When [Jesus] saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36
“As we look around us we realize that there are many people who still do not yet know Christ. May who are baptized live as though Christ had not redeemed them, as if He were not truly present in our midst every day. Many go about their lives like those who drew down the compassion of Jesus, crowds who were bewildered and dejected like sheep without a shepherd. They go on and on, without any specific aim in life, disoriented, and wasting their precious time, since they seem to have no sense of direction. Like the Lord, we too are filled with compassion for those people. Though at times they seem – humanly speaking – happy and successful, they fail in the worst way possible because they do not behave as, nor are they even aware of being, children of God on the journey to eternal home of the Father. We cannot let the eternal salvation of anyone be at risk due to our lack of apostolic spirit.”
Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 292.
As we move into the Advent season, if you know anyone at risk – harassed and helpless – who you might reach out to at this time. This might be a neighbor or co-worker. Our most generous act this advent may be to invite them to journey with us.
I have done that with Michael (pictured above). We started reading my Advent devotional together. Click here to access it.
Thanks for your prayers. We made it safely from Jamaica to Trinidad. Today we fly across to Tobago for program work. Then back to Tobago at the end of the day. Again, appreciate your prayers as we spread the vision of accountability in the Caribbean.
And as we keep our eyes open for at risk people along the way. When we do this we imitate the good Samaritan.