{"id":145394,"date":"2023-06-16T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-what-about-those-99-sheep-left-behind\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T11:36:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T15:36:53","slug":"ask-a-priest-what-about-those-99-sheep-left-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-what-about-those-99-sheep-left-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Ask a Priest: What About Those 99 Sheep Left Behind?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<address>Q: My hairdresser, a Protestant who recently returned to her faith, was wondering about the parable of the lost sheep. She understood why Jesus went after the lost sheep but did not understand why he would just leave 99 alone. It seemed she was concerned that they were abandoned or alone. Please offer thoughts of what the Church teaches on this parable. \u2013 Julie<\/p>\n<p class=\"m-4021602221989404838ydp69645e4cyiv5078300124ydpfd2d5a57yiv0421283852ydp3cd5237dmsonormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 115%;\">\n<\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0When it comes to parables it&#8217;s good not to try to read every detail in a <em>literalist<\/em> way.<\/p>\n<p>The point of this parable isn&#8217;t that Jesus would abandon the 99 &#8212; that would be absurd, since he came for the salvation of everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, the parable points up that every single soul is important to Our Lord. He doesn&#8217;t want anyone to slip through the cracks. He is willing to search for the lost sheep.<\/p>\n<p>That is why the Church reaches out and prays for the lost sheep who drift away from Christ. The Church knows that Jesus loves all souls, so all souls are worth fighting for.<\/p>\n<p>The parable, as told in <a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/15?4=#50015004\">Luke 15<\/a>, comes right before the parable of the lost coin. In both cases there is a celebration.<\/p>\n<p>The idea that poor peasants would call together family members and neighbors to celebrate such relatively minor events is an exaggeration. It\u2019s unlikely that the working poor would have time to break for such a celebration. Again, the point is that to underscore how much Jesus values the return of a lost soul.<\/p>\n<p>The above answer is by no means meant to be an exhaustive interpretation of the Lost Sheep parable. Other perspectives and insights could be drawn out.<\/p>\n<p>Scripture is full of riches that will be mined till the end of the world. And it can certainly provide lots of material for more conversations with your hairdresser.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q: My hairdresser, a Protestant who recently returned to her faith, was wondering about the parable of the lost sheep. 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Edward McIlmail, LC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC"},"description":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC, ordained to the priesthood in 2001, taught theology and Scripture at the then Mater Ecclesiae College in Rhode Island and is now a part-time chaplain at Overbrook Academy in Greenville, R.I. He holds degrees from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut, the Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum in Rome, and Northwestern University in Illinois. He was an assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith &amp; Family magazine and an editor of the Zenit news agency\u2019s English edition. He has written for\u00a0SpiritualDirection.com\u00a0and\u00a0ePriest. Fr. McIlmail also worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest, and the South\u00a0and assisted with mission work in Mexico. Born in Philadelphia, he worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement before entering the novitiate of the Legion of Christ in 1992. His contributions to RCSpirituality include responding to\u00a0Ask A Priest\u00a0questions and sharing his insights in our\u00a0Weekly Newsletter.","url":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/author\/emcilmail\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145394"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=145394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}