Second Tuesday of Advent
Saint Juan Diego
9 December 2025
Carried Home on the Shoulders of Mercy
If there is one word that captures Advent,
today’s first reading gives it to us right away:
“Comfort.”
“Comfort, give comfort to my people,”
God says through Isaiah,
people who were afraid, defeated, and far from home.
Israel had lost their land.
Their hearts were heavy with shame.
Imagine if it were our generation that lost the United States,
and we were occupied by another country.
And it’s into that discouragement,
God doesn’t shout warnings or scoldings.
He speaks a gentle promise:
“I will come.
I will lead you home.
I will care for you like a shepherd carries the lamb.”
Advent is a season that reminds us we are not meant to stay lost.
We are not meant to stay stuck in discouragement, fear, or pain.
We belong to a God who comes looking for us.
Isaiah paints that picture so beautifully:
“Like a shepherd He feeds His flock;
in His arms He gathers the lambs,
carrying them in His bosom…”
A lamb does not find its way back on its own.
A lamb does not climb up into the shepherd’s arms.
The shepherd goes out,
finds it,
picks it up,
and holds it close.
Advent asks us to remember that is how God comes to us…
not with frustration,
but with tenderness and mercy.
Jesus takes this image even further in the Gospel.
He says:
If a shepherd has 100 sheep and one wanders away,
does he not leave the ninety-nine…
to go after the one that is lost?
Jesus could have said:
“Isn’t ninety-nine good enough?”
He could have said:
“Well, the lost one made its choice.”
But no,
one wandering heart is one too many.
Look at the verbs Jesus uses:
He searches
He goes after
He rejoices when he finds it
Our God does not wait on the mountaintop hoping we decide to climb back.
He comes down into our mess
and searches for us.
This is the heart of Advent:
God does not love us because we are close.
He comes close because He loves us.
Most of us don’t get lost dramatically.
We get lost gradually.
Not in one big decision, but in many small ones:
- A little less prayer
- A little more distraction
- A little cynicism in our hope
- A little hardness in our heart
- A little fear that God won’t show up
It looks up one day…
and it can’t see the shepherd anymore.
Maybe that’s where some of us are today:
- Tired spiritually
- Cold inside
- Feeling far
- Unsure how to get back
“I see you.
I’m already coming.
You will not have to make the journey alone.”
Jesus says the joy is not in the ninety-nine staying put…
it’s in the one being found.
He rejoices over you
far more than you criticize yourself.
There is no lostness God cannot overcome:
- the wound too deep
- the fear too strong
- the sin too familiar
- the despair too heavy
Advent is not about us proving ourselves worthy.
It’s about letting ourselves be picked up.
So maybe the question today is not:
“How can I get closer to God?”
But instead:
“Where is God trying to get closer to me?”
Where do I resist being carried?
Where do I act like I can do it on my own?
Where do I act like I must earn His embrace?
Where am I afraid that I’m too lost?
Today, God says:
“You are worth the search.
You are worth the effort.
I am coming to bring you home.”
At Christmas,
the Shepherd comes as a Child…
not to intimidate,
but to invite.
He enters our world silently,
so that no one would be afraid to draw near.
I mean, who is afraid of a baby?
So let the passage from Isaiah speak to your heart:
“Here is your God!”
Not far off.
Not disappointed.
Not calculating.
But searching…
lifting…
carrying…
rejoicing.
For help, we ask:
Saint Juan Diego, pray for us.