The Good Shepherd

Art and statues have always been used to teach our beautiful Catholic faith to enlighten our intellect to the divine. If you walk through the Vatican museum’s “Museo Pio Cristiano” in Italy, you might notice a youthful shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders. This sculpture from the late 3rd or 4th century was delicately restored by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi.

This beautiful work of art may come to mind when you read Psalms 23 or Matthew 18: 10-14 where you read about the Parable of the lost sheep:

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. 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.”

Art works like these are essential for us to ponder throughout the day, so that we can do as Paul teaches us in Colossians 3:2 - “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

Recently I had an experience which made this parable of the lost sheep come to life in a rather unique way which made me think that I could use my daily experiences to also ponder about God and things above.

One of our dear friends Susan had a stroke a few months back while she was caring for her parents in a different State and after months of struggle with the insurance her very dedicated and loving husband Wayne was able to bring her back home safely. Even though Susan was in the same town we had not seen her yet. But this Sunday when me and my wife, came for Mass we saw Wayne (as we have for the last several Sunday’s) and me and my wife greeted Wayne with joy, but within a second, we noticed Susan sitting right next to him and with pleasant surprise all our attention went to Susan. Of course, we love both Susan and Wayne equally, but somehow, we were focused completely on Susan and was so glad to see her after such a long time. This made me think and understand the parable of the lost sheep a bit better. Just as we were overjoyed to see Susan back in church and in our midst, may be that is how God feels when we are found by Him.

Perhaps, we can use our daily life moments to ponder on things above.