One Minute Reflection – 8 November – Today’s Gospel: Luke 15:1–10 – Thursday of the Thirty First week in Ordinary Time, Year B and the Memorial of Blessed John Duns Scotus OFM (c 1265-1308)
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”…Luke 15:4-5
REFLECTION – “The fact of re-finding something we had lost always fills us anew with joy. And this joy is greater than that we felt before losing it, when the thing was safely kept. But the parable of the lost sheep speaks more of God’s tenderness than of the way in which people usually behave. It expresses a profound truth. To leave behind something of importance for love of what is more humble, is characteristic of divine power, not of human possessiveness. For God even brings into existence what is not, He sets out in search of what is lost while still keeping what He had left in place and He finds what had strayed without losing what He has under His protection.
That is why, this shepherd is not of earth but of heaven. The parable is not in any respect, a representation of human achievements but it conceals divine mysteries, as the numbers it mentions immediately show: “What man among you,” says the Lord, “having a hundred sheep and losing one of them…” As you see, the loss of a single sheep has sorely tried this shepherd, as though the whole flock, deprived of His protection, had set out along a treacherous path. This is why, leaving the ninety-nine others there, He sets out in search of the one. He attends to one alone so that, in that one, all may be found and saved.”…St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Lord God, in Your wisdom, You created us, by Your providence You rule us, penetrate our inmost being with Your holy light, so that our way of life, may always be one of faithful service to You. With great love we thank You for the great gifts You shower upon us and for being our Father, who seeks and finds us when we are lost. Grant that by the intercession of Blessed John Duns Scotus, we may ever seek to stay true to our baptism. Through Jesus, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 