Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/325



I. The  Shepherd  in  the  gospel  of  to-day,  having  lost one of  His  hundred  sheep,  went  to  seek  it. This Shepherd is Christ. Remark His  great  anxiety  and  care  for  His wandering sheep. He leaves  His  ninety-nine  others, that is,  the  innumerable  angels  in  heaven,  to  go  in  quest of the  one  that  was  lost. He stood  not  in  need  of  it,  in any  possible  point  of  view;  yet  He  spares  neither  pain nor labor,  in  endeavoring  to  find  it. When He  has found it,  He  neither  chastises  nor  reproaches  it,  but  laying it  upon  His  shoulders,  brings  it  home  again  to  the fold. "What is  man,"  O  God,  "that  Thou  shouldst magnify  him?  or  why  dost  Thou  set  Thy  heart  upon him?" (Job vii.  17.)

II. Your soul  is  in  a  particular  manner,  this  strayed sheep. You have  hitherto  wandered  up  and  down " through  the  ways  of  your  own  inventions,"  deviating from the  boundaries  of  that  virtue  and  perfection,  to which  God  has  called  you. You have  refused  to  devote to Him  your  external  and  internal  actions. You take  no longer  delight  in  the  rich  pastures,  in  which  God  wishes you to  dwell,  but  you  have  sought  for  satisfaction  and pleasure in  the  things  of  the  world. "All we,  like  sheep, have  gone  astray,  every  one  hath  turned  aside  into  his own  way." (Is. liii.  6.)

III. This loving  Shepherd  will  visit  you  to-day,  in order  to  bring  you  back  again  to  the  right  way. Beg