Coffee With God

Reflection: Matthew 18:12-14

The heart of the shepherd that goes in search of the lost sheep and his joy in finding the lost one symbolises the mission and the Joy of the Church today. When the Church fails to go out in search of the lost ones and moreover, when it refuses to rejoice when a lost sheep is traced back, it fails the mission entrusted to her. A well organised Church which is meticulous on its plans and projects but if it remains closed on people who broke away from it, Pope Francis calls it “a discouraged, anxious and sad Church; such a Church is no more than a museum.” The end of the passage from Isaiah in the first reading today, we have the image of a shepherd who “will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young”. This is the joy of the Church: to comfort and console the distressed and the distant. Because the people are in need of comfort. Unfortunately, people tend to run away from consolation. The Lord works very hard to console us, but encounters resistance. We bet on desolation, on problems, on defeat. This can be seen even with the disciples on the morning of Easter, who needed to be reassured, because they were afraid of another defeat. Pope Francis described the human nature of running away from God’s comfort with THE funny story of little children who scream and cry when they see the pope during general audience! The pope explains: “Children who approach me during my public audiences sometimes see me and scream, they begin to cry, because seeing someone in white, they think of the doctor and the nurse, who give them a shot for their vaccines; and they think, ‘No, no, not another one!’ And we are a little like that,” says the Pope! But the Lord says, “Comfort, comfort my people.” The Lord consoles us like the shepherd who, goes in search of the lost sheep until he find it. The Lord does just that with each one of us. He is at the door. He knocks so that we might open our heart in order to allow ourselves to be consoled, and to allow ourselves to be set at peace. And He does it with gentleness. He knocks with caresses. In these weeks leading up to Christmas, we should ask the Lord for the grace, not be afraid to allow ourselves to be consoled by Him.