The One and the Ninety Nine

Matthew 18:12-14

Where do you think you belong? To the ninety nine, or to the one lost sheep?

Whatever your answer is, you are blessed!

You must feel blessed to belong to the one for the Lord is really going out of his way, trying to find you!

Isn’t it very heartwarming? The Lord leaves the ninety nine, just for the sake of you!

How many of us feel that we belong to no one? How many of us feel so lonely? How many of us feel that our sins are unforgivable? How many of us feel that we are rejected? How many of us feel that we are just no body?

If you feel this way, you should be happy, because the Lord is in search of you.
As much as the Lord never looses hope in us, we should never loose hope in ourselves!

Now, if you think you belong to the ninety-nine, be happy too! You too are blessed!
You belong to the Lord. You are just at the right place.

If you think you belong to the ninety-nine, you have no reason to be envious of the one, because once, you too were like the one. Who among you has never failed? Anyone? All of us always have experienced failure. We have experienced sinning. We have experienced getting lost.

If you think you belong to the ninety-nine, you have no reason to be proud, because, it is not because of your own goodness that you belong to the ninety nine. Everything, after all, is because of God’s grace, because first of all, God has enabled us to respond to the invitation to a grace-filled life.

If you now feel good about your life, about your relationship with God, it is because the Lord has won you, and led you back to the flock, back to the Church.

If you think you belong to the ninety-nine, you have no reason to be sad. You might sometimes think the Lord has forgotten you. You might think the Lord has left you because the Lord is busy with the one. Indeed sometimes we wonder why the Lord seems to bless more those who are less faithful. Has he left us, although we always try to follow His way? Does he take us for granted? No, the Lord has never left us alone! The Lord keeps us in the company of one another. We have found one another, and we have to take good care of one another. We find the Lord in the person of our brothers, our sisters, our friends.

The Lord treats us in a very special way because He loves us, he treats each one of us as a VIP. So, whether you belong to the one, or you belong to the ninety nine, the Lord is always with you, and will always be with you.

In this advent season, we thank God for all his goodness to each one of us. If you belong to the one, we pray that you may soon be brought back to the flock. If you belong to the ninety nine, we pray that you may take good care of each other, as much as the Lord has taken good care of you. We pray that you too may find the one who strayed. We pray that we could be a blessing for one another.

Have a meaningful Advent! Hope all of us will belong to the ninety nine.