We read in the Gospel of the Mass one of the parables of divine mercy that most touches the human heart. A man who has a hundred sheep - a large flock - loses one of them, probably through the fault of the sheep itself, because it was left behind while they were still looking for pasture. And Jesus asks: will not the shepherd leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go and look for the one that is lost? St. Luke records these words of the Lord: And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders until he returns it to the sheepfold.
Jesus has gone out in search of us so many times, in spite of our lack of generosity and correspondence! And that is precisely why he went out again and again, even though we did not deserve it, because we always went away because of our own fault.
None of the sheep received as much attention as this one that had gone astray. The cares of divine mercy over the sinner, over us, are overwhelming. How can we not let ourselves be carried on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd if we ever stray? How can we not love frequent Confession, where we find Christ? For we have to reckon with our weakness and, therefore, with our stumbling blocks. But that same weakness, if we recognize it as such, always attracts divine mercy, which comes to us with more help, with more love. "Jesus, our Good Shepherd, hastens to look for the hundredth sheep, which was lost..... Wonderful is the condescension of God who thus seeks man; great is the dignity of man thus sought by God!".
We always count on the love of Christ, who even in the worst moments of our existence does not cease to love us. We always count on his help to return to the right path, if we have lost it, and to begin again and again. He keeps us in the fight, and "a leader on the battlefield has more esteem for the soldier who, after having fled, returns and attacks the enemy with ardor, than for the one who never turned his back, but never carried out a courageous action". He is not sanctified who never makes mistakes, but he who always repents, trusting in God's love for him, and gets up to continue fighting. The worst thing is not to have defects, but to make a pact with them, not to fight, to admit them as part of our way of being. This would lead to spiritual mediocrity, which the Lord does not want for those who follow him.