December 9, 2025, Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
Lectionary #182, Matthew 18: 12-14

Scripture
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.”

Reflection
The subject of this parable is a lost sheep, but everyone knows that this is one more illustration of the manner in which God views sin and the sinner. The sheep wanders away from the flock and gets lost. The Lord takes the initiative of running after it and finding it. We are not told that the sheep bleats or otherwise screams for help. The Shepherd begins the search on his own. Hence, strangely enough, the impetus of conversion really begins in the heart of God. Reconciliation is too lofty and priceless to start on earth.

The gospel does not say the shepherd will inevitably find the sheep, but he tries. The general tenor of the parable is that this sheep is not special, fat, and woolly—just an ordinary, four-legged wool-back like the ninety-nine others in the flock. But the shepherd loses no time pursuing it. If he is fortunate enough to find it, here the Lord stresses the rousing happiness of the shepherd by saying, “Truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.”=

And so, the Shepherd does not pursue it because it is `worth’ a lot of money, or because it has certain qualities or is otherwise valuable. He pursues it for the sole reason that it belongs to him and because it is precious in its own right.
Who are these “little ones”? According to contemporary exegesis, they are the members of the churches to whom Matthew is writing. These are the “little ones” as well as the disciples he mentions in the first verse of this reading. It is both enlightening and comforting to realize that everyone is to be cared for and attended to in the same manner as described in the reading. This sheep is one of the one hundred, and all the others deserve the same care.

Matthew writes, “So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” The accent is clearly on the one, and Christ wants to bring out the priceless value of the individual, that one within the community. In these lines, the individual sheep does not derive its identity from the community but from the pursuing Shepherd, who now relates to it as consoler, savior, healer, and reconciler.

This passage also gives us a clue as to what makes God happy. Can God derive some happiness from earth? Through the revelation of Christ, we know that God finds immense happiness from the return of one sinner or from the saving of one of these little ones.

Matthew emphasizes the value of the individual. In a preceding passage, Christ warns that “if any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone….”

Our Lady chose one of the “little” villages of France as the site of her apparition. She chose Maximin and Mélanie, two waifs and no mean candidates for the smallest of the “little” people of the world. The choice of these two alone gives us a singular insight into the heart and the preferences of God. We can sense the Shepherd pursuing the two children, who that day provided humility with a new definition.

The apparition alone makes a powerful statement for the worth of the individual. The Lady could have appeared over the city of Grenoble or Paris and proclaimed a message to all nations. She proclaimed a world message, surely, but she spoke to two little people, singling out one and the other for special attention.

She entrusted a message to them destined for the peoples of the world. La Salette reminds us once more of Christ’s love for the person. It affirms once again that in the heart of the Lord, every little one is greatly loved.

La Salette Invocation
Our Lady of La Salette, reconciler of sinners,
pray without ceasing for us who have recourse to you.