For Paul, the Good Shepherd is Jesus Christ and it is Athrough him, in the one Spirit we come to the (Eph.2:18).

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1 16 th Sunday of Year B CHRIST OUR SHEPHERD Allan Moss OMI First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6 Response: AThe Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want@ (Ps.22:1). Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22. Second Reading: Ephesians 2:13-18 Gospel: Mark 6: The Lord s my Shepherd, I ll not want. He makes me down to lie In pastures green; He leadeth me The quiet waters by. (Scottish Psalter: Jessie Irvine) What is the point of Jesus being a shepherd two thousand years ago? He is meant to be Good Shepherd all the time, for everyone, everywhere. He is the Risen Lord guiding us through the ages, leading us into the loving arms of his Father. He calls other shepherds to help in the work of redemption. Many shepherds of the Church today are not true to the call, selfishly concerned with themselves and not for good of others. The Lord indicts them: ADoom for the shepherds who have not taken care of my sheep@ (Jer.23:1). ARight,@ says the Lord AI will take care of you for your misdeeds@ (Ibid). Bad shepherds are some of our religious leaders who do not know nor seem to care what happens to the People of God. God cannot bear the loss of his flock. AI myself will gather them and bring them back@ (Jer.23:3), says the Lord. Right here on our homeground, even holy ground, some shepherds scandalize their flocks, even in our beloved country, South Africa. The People of God, the sensus fidelium, however, know who is the good shepherd. They proclaim: AThe Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want@ (Ps.22:1) Their gift of faith enables them to recognize a wayward pastor and who is the good shepherd who will show them the way. AHe is true to his (Ps.22:3) and he brings them home to Athe Lord=s own house where I shall dwell for ever and ever@ (Ps.22:6). For Paul, the Good Shepherd is Jesus Christ and it is Athrough him, in the one Spirit we come to the Father@ (Eph.2:18). Paul shows how we Ahave been brought very close through the blood of Jesus@ (Eph.2:13), the Good Shepherd, the Risen Lord who lays down his life for us and brings us Athe good news of peace@ (Eph.2:17). The Gospel shows the Shepherd caring for his flock. AHe set himself to teach them@ (Mk.6: 34). He will not leave them Alike sheep without a shepherd@ (Mk.6:34). He chooses his apostles to help him. The Gospel relates how at the end of the day Athe apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done@ (Mk. 6:30). The apostolic work of a shepherd involves not only getting to know the flock but also the owner, the Good Shepherd. The Lord knows this and so means to take his apostles to Asome lonely place where they could be alone@ (Mk.6:31).

2 Reflect upon the Gospel model and experience of a good shepherd. (Mk.6:30-34). The Good Shepherd Ahas prepared a banquet for me...my cup overflows@ (Ps.22:5). (Eucharistic feast and heaven). Beware of shepherds who neglect their flocks, giving bad example. Instead of playing down penal laws, going as far as they can without being caught, they should live up to the Law of God and His Ten Commandments. A walk with a good priest is a walk with the Good Shepherd. Let the people also be examples and encouragement to their shepherds, through prayer and witness of their faith. Pray for them. Take the Good Shepherd as a model. Be good to others and to their shepherd. Goodness and mercy all my life Shall surely follow me; And in God s house forevermore My dwelling place shall be. FOR THE CHILDREN Reflect with the children on why Jesus is the Good Shepherd. (Mk.6:30-34). See the moments they come close to the Shepherd and how he touches them, his lambs. Give the children a teaching on what the Good Shepherd means and on how we follow him. Mother Teresa says: AWe can do no great things C only little things with great love. You can do what I can=t do. I can do what you can=t do. Together we can do something beautiful for God.@ (Mother Teresa=s Address to 4 th U.N. Women=s Conference, Beijing. 1995) FOR TEENAGERS (Shared Christian Praxis) Name the present Action: Your Story and Vision: What does a shepherd or religious leader mean to you? Has experience of such persons, helped or scandalized you? Church=s Story and Vision: Teacher explains Church=s role as shepherd, viz. pastoral role, compared to dominating and other forms of leadership. Yours and Church=s Vision: Can you and Church work on model of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep in the building of the Kingdom? RCIA A shepherd is a person who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. We are shepherds to one another when we help each on his way. God indicts those who fail to serve and guide his people. Julian of Norwich appeals who will tell me and teach me what I need to know, if I cannot at this time see it in you? 1 and God wants to be known. 2 1 JULIAN OF NORWICH. Showings. Classics Western Spirituality. Ch.50. Tr. College & Walsh. Paulist p JULIAN OF NORWICH. Opus Cit. p.161. Julian of Norwich, fourteenth century visionary and mystic, wrote the Showings or Revelations of Divine Love, which consists of two texts, a short and a long one. She sees God in an instant of time, in a point, in puncto, in ictu oculi, (1Cor.15:52). She saw God not only as our father but also our mother; and Jesus our

