The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Parishes Looking For Lost Sheep

Episode Date: May 22, 2026

Jesus calls every parishioner to seek out the “lost sheep” in their lives with compassion, courage, and hope. Jeff reminds us that seeking them out is not just the mission of priests or parish programs—it’s the calling of every disciple. * Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 483, parishes looking for lost sheep. Welcome to the show. Jeff Kaven's with you once again talking about the Bible, discipleship, living that victorious life in Christ, the sacrificial life. Today we're going to be talking

about a topic that almost everybody knows something about, but maybe not paying attention to it. And that is we're going to be talking today about parishes looking for lost sheep. We've been talking about this before. There's been quite a few shows about lost sheep that we've done in the past. But as I was preparing for today, I was thinking to myself, there's got to be people who have children, relatives, friends who have left the faith or left the church and are out there wandering around. And I thought I would address that today at two levels, really. One on a personal level and the second on a parish level, the parish being aware of looking for lost sheep out there. If you want the show notes, text my name, Jeff Kaven's, one word, to the number

3377. That's 3377. We'll get you the notes. I've got a few scripture references today that I'm going to be including in the notes, so you might want those. But start off, are you doing well? I hope you are doing well. and I hope that everything that we're providing is of some use to use, some encouragement, maybe some direction in your life. You know that this whole thing of being a disciple of Jesus is not a single thing. It's not a solo flight. We're here together in the body of Christ.

And some of us are seen and some of us are not seen. And well, I guess my role is to teach and to encourage. And that's what I've been doing actually for the last 50 years. Can you believe it? So it's always a privilege to be with you. Earlier, as it must have been three weeks ago, I received an email about a lost family member. And they were describing a family member. In this case, it was a daughter that they had not seen for a long time. She left home when she was young and she's been traversing the country looking for enlightenment and truth and wandering from state to state and struggling. with addiction, struggling with a sense of value, and always seeming to get into the wrong

place and the parents and her siblings are very concerned and are not quite exactly, you don't exactly know what to do or how to proceed. And I think the good news there is that Jesus does see your lost sheep. He does see that daughter of yours. And if your son happens to be a way or your parents or a nephew, niece, whoever it might be. That's what we're going to talk about today. And it's interesting because when I was thinking about this, I thought to myself, there's many lost sheep to be true, but actually they're in plain sight somewhere. They're lost sheep, but they're actually in plain sight somewhere. And you don't know where they're at exactly in their faith, their journey, or they're wandering around, but most likely they're in touch with

other people, or they work with other people, or they are friends with other people who do know the faith, whether they're responding to Jesus called to share the gospel, share the good news, we don't know that, but many lost sheep are actually in plain sight out there somewhere in the world. And if your daughter, your son, your dad, your mom is out there and you'd consider them a lost sheep, they're probably in the plain sight of somebody out there. So let's take a look at scripture for a moment here. I have a few of them for you. You know, the parable of the lost sheep is one of the parables that Jesus teaches from, and we've heard a lot about it in the last year. It appears in the Gospels of Matthew, and I'll put them in the show notes, Matthew 18, 12 through 14, and Luke 15, 3, through

And it's about a shepherd who leaves his flock of 99 sheep in order to find the one that is lost. And I'll just say right off the bat here that if the shepherd, who is Jesus, leaves the 99 to go look for that one lost sheep, then there's two things that we have to remember. One, Jesus is not going to forget about the 99. Right now he's on a mission. and he is considering that one sheep that's lost so important that he's going to leave the 99. He's going to go after that one who is lost, who is hiding, who is out there somewhere. In Matthew 18, just sort of take this in today.

I'm going to read it to you and just listen to it, keeping in mind that lost sheep that you are experiencing in your life. Matthew 18, see that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it. more than over the 99 that never went away. So it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Now, there is a different take on this, a slightly different flavor here in Luke's Gospel, chapter 15. So he told them this parable, what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. So number one, a very important thing to remember as you begin to tackle this difficulty in your life of that lost sheep is to orient yourself properly. And by that I mean to orient yourself alongside of the view of Jesus and how Jesus views that one lost sheep. The scripture says the shepherd is moved over the one. He's moved. It moves his heart, that one.

