God does not give up on any of His children. Let us learn from the heart of the Lord that there are no lost people; What there are are people who need to find their way in life!
“In the same way, the Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to perish.” (Matthew 18,14).
When we see, today, Jesus tell the parable of the sheep that was lost, we think: “Wow, but He already has ninety-nine, how does He leave them aside to worry and take care of just one?”. For Jesus, for the heart of the Father, “one” and “ninety-nine” have the same value. Ninety-nine is not more than one and one is not less than ninety-nine. Ninety-nine sheep have the same value as one ewe.
Don’t think that God’s joy is with the full church, that crowd that is there; God’s joy is as valid for that full church as it is for a single heart that is in need of His love and His salvation. That is why the Word of God tells us today that for the Father there is no lost son, what exists is a “sheep son” in need of salvation.
We often give up on people very easily; We say that they are hopeless, but God doesn’t give up on anyone, He believes that, no matter how difficult that person’s situation seems humanly, nothing is impossible for His love. You may even hear: “A stick that is born crooked will die crooked”, but in the Kingdom of God a stick that is crooked will straighten out! People who, humanly, you look at and say: “There is no other way!”, for God they have light, they have a solution and they have a path to salvation!
Let Paul of Tarsus, Francis of Assisi and Ignatius of Loyola say it, let all converts throughout history say it; Let me and you say it. There is a way for me and you, there is a way for the one who is lost and we, many times, have already given up on him.
Don’t give up on anyone! It may be that humanly you no longer have the strength to deal with this or that situation. It may be that, humanly, you have already tried in various ways, now is the time for you to try spiritually and say: “Lord, it is into Your hands that I place this son of mine, my husband, this person. It is in Your hands, Father, that I place him, because I no longer see the possibility, but for the Lord nothing is impossible!”
If you no longer have human means to help the person, seek more, with greater intensity, spiritual means, spiritual grace. This could take a long time, twenty, thirty years – let Saint Monica say that she never gave up on her son, Saint Augustine.
In this way, God the Father wants to tell us today that He does not give up on any of His sheep, there are some that are very far away. Jesus needs hands, he needs me and you to look for those on the other side of the bank or the mountain.
We may say: “Maybe not even further”, but God has His means to save them. May we learn from our hearts the Lord that there are no lost people; What there are are people who need to find their way in life!
God bless you!