We have
a lot of imagery about shepherds & sheep in today's readings. The prophet Ezekiel delivers a message to the
people of Israel, bemoaning the facts that the shepherds, the leaders who
should have been caring for the people, have instead been looking out for
themselves & abandoning their leadership responsibilities. God instead tells them He himself will look
after and tend his sheep. Our psalmist declares in the well-known psalm 23 -
“The Lord is my shepherd – there is nothing I shall want.”
The
Lord sent Jesus to be our shepherd, to shepherd his flock, yet how many of us
say that we follow his teachings & his call, yet in reality, our lives are
often dominated by the values and pleasures of our secular world. In the
parable of the landowner who pays the laborers the same wage no matter how much
they had worked, perhaps God is demonstrating for us his great mercy and
compassion. Perhaps we are called to
show this same love and mercy to our brothers & sisters.
Our
Catholic faith has a rich, wonderful tradition of social teachings that sees
the dignity in each human life & works toward the common good in our
society. With the Lord as our shepherd,
may we all live out lives in peace & justice as we travel along our journey
of faith.
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