Saturday of Fourth Week, Ordinary Time, February 3, 2007

Scripture: Hebrews 13:15-17. 20-21, Psalm 23. Mark 6:30-34.

My meditation centered on Mark's words, " They were like sheep without a
shepherd." (Mark 6:34). This last sentence also is paralleled by the
deeper reflection of Hebrews about Jesus as the Shepherd who cares for his
sheep. Then I was amazed to find that the theme of shepherd carries
through the three readings, Hebrews, Mark and Psalm 23: "The Lord is my
Shepherd." Like Jesus teaching his disciples and the crowds, the liturgical
readings also teach us each day something about God and about the Son of
God, Jesus. I pictured the apostles huddling around Jesus like sheep who
try to get as close to the shepherd as possilbe or like football players
huddling around their quarterback for the next play. Jesus is leading his
apostles to a desert place to rest, to relax, to pray. They listen to him
and follow him. They know he is their leader (shepherd) and they are
attentive to his voice, to his call. Then when the crowd finds Jesus and
his apostles, he has great concern for them for they are like sheep without
a shepherd; a team without a quarterback! I then went back to the Epistle
to the Hebrews for a second time and discovered the theological dimension
of the symbolism of Jesus as Shepherd. We read or hear, "Now may the God
of peace, who brought back from the dead. our Lord Jesus, the great
Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you
complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us
that which is pleasing in his sight,through Jesus Christ be glory forever
and ever Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21). The Psalm is Psalm 23, "The Lord is my
Shepherd." And this favorite psalm of millions of people completes the
theme for our meditation today as the prayer that unites us. Amen.