The Shepherd’s Tender Might

Voice over by Carol San San Lwin

Isa 40:1-11; Psalm: 95; Mt 18:12-14

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, in the midst of our weariness, our failures, and the deserts we sometimes traverse, the Word of God today speaks a word of unimaginable comfort. It reveals a God whose might is not expressed in crushing power, but in a shepherd’s tender, relentless love.

The Prophet Isaiah speaks to a people in exile, their hearts weighed down by failure and separation. And the divine command is clear: “Comfort, give comfort to my people… Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” This is the language of a lover, not a tyrant. The prophet then unveils the true nature of God’s power. He is the one who “rules by his strong arm,” yet His action is to gently feed His flock and “gather the lambs in his arms, carrying them in his bosom.” The strong arm of God is revealed in the gentle cradling of the weakest sheep. His glory is not a terrifying spectacle, but the reassuring presence of a shepherd who leads with care.

This prophetic vision finds its living, breathing fulfillment in the teaching of Jesus. When asked about the Kingdom, He does not point to armies or palaces. He tells the story of a single, lost sheep. A shepherd, with ninety-nine others safe in the fold, does not write off the one as a reasonable loss. He leaves them and goes in search of the one who is lost. This is the heart of God—a love that is not satisfied with the majority, but is relentlessly personal. Jesus concludes, “It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” The tender might of the shepherd is His unwavering commitment to seek and to save what is lost.

This is the beautiful, consoling truth of our Catholic faith. The same God whose voice the prophets heard is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. The Church is the fold, but she is also sent on the shepherd’s mission to go out and find the lost. As Pope Francis constantly urges us, we must be a Church with “the smell of the sheep,” one that seeks out the peripheries and brings the comfort of the Gospel to those who have strayed.

The comfort for us is this: no matter how far we have wandered, we are never written off. We are that one sheep, personally known and relentlessly sought by God. His strong arm is extended not to strike us, but to carry us home. The challenge is twofold: First, to allow ourselves to be found—to stop hiding in the brambles of our shame and to respond to the Shepherd’s call. Second, to become shepherds ourselves in our families and communities, seeking out those who feel lost or excluded with the same tender compassion.

Let us take to heart the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “The sheep is not so much known by the shepherd as the shepherd by the sheep.” Do we know our Shepherd’s voice?

May the Lord grant us the grace to hear His comforting voice today, to rest in His tender might, and to join Him in the joyful work of seeking and saving the lost. Amen.