Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 7, 2019
All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
“Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Everyone loses things at least once in a while, but I do so quite often. I claim that I have a system I use to stay organized, but I am really just kidding myself. It probably gets old even for St. Anthony when I keep asking for help. We can all remember losing expensive and important things that certainly cause rejoicing when we find them, but what about the little things?
One such little thing for me is my green mechanical pencil. I use this pencil for everything and when I lose it I feel a little lost. Each time I find it again, hiding somewhere in the recesses of my backpack, I rejoice.
If I rejoice this much over a small pencil, how much more should our rejoicing be for people who were lost, who are so infinitely precious to God? As Christ says in today’s gospel, “the angels of God rejoice” when a sinner returns. This rejoicing occurs daily, but each iteration of return is celebrated as if it is the first one.
In contemplating the reading for this day, let us strive to be like the shepherd or the woman with ten coins rather than like the Pharisees. If we spend great energy searching for and rejoicing over little things, let us search with God to find our brothers and sisters who have lost their faith, and share in God’s rejoicing when they are brought back into the fold. Are we ourselves one of the lost ones? Let us cry out for the Good Shepherd so that he can once again find us and bring us into his fold.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, like the angels in heaven, may our hearts rejoice over the sinner who repents, over the doubting who find faith, over the despairing who find hope, over the lonely who find love. With you, may we zealously seek out the lost of our world, so that, like us, they may find their true home in you. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Willibrord evangelized the Netherlands, and people in that region still honor the saint today with a unique “dancing saints” procession.
He was born in 658 and educated in a monastery led by St. Wilfrid. At the age of 20, he went to Ireland to study and live in a monastery there. After 12 years, he had a desire to preach the faith in northern Germany, but was denied because it was a dangerous region, and other monks had tried and failed.
Willibrord traveled to Rome, where he flung himself at the feet of the pope, asking for permission to preach the Gospel to pagan nations. The pope gave him authority to do so, and gave him a number of relics with which he could consecrate altars in churches he built.
He preached in parts of what is now the Netherlands before being ordained a bishop in 695. As he aged, he only seemed to gain zeal and energy for the spread of the Gospel. With help from patrons, he established a monastery in Echternach, Luxembourg, which became the center of learning and culture.
A town surrounds the abbey in Echternach today. Each Tuesday after Pentecost, the people of the town gather for a festival known as the Dancing Saints. Its origins are obscure, but it has been celebrated since the 1500s. The people of the town process with a dancing step to music, moving through the town, over a bridge, to the tomb of Willibrord. The ceremony ends with a benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Video of the people of Echternach processing to St. Willibrord’s tomb can be seen here.
In one of his journeys, Willibrord landed upon an island that was revered as a holy place by the Danes. The people there refused to kill anything on the island for food—either animals or plants—and only drew water from a spring in complete silence. Willibrord set out to demonstrate this reverence as foolishness and killed several animals and ate them with his companions. He then baptized three people in the spring, loudly pronouncing the words to the rite.
In other places, he confronted paganism, overthrowing idols and boldly proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ. For a time, he was joined by St. Boniface.
Willibrord was known as cheerful and wise, and he nourished all of his evangelical activity with a healthy prayer life of meditation and reading. From time to time, he would return to the monastery he founded at Echternach for retreat and prayer. He died there on this date in 739 at the age of 81, and is buried in the abbey church, which is a place of pilgrimage. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. Willibrord is patron of those who suffer from seizures.
St. Willibrord, you evangelized the Netherlands and are honored in the festival of the Dancing Saints—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Willibrord is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed October 10, 2024.