He's not indifferent. He isn't just kind of hoping they come back. Not at all. It's not a passive attitude that the shepherd has. It is action. It's a verb, if you will. And by the way, that's the way the church needs to look at all of this. We don't just wait for them to come home.

We're moved by the fact that there are so many people that are out there lost. So who is that one among your acquaintances? Think about that for a moment. Who is that one? You know already, right? You know, you probably wrote me an email. I might even be able to name them all off, but you know who that one is. Now, the thing about sheep, and this has nothing to do with your kids or relatives or your friends that are lost or anything, but let's be honest when it comes to sheep, and you can read about this anywhere, sheep are dim-witted, easily distracted, and prone to wandering into dangerous, dangerous areas. and everything I'm saying here, I'm actually saying about ourselves because we are sheep as well, the sheep of his fold. And I'll be honest with you, there's times I'm dim-witted. There's times that

I'm easily distracted. And I know that's something that all of us could probably say amen to, distracted with entertainment, sports, with hobbies, with worries, all kinds of things in our life. and we're also prone to wandering into dangerous areas. Well, we didn't know it was dangerous, but it was, but we're sheep, and it will dawn on us at some point. That was not a good choice. But how does the Lord go and look for the one? How does he actually go and do it?

How is he going to leave the 99 and go after the one? And the story is quite clear as to what Jesus did, but here's the key is that you have to remember, remember that this is not Jesus now alone, but Jesus is connected to something. Or should I say somebody? Jesus is connected to the body of Christ. He's connected to the church. So how does the Lord go and look for the one? How is he going to do it? He's going to do it through his body, the church. It'll make it even a little bit more personal. He's going to do it through you. That's Right. Because as you're out there at work or you're going to the ballgame or taking a walk,

you just might be walking by a lost sheep. And their parents live in Toledo. Their parents live in San Francisco. Their parents live in Miami. Their parents live in Omaha. But there you are in Iowa walking by that lost sheep. And you probably didn't even know it. But what happens if you're going to be in Iowa. if the church isn't looking for that one. What would be the result if the majority of Catholics and parishes were not, number one, even aware that they were to be looking for lost sheep? Number two, didn't actually execute and engage someone in a conversation. Now, I'm not just saying, you're going to walk around the lake and the guy walks by and you say,

excuse me, by any chance, are you a lost sheep? Are your parents praying for you somewhere? That's not the way we go about it. But in the course of everyday conversation, interfacing with people at work or wherever it might be, class reunion, whatever, those are the opportunities where you listen for this type of thing and then you have a decision to make.

Am I going to do this? Am I going to say something? Am I going to encourage them in some way? Ask a little bit about what's going on in their life? or are you going to say absolutely nothing, nothing? I'm going to take a break here, but when I come back, I've got an amazing story I want to share with you. I think I shared, I don't know how many years ago it was, but I think I shared this story

with you, maybe a couple times in the last 10 years, but it's worth repeating because it really illustrates exactly what I'm talking about. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Someone shows up in your parish because they're being drawn towards. the Catholic Church. Maybe they can't quite explain why, but something is pulling them. OCI could be the moment that changes everything for them, where a quiet curiosity becomes a real encounter with Jesus Christ. But the gap between how OCIA is and how it could be is real, and the catechists leading it need more than a schedule. They need vision, tools, and a program

that actually forms disciples. Invited, your job. journey into the Catholic Church is Ascension's new OCIA program. 28 lessons that walk participants through the Catholic faith with theological depth, personal warmth, and a focus on conversion, not just completion. Invited includes a participant guide that meets the seekers exactly where they are, a leader guide with catechus formation built right in. A trade book with questions and answers many newcomers might be. afraid to ask and a mass companion book to help them participate in the mass actively,

both interiorly and exteriorly. Our hope at Ascension is that invited will help make OCI in your parish what it was always meant to be, a true journey into life with Christ. To learn more, visit ascensionpress.com slash invited. Welcome back. Talking about parishes looking for lost sheep. I mentioned to you on the other side of the break that I was going to share this story with you. You never know when you are walking by someone's lost sheep or you are flying with them on an airplane. I was on a flight one day a number of years ago. And I was sitting next to the window, I don't know, six, seven rows back. And a rather tall young lady came on to the plane and she walked back and she sat down right next to me. Now, I always talk to people. You know,

