition between ‘righteous’ and ‘sinners,’ but we share in each other’s joy.
Chiara Lubich writes, ‘It is an invitation to understand the heart of God and to believe in his love. We are inclined to calculate and measure and sometimes we believe that even God’s love may grow weary… but God’s logic is not like ours. God is always waiting for us: indeed, we bring him immense joy every time – even though it be an infinite number of times that we return to him.’ [2].
Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.
Sometimes we can be those shepherds, those caretakers, for one another and lovingly search for those who have drifted away from us, from our friendship or from our community. We can look out for the marginalized, the lost, the people driven to the peripheries by the trials of life.
A teacher told us ‘Some pupils didn’t come to classes regularly. When I was free, I used to go to the market near the school because I hoped to see them there because I knew some of them worked there to earn money. One day I finally found them. They were amazed that I had gone to look for them personally and were struck by the fact that they were really important to the whole school community. So they started to come to school regularly and it truly was a celebration for everyone.’
Prepared by Patrizia Mazzola & the Word of Life Team
Photo: © billow926-unsplash
[1] Cf. Lc 15,8 & 15,11
[2] C. Lubich Word of Life Sept 1986
No one left behind
A teacher recounts, “A group of pupils often tended to skip lessons. When I was free, I used to go to the market near the school hoping to see them because I had heard that several of them worked there to earn money. One day, I finally found them: they were amazed that I, personally, had gone looking for them. They were really struck by what I had done and this helped them understand how important they were to the whole school community. They began attending school regularly and this brought a sense of joy to everyone.”
This experience expresses the inalienable value of every human being. It speaks to us of unconditional acceptance, of never ceasing to hope and of the joy that everyone experiences when someone is reintegrated into a community because this restores their dignity and acknowledges their unique value as a person.
There are times when we cannot all “walk” through life at the same pace. Our own frailty, or that of others, may prevent us from always moving forward along side those who accompany us. On our journey. There are many different reasons why this may happen such as tiredness, confusion or suffering… But it is precisely in these moments that a profoundly human and radically communitarian form of love can emerge: this love is attentive to other people and knows how to stop and look towards those who can no longer keep up. It is seen in behaviour that demonstrates closeness and faithfulness. It protects, gathers up and accompanies just as a parent does with their child. It is patient, understanding, respectful and trusting. It is seen in the way we carry each other’s burdens, not as a duty, but on account of our freely committing to a love that seeks to maintain unity in the community, family and society even if this means moving slowly.
This type of love – the kind that cares, that seeks, that includes other people – makes no distinction between good and bad or between “worthy” and “unworthy.” It reminds us that at some point in our lives, we may all find ourselves “lost “and that the collective joy of being “found”again is stronger than any judgment or separation.
This Idea is an invitation to see the other person not for what he or she has done, but for the fact that they are unique and worthy of being loved. It invites us to make an ethical choice to care, to avoid leaving anyone behind or abandoned and to restore bonds wherever they are broken. It also encourages us to celebrate all our efforts to increase the presence of human values wherever we are.
Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher, regarded deep relationships as a source of truth, and said that authenticity is not found in what we do alone, but in the respectful and gratuitous encounter with other people.
Photo: © Sabine van Erp en Pixabay
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THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is currently produced by the Focolare Movement’s “Centre for Dialogue with People of Non religious Beliefs”. It is an initiative that began in 2014 in Uruguay to share with non-believing friends the values of the Word of Life, i.e. the phrase from Scripture that members of the Movement strive to put into practice in their daily lives. Currently, THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is translated into 12 languages and distributed in more than 25 countries, with adaptations of the text according to different cultural sensitivities. www. dialogue4unity.focolare.org
Put love in first place
Put love in first place