Following is the first reading for today, the memorial of the queenship of the BVM. It's Ezekiel 34: 1-11, and there is really nothing needed to add to it:
The word of the Lord came to me:
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
in these words prophesy to them to the shepherds:
Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel
who have been pasturing themselves!
Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?
You have fed off their milk, worn their wool,
and slaughtered the fatlings,
but the sheep you have not pastured.
You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick
nor bind up the injured.
You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost,
but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally.
So they were scattered for the lack of a shepherd,
and became food for all the wild beasts.
My sheep were scattered
and wandered over all the mountains and high hills;
my sheep were scattered over the whole earth,
with no one to look after them or to search for them.
Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
As I live, says the Lord GOD,
because my sheep have been given over to pillage,
and because my sheep have become food for every wild beast,
for lack of a shepherd;
because my shepherds did not look after my sheep,
but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep;
because of this, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I swear I am coming against these shepherds.
I will claim my sheep from them
and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep
so that they may no longer pasture themselves.
I will save my sheep,
that they may no longer be food for their mouths.
That Ezekiel!
ReplyDeleteBut Continue the Good News:
ReplyDelete11 For thus says the Lord GOD: Look! I myself will search for my sheep and examine them.
12 As a shepherd examines his flock while he himself is among his scattered sheep, so will I examine my sheep. I will deliver them from every place where they were scattered on the day of dark clouds.
13 I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and every inhabited place in the land.
14 In good pastures I will pasture them; on the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down on good grazing ground; in rich pastures they will be pastured on the mountains of Israel.
15 I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest-- oracle of the Lord GOD.
And the not so good news for some sheep!
ReplyDelete16 The lost I will search out, the strays I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, and the sick I will heal; but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them in judgment.
17 As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.
18 Was it not enough for you to graze on the best pasture, that you had to trample the rest of your pastures with your hooves? Or to drink the clearest water, that you had to pollute the rest with your hooves?
19 Thus my flock had to graze on what your hooves had trampled and drink what your hooves had polluted.
20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will judge between the fat and the lean.
21 Because you push with flank and shoulder, and butt all the weak sheep with your horns until you drive them off,
22 I will save my flock so they can no longer be plundered; I will judge between one sheep and another.
23 I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd.
24 I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince in their midst. I, the LORD, have spoken.
From time to time I have this vague sense that these ancient texts may have some applicability to our daily lives ...
ReplyDeleteThe reading is rather on point!
DeleteYes, very applicable.
DeleteI thinking of the fat sheep who push with their flanks and shoulders and butt all the week sheep, and muddy the waters until they drive them off. I expect that to end up in one of Francis's homilies any day.