Fr Frank writes:
My Dear Friends,
In today’s First Reading Jeremiah prophesies God’s plan to appoint a shepherd after his own heart. We see this prophecy being fulfilled in Jesus when he describes himself as the Good Shepherd.
We draw three insights from the readings of today’s liturgy:
- The Church always needs good, caring and selfless shepherds.
- Such shepherds need to be people sensitive to the needs of their flock as in the case of Jesus who had compassion on the people because “they were like sheep without a shepherd”. In this, we remember that Pope Francis asked the pastors of the Church to be “shepherds living with the smell of the sheep.”
- Such shepherds are ready to lay down their life for their sheep.
It seems to me there are two things we can all do.
Firstly, we can pray for vocations to the priestly and religious way of life. Secondly, we can each ask ourselves the question: in what concrete ways can I be a good shepherd to my family, community, society and parish?
May Christ the Good Shepherd bless us all as we seek to live out the life of Faith in our own communities.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
A catechist was endeavouring to instil in her class the difference between right and wrong.
“Let’s take another example,” she explained. “If I were to get into a man’s pocket and take his purse with all his money, what would I be?”
A little boy raised his hand. “You’d be his wife.”