parable of the lost sheep

PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEP (JESUS says: « Your Heavenly Father is like a solicitous shepherd. What does a good shepherd do? He looks for good pastures for his sheep, where there is no hemlock or other poisonous herbs, but there is plenty sweet clover, aromatic mint and bitter but wholesome chicory. He looks for places where beside good grass there is the cool shade of trees and the clear water of a stream and he ensures that there are no asps among the green grass. He does not prefer the richest pastures, because he knows that snakes and harmful herbs are quite common there and thus dangerous for his sheep. He prefers instead mountain pastures,

where the dew keeps the grass clean and fresh and the strong sunshine keeps snakes away and the breezy air is light and healthy, not like the unhealthy air in the plains. The good shepherd watches his sheep one by one. He cures them when they are sick and if they get hurt he dresses their wounds. He reproaches the sheep that might be sick because they are too greedy for food and he calls to a different place the ones that might be harmed by staying too long in a damp spot or in the sunshine. And if one is unwilling to eat he looks for acidulous aromatic herbs suitable to whet its appetite and he feeds it with his own hands,

speaking to it as if it were a friend. That is what the good Father Who is in

Heaven does with His children wandering on the earth. His love is the staff that

gathers them together, His voice is their guide, His Law is His pasture, Heaven

His fold.

2 But one of his sheep left him. How fond of it he was! It was young, pure,

white, like a cloud in an April sky. The shepherd used to look at it with so much

love, thinking of how much good he could do for it and how much love he could

receive from it. And it strayed. A tempter passed on the road that runs along the

pasture. He does not wear a plain jacket, but has on a many-coloured robe. He

does not have a leather belt with hatchet and knife hanging from it, but he wears

a golden belt, from which little bells hang, as sweet-sounding as the singing of a

nightingale, and phials of inebriating scents... He does not carry a shepherd's

staff as the good shepherd does, to gather the sheep together and defend them

and should his staff not be sufficient, he is ready to defend them with his hatchet

and knife and even with his life. But the tempter who is passing by, is holding in

his hands a thurible sparkling with gems and from it smoke rises, which is

stench and scent at the same time, and it bewilders as the sparkling of the fake

jewels dazzles. He passes by singing and drops handfuls of salt, which shines on

the dark road... Ninety-nine sheep look and remain where they are. The one

hundredth, the youngest and dearest one, makes a leap and disappears behind

the tempter. The shepherd calls it. But it does not come back. It runs faster than

the wind to join the tempter who has just gone by, and to sustain itself while

running it tastes some of the salt, which as soon as it is swallowed, causes a

strange burning frenzy so that the poor sheep craves for cool water in the deep

green shades of forests. And following the tempter it goes into the forests, and it

climbs and descends and falls... once, twice, three times. And each time it feels

round its neck the slimy embrace of reptiles, and being thirsty it drinks foul

water and when it is hungry it eats herbs shining with revolting slobber.

3 And in the meantime what does the good shepherd do? He leaves the ninety-

232. Parable of the Lost Sheep. 300

nine faithful ones in a safe place and he sets out and does not stop until he finds

traces of the lost sheep. Since it does not come back to him, although he calls it

in a loud voice begging the wind to carry his call to it, he goes to the sheep. And

he sees it from afar, intoxicated in the coils of reptiles, so intoxicated that it does

not feel nostalgia for the man who loves it, on the contrary it mocks him. And he

is aware that it is guilty of entering, like a thief, the abode of other people, so

guilty that it dare not look at him... And yet the good shepherd does not become

tired... and he goes on looking for it all the time, following its traces and

weeping when he loses them: strips of fleece; traces of its soul; traces of blood;

various crimes; filth; proofs of its lust; but he goes on and reaches it. Ah! I

found you, my beloved one. I reached you at last! How far have I walked for

you, to take you back to the fold. Do not bend your dejected head. Your sin is

buried in my heart. Nobody will know about it, except me, and I love you. I will

defend you from the criticism of other people, I will shield you with my body to

protect you against the stones of accusers. Come. Are you wounded? Oh! let me

see your wounds. I know them. But I want you to show them to me with the

confidence you had when you were pure, and you looked at me, your shepherd

and your God, with innocent eyes. There they are. They have all the same name.

How deep they are! Who inflicted these very deep ones in the depth of your

heart? It was the Tempter, I know. It is he who has neither staff nor hatchet, but

he strikes more deeply with his poisonous bite, and after him, the false jewels of

his thurible strike: the ones that seduced you by sparkling... and they were

hellish sulphur brought to daylight to burn your heart. Look how many wounds!

How much torn fleece, how much blood, how much bramble.

4 O my poor little disappointed soul! But tell me: if I forgive you, will you still

love me? Tell me: if I stretch out my arms to you, will you come to them? Tell

me: do you thirst for good love? Well: come and be born again. Come back to

the holy pastures. Weep. Your tears and mine will wash the traces of your sin

and in order to nourish you, because you are worn out by the evil which has

burnt you, I open my chest and my veins and I say to you: “Feed on them, and

live!” Come here that I may take you in my arms. We will walk faster to the safe

holy pastures. You will forget everything of this miserable hour. And your

ninety-nine good sisters will rejoice at your return, because I tell you, my little

lost sheep, which I have looked for coming from far away, and I reached and

saved, I tell you, there is more rejoicing among the good, for one who was lost

and has been found, than for ninety-nine just who never left the fold. »