God’s Love for the One

There are a lot of things that happen within a parish that most people don’t necessarily think about, unless it somehow involves them. For example, within the past two weeks we have had to replace a freezer and a condenser unit with an air conditioner. If you are a homeowner, you may be able to relate to what it takes to maintain a building. However our units were both industrial grade units, which means we add a zero to their cost. I mention these items to highlight that we have significant expenses, some planned and others not, but continue to operate only because of generous donors like you.

A planned expense we incurred recently was for the purchase of several laptop computers. Historically churches often utilized equipment until it completely failed. While such a practice allows one to push off the cost of purchasing items as long as possible, I hope you can appreciate that it is not a sound way of operating an organization. There are simply too many things that can go wrong by managing in such a way. One is you end up with expenses you haven’t budgeted for. Second, staff are using equipment that is outdated, inefficient, and not supportive of the job we expect them to perform. So yesterday I received a new laptop, along with a number of other staff, that we budgeted for and am writing my first bulletin article on it.

Enough about the business side of running a parish, what I really want to tell you about is something that happens with some frequency after Mass. Parents and children leave church and go out to their vehicle. As they climb into the vehicle one of the kids realizes he or she left a toy in church. Mom or dad return to the church, leaving the rest of the family in the vehicle to retrieve the missing toy. 

The Gospel reading for Mass today, Tuesday, was about a shepherd leaving ninety-nine sheep and going to look for the one sheep that was lost. Most of us think the shepherd to be a fool. The ninety-nine are left in great danger, while the shepherd is searching for the one. The parable is meant to tell of the great love God has for us; it is akin to the shepherd who risks ninety-nine to find the one that is lost. We see this love frequently exhibited by parents. They do what they can to satisfy one child who is grieving, hurting, saddened, or fearful, even if it means setting aside the rest of the family. If just one is hurting, parents will go to extremes to care for that child, so that the whole family can be complete. And that is our God. God has this strong desire for His family to be complete. If just one is hurting, the family is not whole. This is the type of love we are called to emulate. I love being able to connect a current life experience to a scripture passage. It makes the story complete.