A Lost Sheep (12/09/2025)

In 1975, I was living in Beloit, Wisconsin. I had three children, ages 3, 2, and 1. I was struggling with some health problems and after several tests, found that I had cervical cancer. We scheduled surgery, and the doctors were able to get all the cancer. But my dream of having lots of kids was gone. And between my illness and a bout of depression, I sort of dropped out. Then one day, my doorbell rang. Fr. Albert Schubiger was at my door. He’d missed me.

Fr. Schubiger and I had quite a conversation that day. And he checked on me a couple more times. I felt seen. I felt heard. I felt rescued. I thought of Fr. Schubiger today when I read the gospel reading, Matthew 18:12-14:

Jesus said to his disciples: "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." 

Fr. Schubiger wasn’t the first deputized shepherd to come and find me when I strayed. My father had done the same thing. And in years to come, there would be others. I’m one of those sheep that tends to stray at times. Things happen, I wander, I isolate myself. But thankfully, the LORD seems to find the right shepherd to seek me out, to find me, to help me get back to “the flock.”

And pastors aren’t the only shepherds deputized by the LORD. All of us can play that part when we see a sister or brother who is suffering or who is missing? We can do it in our faith communities, our neighborhoods, even our families.

This morning as I read the gospel and thought of my own history, my own faith journey with multiple cases of me slipping away, I asked the LORD for help in my future journey and I asked the LORD for help in hearing the cries of those who need to be heard, in seeing others who need to be seen, in reaching out to others who need to know they matter. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, that is for sure, but sometimes I think He deputizes us to help. And I prayed that if I could return the favor, the blessing, of being “found”, I would gladly do so.

This Advent season, as we continue our journeys of faith, buoyed by hope in our LORD’s promise, and fueled by love for the LORD and love of other, let us stay open to the LORD’s call to us as His sheep, but also as His agents to reach out to others on “the Way.” That’s the marvelous thing about the Kingdom, sometimes we’re the sheep, sometimes we’re the shepherd’s helper. But all the time we are blessed to be and to be loved by our LORD, the Good Shepherd.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.