The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-04-16
GOOD SHEPHERD
Continued from Page /.

In search of it and carries it home to safety The
weak and sick he provides for and gives to them
the healing medicines that restore again life and
vigor.
And Christ. the Divine Shepherd. watches over
His sheep they pass over the plains of this world
Many of them stray out from the flock, attracted
by the seeming good things that grow upon the
frowning rocks and the yawning chasms Some of
Christs sheep forgetful of His presence forgetful
of His warning ovice climb up the dangerous
mountain of pride and honors and distinctions and
standing there, are unmindful of their peril, see
not how tottering is the position which they
stand. Others again descend into the chasms, the
dark ways of sin and death, where the sour and
the rotten weeds grow and the sun of virtue never
Shines and the herb the grain of eternal life never
springs up. And Christ the Good Shepherd fol
lows these, and in voice OF unuterable love calls
out to them to come back to Him. He warns the
proud, the seekers of honors and distinction of
the yawning gulf beneath. Loud his strong, sweet
voice calls to those in the darksome abyss to
forth to the sun, the light of day. and to the pas
lures that give health and strength and security.
Many of the sheep heed not the voice of love, the
voice of entreaty, the voice of warning They stay
in the dangerous the dark ways, and their end is
everlasting DEATH everlasting destruction.
Others of the stray sheep hear the voice of the
Shepherd, and they leave the dangerous ways and
come to Him. He opens out His to receive
them there is no look of reproach in His eyes, His
tongue utters not words of harshnass but only in
finite love. Yes yes, there is infinite mercy in His
touch, infinite tenderness and JOY in His voice,
He takes the weary, bruised stray sheep upon His
shoulders and brings it back to safety and saliva
ton. Aye, and He not only rejoices Himself, but
the glad hurst of JOY rings out from His flock in
heaven, His flock earth, because the lost sheep
was found. "Amen, / say unto you, there shall be
more Joy in heaven upon one sinner doing penance
than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance."
The love, the mercy, the care of the Divine
ber1 sheen he of
not speak it, the pen of angel cannot write it.
Look upon Calvarys Hill, behold there the
three crosses. The center one bears the form of
the Christ. He is dying for His sheep. stray
sheep is dying beside Him. What stray sheep in
the worlds history, what sinner the blacklist and
the worst since the dawn of creation to now can
ponder on that scene and not feel hope2
Out there in the world two young boys went to
school together They studied upon the same
bench the same rosy hope of a brilliant future
was in their hearts, they shared anothers joys
and sorrows they left the school, they left the
neighborhood of old friends and loved associations
Out into the world they went. They separated with
the golden sun of promise shining upon them. The
years passed and they met again. One pros
porous, man of justice integrity and truth the
other was stray sheep, failure in this world,
and the rags of his wretchedness hung about him
and the scars of his sins were upon him. Their
hands met their eyes filled with tears there no
words spoken only these and they sprang from
the lips of the failure, the stray sheep: "By my
folly / have made myself what / am, sin and gay
companions, the gambling dens and the homes of
vice have dragged me down. Don't look at me.
Your ways now and mine are different" and the
stray sheep turns away from his pure, unsullied
friend of the boyhood days, and we catch the last
spoken words of the lost sheep he goes out again
into the night: Remember me if you can, for the
sake of our boyhood days, for the sake of the old
home and all its tender associations" Out there
in the world that scene is enacted every day.
Turn from that sad picture, turn to another
world the world of the Good Shepherd, the world
of Christ Behold, [ say, these three crosses, and
the robber the stray sheep upon of these
speaks, and his words have rang down the ages of
time, his words have carried hope, and carrying
hope have carried JOY and peace to many more of
the stray sheep. "Lord, remember me when Thou
contest to Thy Kingdom" Twenty centuries have
passed since then, twenty centuries of revolution
and change, twenty centuries of birth and death,
twenty centuries of rosy hopes and darksone dis
appointments but the love of the Good Shepherd
remains, the words of the robber Remember me- "
remain, and the thoughts of the robber though he
expressed them not in words, still we today can
write them
Lord 1 suffer justly, sin and bloodshed and rob-
berry was my life, the ignomnious gibbet is my fit
ting end. Lord you suffer unjustly. You are low
ing pure and good. Ny place is not beside Thee,
my home is not with Thee. I am a robber, but.
Lord, sometimes remember when Thou CONTEST to
the glory, the peace of Thy Kingdom, the malefac-
tor who died beside Thee
The eyes of the dying Christ are fixed upon the
robber. The mind of the dying Christ thinks not
upon the robbers past lfe his past sins; no, no,
the mind of the dying Christ sees only the rob
ber's the stray sleeps penance and humility ex-
pressed in these three words, 'Lord, remember me,
and the lips of the dying Christ murmur this in
fnitely sweet sentence:
"Amen, / say unto you this day thou shall be
with me in my kingdom"
The Good Shepherd, the dying Christ, has taken
the robber, the lost sheep to His Heart and His
fold lighted up forever with the glory of God
What stray sheep beholding that scene, no mat
ter how long may be the years of his straying, no
matter how black may be his trangressions, will
refuse to come home to his Christ, the Good Shep-
herd, @and there shall be more JOY in heaven upon
one sinner doing penance than upon ninety-nine
just who need not penance."