how are you doing? You having a good day? Uh, are you? Many hours. Applish your home, where are you going to? You're on a business trip. There's all kinds of ways of opening a conversation. And she said, well, yeah, I'm going back home. And I said, you're in college? And she said, yeah, yeah, I am. I said, well, what are you studying? And she told me what she was studying. And then she said she was on the volleyball team. I thought, ah, that makes sense. She's probably six two, six three, something like that. So anyway, I started talking to her about volleyball in high school and where she's from. And I asked if other members of her family were volleyball players. And she said no. And she said, my family's more into religion or something like

that. And I thought, aha, okay. So I make a long story short, I got into a conversation with her and found out that she was raised in a Catholic home. And she was one of, I believe, six or seven siblings and they had gone off to various schools and so forth. And then she said to me out of nowhere, and people will do this, by the way, they will offer up all kinds of information for you. She said, I'm kind of the black sheep among the siblings. So why are you? Because you're a volleyball player? No. She said, they're all real strong Catholics. And I thought, huh, that's interesting. I didn't jump on that now. I didn't jump on it at that point. But I said, that's very interesting. and she said, I'm the black sheep. I'm the one that's just not quite going along with it.

And then she told me that some of her siblings went to Franciscan University in Stubinville. And I thought, isn't this interesting? I still didn't tell her all about who I was, that I taught there or anything else. And then out of nowhere, this lost sheep, who didn't know that she was really lost and didn't know me, said that her parents made her watch Life on the Rock on EWTN for years. Well, if you're new to the show, I was that host of Life on the Rock on EWTN, and I'm kind of smiling inside as she said it. And I said, really, really? And then I broke the news to her that I'm the host of EWTN's Life on the Rock

when she was watching it. And she looked over me and she goes, oh my gosh, you do look familiar. I said, yeah, I'm the one. Now, at that point, I realized that no doubt her parents are praying for. No doubt they have asked others to pray for her. No doubt they are worried in some way. And guess who sits down next to the lost sheep?

a disciple of Jesus. I spotted it. I've got an eye for lost sheep. And I looked at her and started to talk about Jesus and about why she might be sitting here right now. It was a lovely talk, a wonderful talk. But what happens if the church isn't looking for that one? Okay. I would encourage every parish, every OCIAA director, every adult catech.

every high school catechist, every priest, every deacon, to regularly, regularly remind members of the parish to pray for family members, friends, colleagues at work who are lost sheep now. And I would encourage them to regularly tell them to regularly look for opportunities. And one of the common lines you get from people is, well, I used to be. Catholic or I got out of the Catholic Church or I that's not for me anymore. What are you doing now? I have nothing really. Wow. Sounds like a lost sheep to me. Now there are two things that are assumed in Catholicism out there to one degree or another. Number one, it's assumed that the church is looking. I don't buy it. I do not buy it. I don't think that the average person out there is actively

out there looking for lost sheep. I know. I was raised Catholic. I've never heard anybody talk about it. But I think we do need to talk about it. I think we need to remind people, we've got to start looking for lost sheep. But number two, the church knows how to bring them into the flock. That's the crazy thing, is that the church with the OCI and also confession and inviting people to come with us to Mass, the church knows how to bring them into the flock. The church is very, very good on paper about that. But what we want is not on paper, but on pavement out there in the wild. We need to be looking and we need to have a plan on how we bring people back into the fold.

You see, the sheep doesn't have to work to get home. The sheep that are lost, they don't have to work to get back home. They don't know anymore. It is not something that they are thinking. He doesn't have to find the way. But think about the way our parishes are organized for a moment, okay? Just think about this. And this is not throwing shade on any parish or anything like that. I think I'm describing an average parish out there to a pretty good degree. and that is that when it comes to new members in our parishes or it comes to lost sheep coming home, we kind of take on this attitude of,

well, if they're interested, they know where we're at. No, they're lost. You've got to listen to what Jesus said. They're not confused sheep. They're not disoriented sheep. They're not directionally challenged sheep. They're lost. Have you ever been lost?

