Ever hear the story of the one little nail? It goes like this: “A proverbial nail made the following assessment of itself:
‘They won’t miss me. They don’t need me. Nobody likes me. After all, here is a big, beautiful building. It has stained glass windows, plush carpet, painted walls, a beautiful pulpit, and chandeliers. I am just a little nail holding down a shingle on the roof. I am not important.’
So, the nail worked itself loose and fell to the ground. It began to rain, and the nail was buried in the mud and began to rust. The shingle loosened and rain began to leak into the beautiful building. The water stained the pews, pulpit, walls and carpet… all because the nail felt he was not important. Therein lies a lesson in the importance of one nail.”
We might add that we should never underestimate the importance and power of one life, the potential each life has to influence others, and the fact that each life is an image of God. Each of our lives makes a difference in whatever sphere we call our surrounding environment. In history, we know the effect one person like Rosa Parks, Dorothy Day, Pope John Paul II, and so many saints and so many others, had on our church and world.
Today we celebrate St. Juan Diego, a simple farmer who Mary appeared to at Guadalupe, Mexico. Of this saint and Mary’s appearance, Pope Francis said: “On that morning, God roused the hope of the little ones, of the suffering, of those displaced, of all who feel they have no worthy place in these lands.”
In the New Testament, Jesus touches people’s hearts one at a time in many encounters and stories: the rich young man, the Prodigal Son, the woman at the well, etc. A verse from Luke’s gospel says this: “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
Perhaps that’s a lesson we can take away from Jesus today when he tells the story of the one lost sheep. That shepherd left 99 other sheep to seek and find the one that was wandering, the one who needed to be found, the one who had lost his way. To the shepherd, that one sheep was important.
Don’t we know people who also might have wandered away from the church and might want to be found by a kind and understanding friend? Perhaps this Advent, we can personally reach out to someone we know who is looking for meaning in life, or like the nail in our story, doesn’t feel important, or has any sense of purpose, or might be waiting to be invited to our faith community. We can listen to them, invite them to Mass or the Live Nativity Scene. As individuals and as a community, can we each make that extra effort to be welcoming and hospitable to just one person?
As the shepherd rejoiced over the one sheep he gently brought back to the flock, may we have the grace and the courage to help someone know that they are one person, like that one nail, who is a very important piece to the whole beautiful church of God.
