Tag: Sheep

Sunday Lectionary: If you want something done properly…

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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 22nd July 2012

good shepherd iconThe theme throughout the Readings this week is that of shepherding.

In our First Reading the Prophet Jeremiah berates the leaders of Israel who have failed in their duty to carefully shepherd the people. In response to their failure, God promises that He Himself will gather His people together and that there will come from the line of David an exemplary shepherd.

This good shepherd is, of course, Jesus Christ and this is demonstrated in our Gospel this week when we hear about our Lord’s compassion on the people “for they were like sheep without a shepherd”.

Likewise, in our Second Reading, St. Paul praises the wisdom of God who, through Christ, has “broke[n] down the dividing wall of enmity”, thus uniting two flocks, the flock of the the Jews and the flock of the Gentiles. These two flocks are gathered into the Church under one Shepherd, Christ.

And so in our Psalm we praise the Lord, our Shepherd, who is by our side even though the “dark valley” and who leads us “beside restful waters”  and to “verdant pastures”.

As the Lord “spread[s] the table before [us]”  this week in the Eucharistic feast, let us celebrate our Good Shepherd, who loves so much that He laid down His life for us, His sheep.

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Sunday Lectionary: Saving Shepherd

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Producing these Lectionary Notes has been taking too long again. Therefore I’m giving myself a time limit of a few hours. Let’s do this…

Fourth Sunday of Easter: April 29th, 2012

The Readings at Mass this week focus around the person of Jesus Christ and his unique, fundamental place in Salvation History. In our First Reading, St. Peter boldly proclaims that “There is no salvation through anyone else”. In our Psalm we sing the words quoted by Peter in that speech to the Sanhedrin, declaring that Jesus is “the stone rejected by the builders [which] has become the cornerstone”. In the Gospel Reading, Jesus declares that He is “the good shepherd”  who “lays down his life for the sheep” and, as we hear in our Second Reading, because of this we may truly be called “the children of God”.

At this Sunday’s Mass, confident in the goodness of our Shepherd, let us firmly put our trust in Him.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever – Psalm 23

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Sunday Lectionary: Of Sheep and Kings

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Feast of Christ the King: November 20th, 2011

In this last week before Advent, we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. In the First Reading, through the Prophet Ezekiel, the Lord describes Himself as a shepherd who will gather together his sheep. The Lord ends by saying that He will judge the flock and this theme of judgement is picked up in the Gospel Reading where Jesus contrasts the “sheep and the goats”, those who loved Him through loving the afflicted and those who did not.

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