That's a scary feeling sometimes. I remember first time I got lost in the old city in Jerusalem in 1985. This was about one in the morning, dark, cats running in front of me and everything dripping off the roof. I was lost. That meant I didn't know how to get home at that point. I didn't know how to get back to the hotel. Being lost is kind of a weird feeling.

But the church is very, very good at this. And we don't want to have the attitude of, look, they're lost, they know where we're at. Here is where we're at. This is when we meet. We even have a bulletin. If they want to come, they know where we're at. It doesn't work like that. It just doesn't work like that.

Try that recipe for drug addicts or for people addicted to alcohol or people who are living their life with unforgiveness in their life. that's not their mindset. Their mindset is, I think, that if I'm ever going to be helped, I'm going to run into the right person. So we can't have that kind of attitude. But we also sometimes will pawn this off on a committee that deals with helping people as if we're not all supposed to be doing it. Well, we got a special committee that deals with lost sheep and we have two or three leaders that have got some curriculum that they can put them through. This is all very, very cold. Why aren't people standing in line to find help if that is the case?

We got a committee and they know where we're at. They even know mass times. Why aren't people standing in line to come back in? They don't know what they need. And they don't know that we have answers. They're lost, my friend. They're lost. While both parables I read to you earlier, both versions of the lost sheep use the same cast of characters,

Jesus was actually speaking to two different audiences about two different concerns. In Matthew 18, the lost sheep parable is given in response to a question asked by Jesus' disciples about who's the greatest. He uses it to address appropriate attitudes and disciplines among believers. In Luke 15, the lost sheep parable is given in response to the disapproving comments of religious leaders. This time, he addresses their judgmental attitudes toward the unrighteous, the sheep that are lost, the liars and cheaters in the crowd. When the shepherd goes out in search of the one sheep, it's good news for all the sheep. All the sheep. we can have a bad attitude, you know.

I see someone in a bad situation. I start making up reasons for why they've gotten themselves into that mess. Haven't just seen them? They deserve it. Well, it's because they haven't obeyed God, right? They haven't followed Jesus. They have not said yes. But our attitude will be, well, it's because they haven't obeyed God as I have.

They're welcome back into the fold anytime, but they'd better clean up their actions. act first before they take a step into this paid-for parish. Crossing the threshold of space, entering someone else's life by asking a question or taking some action is exactly what we're called to do. Crossing the threshold of space. Crossing the threshold of pain. Crossing the threshold of indecision.

So let me ask you. ask you this. If we're going to ignore the lost sheep as a parish or individual, let me ask you this question. Who would Jesus ignore? Who would he ignore? You know the answer. No one. He wouldn't ignore anybody. As disciples of Christ and as members of parishes, we cannot ignore. And let me just add this as we get ready to close out. If you are a lost sheep and you're listening to this podcast. You're listening for a reason, and you no doubt have loved ones around the country, around the world who are praying for you. Might even stay up at night crying, hoping just to hear from you. I want you to know, Mr. Mrs. Lost Sheep, you are loved. You hear me, you are loved.

You are valuable. You are important. And you are needed. Now I want you to know that you are precious in the heart of God and he is willing to die for you. And I want to welcome you home to a new beginning where you can clear out all the garbage in your heart and the guilt and the shame and anything else that you've been involved in and invite you to a new beginning. If that's you, I'm going to ask you to get in touch with your local Catholic church and just make an appointment. and go in, talk to the pastor to say, I heard this podcast, I've been away too long. And I just stumbled upon this podcast.

I just did a Google search and ended up with this Jeff guy. And it convicted me and I want to come back. I want to call home. Would you do that? Let's pray together in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lord, I lift up all the lost sheep in the families that are represented here with all of us together. Lord, I lift up their lost sheep to you. You know where they're at.

Lord, send people. Send people to talk to them, to love them, to show mercy and grace and kindness. And Lord, open our eyes that we might see lost sheep now. As we go to work, we go to games, as we take walks, make us sensitive to that one lost sheep. And Lord, we know that you would leave the 99 and go after the one. and Lord, I know I'm part of your body. Let me do it. I'll take this one.

In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you, love you, and look forward to talking to you later.