3 Saviour is our true mother in whom we are eternally born and always enclosed. 3 Julian shares with Mary in the passion of our Lord and a longing for union with God, the fullness of divine love, a gift unmerited, a courtesy, our courteous Lord com-forting our soul. 4 Her showings began with blood seeming to trickle down Christ s face as she gazed at the crucifix. 5 She sees the Trinity, our everlasting lover, creating nature. Her theology is Christocentric, focusing on God s human nature and powerful love. Her parable of The Lord and the Servant, reveals insight into the mystery of salvation; and her belief that God s love will not allow any of humankind to be lost. Three great mysteries are God, man and reconciliation. During a grave illness, she was considered dead and restored to life. The path to joy is one of quiet humility in sufferings. She believes: I am not good because of the revelation, but only if I love God better; 6 and the Good Shepherd gives us the grace to love him. 3 JULIAN OF NORWICH. Revelations of Divine Love. Ch. 57. Tr. E. Spearing. Penguin Books, London p JULIAN OF NORWICH. Showings. Op. cit. Ch. 79. p JULIAN OF NORWICH.Showings. Op. cit. Ch. 9. P JULIAN OF NORWICH. Revelations of Divine Love. Op. cit. Ch. 3.. p.6. IMPORTANT WORD AThe Lord is my shepherd@ (Ps. 22). Many of the psalms speak of God as a rock, refuge and security. The 22 nd Psalm speaks not of standing with God in such a safe place but walking with him, by flowing streams, dark valleys and even through the shadow of death. We can go anywhere with such a faithful guide and our destiny is sure. He leads us safely home. He wants us to join him in shepherding others and show them the way. He gives us a wonderful vocation, with a breath-taking inspiration, rhythm of life, where there has to be time alone with the Lord and time with his people, a time for prayer and time for action, to be a disciple (learning at the feet of the Master) and to be an apostle (being sent out to be Good News). Yet many, as indicated in the first reading, have failed their vocation, as Dante says have midway along the journey of our life find myself in a dark wood, for I have wandered off from the straight path. 1 Where are you? 1 DANTE ALIGHIERI. The Divine Comedy. Vol.1. Inferno. Canto I.1-3. Tr. Mark Musa. Penguin Books p.67. Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy, a 14 th century epic poem, consisting of three books, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno relates Dante s journey through hell, with Virgil, sent by Beatrice to be his guide. Literally we see souls after death and Dante puts strange torments into verse. 2 Allegorically it is a journey of the soul to God, revealing how human person, according to his merits/demerits by exercise of his free will is subject to reward or punishment. The soul sees sin for what it is and hell is nine circles of suffering in terms of limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, treachery. Each circle has various levels of sin, such as the first with uncommitted souls who did nothing, neither good nor evil and are wretched with no blame and with no praise. There is Pilate, certain tonsured souls 3 (priests), shepherds in spiritual stagnation and certain popes corrupt with authority since the so-called Donation of Constantine, O Constantine, what evil did you sire, not by your conversion but by the dower. 4 Who can be more wicked than one who tries to bend God s will to his own. 5 In lower depths of hell, Dante sees Mahomet, scorned and deformed, ripped apart from crotch to chin. 6 The last gate of hell has inscription: Lascite ogne speranza, voi ch intrate (Abandon all hope ye who enter here) 7, but the Divine Comedy ends not with hell but with Paradise, where the Good Shepherd will guide us to heaven.. 2 DANTE ALIGHIERI. Opus cit. Canto XX.1. p DANTE ALIGHIERI. Opus cit. Canto XIX.115,116. p DANTE ALIGHIERI. Opus cit. Canto XXVIII.31. p DANTE ALIGHIERI..Opus cit. Canto VII.39. p DANTE ALIGHIERI. Opus cit. Canto XX.30. p DANTE ALIGHIERI. Opus cit. Canto III.9. p.89. Watchword: AThe Lord is my shepherd@ (Ps.23:1) Hebrew: Yahweh ro>i Greek: Kurios poimainei me. Latin: Dominus pascit me. LIFE EXPERIENCE When studying for my doctorate at Berkeley, California, I went to church in the Tenderloin, San Francisco. It was called >St. Paul of the Shipwreck,= mindful of Paul=s adventurous mission to the gentiles. It was a very cosmopolitan parish of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Filipinos, Vietnamese and such like, having a lively liturgy and strong sense of fellowship and outreach. It would have made

