Navarre Bible Commentary:Tuesday, 2nd Week in Advent

The Good Shepherd by James Tissot

Matthew 18:12-14

12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 605 and 2822.

Commentary

18:11–14. This parable clearly shows our Lord’s loving concern for sinners. It expresses in human terms the joy God feels when a wayward child comes back to him. God feels when a wayward child comes back to him.

Seeing so many souls living away from God, Pope John Paul II comments: “Unfortunately we witness the moral pollution which is devastating humanity, disregarding especially those very little ones about whom Jesus speaks.

“What must we do? We must imitate the Good Shepherd and give ourselves without rest for the salvation of souls. Without forgetting material charity and social justice, we must be convinced that the most sublime charity is spiritual charity, that is, the commitment for the salvation of souls. And souls are saved with prayer and sacrifice. This is the mission of the Church!” (Homily to the Poor Clares of Albano, 14 August 1979).

As the RSV points out, “other ancient authorities add verse 11, For the Son of man came to save the lost”—apparently taken from Lk 19:10.

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

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