TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT (Mt 18:12-14) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
FIRST READING - Is 40:1-11
"Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God."
A reading from the Book of Isaiah
1 [b]Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service[c] has ended,
that her guilt is expiated,
That she has received from the hand of the Lord
double for all her sins.
3 A voice proclaims:
[d]In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
every mountain and hill made low;
The rugged land shall be a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
6 A voice says, “Proclaim!”
I answer, “What shall I proclaim?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all their loyalty like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower wilts,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.”
“Yes, the people is grass!8
The grass withers, the flower wilts,
but the word of our God stands forever.”
9 Go up onto a high mountain,
Zion, herald of good news!
[e]Cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Cry out, do not fear!
Say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
10 Here comes with power
the Lord God,
who rules by his strong arm;
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
11 Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
Carrying them in his bosom,
leading the ewes with care.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Mt 18:12-14
"It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost."
✠From the Gospel according to Matthew
12 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? 13 And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. 14 In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.
TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT (Mt 18:12-14)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear people of God
In today’s Word of God, God wishes to tell all humanity that He is a God of love, a God full of infinite mercy and kindness.
In this world, God alone is the only One, the Creator of heaven and earth and all things, the Master of all humanity; out of love, God created humannity in the image of God the Father.
In the heart of God the Father, everyone is loved and embraced by God; He does not abandon any soul or sheep.
Therefore, any souls or sheep who have fallen into sin and displeased God the Father should rise up, return to the heart of God the Father, lean upon His breast, and He will embrace, protect, keep, and shelter them from the tempting schemes and traps of Satan.
God the Father uses the image of the parable of the lost sheep to demonstrate how immense God's mercy toward humanity is.
He does not want a single soul to be lost and fall into the hands of Satan.
Therefore, through this parable, God wishes to emphasize to all humanity that within the heart of God the Father, He loves everyone in this world without exception; whether they are good or bad, all are loved by God, all are sought by God to return to His heart.
God grieves when He sees a sheep lost outside the loving embrace of God the Father; but every second and every minute, He keeps His arms open waiting for the lost sheep to return; God even goes out personally to seek those lost sheep.
The image of God the Father is manifested in the very shepherds within the Church, who are the ones God chooses to work in His plan.
Therefore, through today's Word of God, God the Father wishes to remind all those chosen by God to shepherd His flock to always possess a loving heart, an altruistic spirit, a loving heart like God the Father's, to love all the sheep that God the Father sends, not distinguishing between the rich and the poor, between the good and the bad, for the mission entrusted by God the Father is to open your heart, open your soul, and know only how to live in love and love alone.
For the Shepherd Jesus had to sacrifice Himself, emptying Himself, the shepherd today should also be conformed to Him - serving in love, loving even to the point of forgetting oneself.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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