4 St. Paul feel that it was well worth the shipwreck and being a fool for Christ in his mission. Padraig Pearse=s poem on AThe Fool@ offers a fitting summary of a person so committed to his people and a cause that he was ready to die for: ALord I have staked my soul on the truth of thy word. Do not remember my failures, But remember this my faith.@ 1 1 PEARSE Padriag Anrai, Irish for Patrick Henry. Poems. Mausel and Co. Ltd. Dublin, Ireland p.335. LITTLE ANGELINA Angelina being a town-girl, has never seen a country shepherd. I wonder how realistic is the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd, to her? She knows aeroplanes and her aunt, an airhostess. Perhaps the image of Christ as a Good Pilot would ring a bell? It raises the point of what is theologically apodictic and what is casuistic, in other words, what is essentially a divine representation and what is culturally circumstantial, that is to say, what is permanent and what is changeable. Such ratiocinations in a theological debate would certainly not suit Angelina s simple view of the Good Shepherd or what the analogy we draw for Christ. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 19. GOSPEL OF MARK (A.D ) The author of this Gospel, John Mark, was not one of the twelve apostles but he accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:13). He aims to present the person, work and teachings of Jesus. The key verse is For even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (10:45). Most considered it the first Gospel to be written with others quoting Mark. He has recorded more miracles than any other Gospel, his a Gospel of action, Jesus on the move, seen in a rapid succession of vivid pictures with eighteen miracles in all and only four parables. It begins with the cry of the Baptist in the wilderness: prepare ye the way for the Lord (1:3). It moves on quickly to the call of the disciples and into the public ministry of Jesus. We see Jesus confronting demons, healing the sick and forgiving sins. Then he associates with questionable people at a dinner party given in a tax-collector s house, Matthew who became a disciple. A conflict with the Pharisees and Church leaders develop, who accuse him for eating with sinners and breaking the Sabbath. In Chapter 4, Mark pauses to give a teaching, viz. Parable of the Sower and of the Mustard Seed. After that Jesus is back in action: calming waves, casting out demons, healing Jairus daughter. On return to his home-town Nazareth, he experiences rejection. He then commissions his disciples to spread the Good News but opposition increases, from Herod and Pharisees. The Baptist is beheaded and Jesus moves on, feeding 5,000 and 4,000 respectively, healing a Phoenician woman and healing a deaf man. The disciples are challenged with his identity. Peter proclaims him Messiah but does not understand Jesus mission. Transfiguration follows and Jesus deals with the Pharisees on certain issues, such as divorce and meaning of eternal life. There is the interesting story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus. Finally, with Last Supper, crucifixion and resurrection, events rapidly move toward a climax. Mark has shown us Jesus moving, serving, sacrificing and saving. Ultimately Jesus is the Lord, God

5 incarnate, our Messiah, but entered history as a servant and conquering death, died to save us all. This is the briefest and most active Gospel. -o0o0o-