What if a work of art could speak to us like one of Jesus’ parables? In this episode, we reflect on an Indo-Portuguese carving of The Dream of the Good Shepherd through the parable of the lost sheep. As we gaze and pray, we discover how art helps us both find ourselves and lose ourselves in God.

Matthew 18:12-13

Jesus’ parables were stories meant not to explain, but to awaken. They opened the imagination to see divine truth revealed in ordinary things — a seed, a lamp, a shepherd. In this week’s Art and Prayer, Rev. Rob McPherson invites us to approach art in the same way: as a visual parable that opens us to discovery. When we gaze upon art with attention and faith, we find ourselves drawn into conversation with the Eternal, discovering truths that words alone cannot hold.

Our time of reflection centers on an Indo-Portuguese carving known as The Dream of the Good Shepherd. In this delicate work, the Christ Child rests on a mountaintop as sheep gather around Him. Beneath His feet flows the Fountain of Life, and at the base reclines Mary Magdalene beside a lion and lambs. Each layer of the carving becomes a chapter in a sacred story — one that speaks of care, vulnerability, and the divine longing to bring every lost one home.

Using the parable of the lost sheep from Matthew 18:12-14, Rev. McPherson guides us into prayerful questions: Where do we find ourselves in this image? What does it reveal about our own experience of being lost — or of searching for others? The carving, like a parable, becomes a mirror of our spiritual journey and a window into the heart of God.

Through pauses of contemplation and moments of listening, we are reminded that art can help us both find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time, as Thomas Merton once wrote. We find ourselves in the emotions the art stirs, and we lose ourselves in the vast compassion that the Good Shepherd reveals.

In this episode, the call of the shepherd is not only to seek the lost, but also to trust the healing power of divine love — love that moves beyond our ability, yet works through our willingness to show compassion. As we pray with this artwork, may we discover how to be both seekers and found ones, participants in the dream of a God who leaves no one behind.