Reflection for Saturday, Dec. 4
We’ve heard this description of Jesus’ compassion for the crowds--- moved with pity because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd. At one point he chooses to feed the five thousand, directing the disciples to perform a little crowd control in the process. And here, again, he does what any good manager would do—he delegates. He sends out his disciples to find the lost sheep and care for them.
In baptism we received that same charge. Indeed, we received a most precious gift, without cost, as Jesus reminds us. And we also received the responsibility of sharing that gift will all those we meet, especially those most vulnerable, the lost and abandoned. Today we are surrounded by so many who are lost. It’s easy to ignore them or dismiss their situations as self-inflicted. Jesus doesn’t ask us to evaluate their worthiness; he tells us to care for them.
In this season of Advent, as we wait in the darkness, hopeful for the arrival of the Christ child, may we freely accept the assignment Jesus has given us, since, as St. Teresa of Ávila reminds us, Christ has no body on earth but ours; may we be his eyes, his hands, his body.
Tom Menner