Jesus’ Shepherdly Care, Fourth Saturday (I), February 7, 2015

Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River, MA
Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
February 7, 2015
Heb 13:15-17.20-21, Ps 23, Mk 6:30-34

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

• Today the Gospel tells us that Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for the crowds for they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus’ viscera are always exploding with compassion on the crowds. And today we see how he addresses our most fundamental needs as Good Shepherd. Receiving and responding to that help is what will make us good sheep.
• We see, first, that he teaches us, just like he “began to teach them many things.” We pray in the Psalm, “He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake.” Jesus has come to teach us about God, about ourselves and about how to become like God. That work of teaching never ends.
• Second, he takes us apart to be with him. “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” he says to the apostles after they had returned from a journey. The Good Shepherd knows that we need this time of prayer, this time to yoke ourselves and all we do to him, because it’s by taking upon his yoke that we will find rest for ourselves. In the Psalm we pray, “In verdant pastures he gives me repose. Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.” Jesus does this in prayer and he’s always, every day, seeking to lead us apart from the crowds for a while to refresh us in this way.
• Third, he seeks to pray and help us to do the Father’s will within us as a result of this communion. In today’s first reading from the conclusion of the Letter to the Hebrews, we read that God the Father “who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep” seeks to “furnish [us] with all that is good, that you may do his will.” And he does this by “carry[ing] out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ.” This is why the Letter says to us about prayer, “Through Jesus, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.” The praise we offer is through lips confessing his name, not silently, not merely in prayer, but among others. Jesus precisely helps us to do this.
• Fourth, he seeks to lead us, including through suffering and death, as we’ve been pondering throughout the Letter to the Hebrews. The Psalm says, “Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side With your rod and your staff that give me courage.” Jesus is the Good Shepherd who makes sure we lack for nothing, even when he’s guiding us through dark valleys where we can see very little because of our fear. But these dark valleys are opportunities for us to enlarge our eyes of faith. The Gospel verse says, “My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.” When we’re in dark valleys we’re much more dependent on the Lord’s voice and guidance and that’s why he allows them.
• Finally, the Good Shepherd feeds us. His concern for the apostles was because they “had no opportunity even to eat” because of the great numbers coming to them. We see in the Gospel his care for the crowds that led to the multiplication of loaves and fish. In the Psalm we see the Good Shepherd’s aim, “You spread the table before me.” The Lord wants to nourish us in body and soul.
• But in this five-fold divine work, we need to collaborate fully and docilely. The Letter to the Hebrews talks about the importance of loving obedience. “Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you.” Do we obey Jesus the Good Shepherd and defer to him? Do we allow him to do his work of salvation with joy or do we cause him sorrow by our resistance? And insofar as Jesus has called some of his sheep and made them shepherds after his own priestly heart, do we obey Jesus and defer to him through them, giving them joy, or do we cause them sorrow by refusing to obey and defer? It’s no advantage to us to cause sorrow to our savior or to the shepherds he has sent in his name. The more we fill them with joy by our openness and response, the more we’ll be able to receive from God through them.
• Today we have begun this day by coming away from the crowds to be with Jesus, so that the Good Shepherd can teach us, feed us, lead us through whatever dark valleys we may be in, and enter into us through Holy Communion so that he may help us in life to give his Father a continual sacrifice of praise and use our lips, after we receive Holy Communion, to confess his name by proclaiming the Good News to all we meet today.

The readings for today’s Mass were: