every now and again the homilies at mass will leave me a little bit confused. now most of the time they are simplistic, clichéd, and somewhat juvenile and this week fulfilled that criteria and then some. today's gospel was the naming of the twelve apostles and asking for laborers for the harvest. with the old testament and epistle there is quite a lot to work with, even to produce simplistic etc. but father started off saying that they gospel presents the apostles as being afraid and confused. father went on to say that we don't know much about the lives and characters of the apostles, except perhaps for peter, and that this was rather fitting because all of us are likely to be forgotten by history in time but that God will never forget us because we are His precious children. im afraid that i tuned out for most of the remainder of the homily (i'm sorry but hearing drivel week after week has that effect on one), but the phrases "God's precious children" "on eagle's wings" "each by name" did come up over and over again. i do remember the supposed distress on the part of the apostles not being cleared up. hence the confusion, on my part, remained.
i'd always thought that it was the crowds that were lost and astray like sheep (He does say to go to the lost sheep of Israel) and that the apostles are being sent to shepherd them so that they will no longer be lost and afraid. further, the traditions of the church tell us quite a bit about the lives and characters of the apostles and many other saints. in fact the church makes a point of recording the lives of the saints so that they won't be lost and so that we, the rest of the church, have visible examples of how to live out the gospel.

*sigh*

perhaps father simply mis-spoke and meant to say "crowds" at the beginning of his homily...