Tuesday, December 6 : Basil of Seleucia

Let us consider Christ, our shepherd; let us look at his love for us and his gentleness in leading us to pasture. He delights in the sheep around him even as he seeks for the ones that stray. Hills and forests are no obstacle to him; he runs into the valley of darkness, down to where the lost sheep is to be found. When he finds it to be sick he does not cast it aside but heals it; taking it on his shoulders, he tends the weary sheep with his own weariness. His exhaustion makes him happy because he has found the lost sheep, and this cures him of his suffering. “Which of you,” he says, “having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them does not leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness to go after the one that was lost until he finds it?” The loss of a single sheep disturbs the happiness of the gathered flock but the joy of finding it again casts this sadness out: “When he finds it … he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep'” (Lk 15:5-6). This is the reason why Christ – who is this shepherd – said: “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). “The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal” (Ex 34:16).
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team