34th Week in
Ord. Time, Wednesday
First Reading
Ezekiel 37:15-28
Responsory Ez 37:21.24; In 10:16
I am going to take the Israelites from their places of exile and
restore them to their own land. + My servant
David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd.
V. There shall be one flock and one shepherd. + My servant ...
Second
Reading
From a sermon by John Henry
Newman
Parochial and Plain Sermons,
VII, 235-242
From the time of Adam to that of Christ, a shepherd's work has been marked out with special divine favor, as
being a shadow of the Good Shepherd
who was to come. Righteous Abel was a keeper of sheep,
and in process of time he brought of
the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof And the Lord had respect
unto Abel and to his offering. And
who were they to whom the angels first brought the news that a savior was born?
Shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And what is the description given of the chosen family when
they descended into Egypt? Your servants, they
say, are
shepherds, both we and also our fathers; and what, in consequence, was their repute
in Egypt, which surely is a figure of the world? Every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
David was the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, but he was found among the sheep. He took him
away from the sheepfolds; as he was following ewes great with young ones, he took
him, that he might feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed
them with a faithful and true heart, and ruled them prudently with all his power. When he was brought before Saul, he gave an
account of how a lion and a bear took a lamb out of the flock, and he went
after them, and slew them both, and delivered it. Such were the shepherds of old times, men at once of
peace and of war; men of Simplicity, indeed, plain men living in tents, the meekest
of men, yet not easy; indolent
men, Sitting in green meadows, and by cool streams, but men of rough duties,
who were under the necessity to suffer, while they had the opportunity to do exploits.
And if such were the figures, how much more was the Truth itself,
the Good Shepherd, when he came, both
guileless and heroic? If shepherds are
men of simple lives and obscure fortunes, uncorrupted and unknown in kings'
courts and marts of commerce, how much more he who was the carpenter's son, who was meek and lowly of heart, who did not strive nor cry, who went about doing good, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, and
who was despised and rejected of men? If, on the other hand, they are men of suffering
and trial, how much more so he who was a man of sorrows, and who laid down his life for the sheep?
David defended his father's sheep at Bethlehem; Christ, born and
heralded to the shepherds at Bethlehem,
suffered on the cross in order to conquer.
My brethren, we say daily, We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Again, we say, we have erred and strayed from your ways, like lost sheep: let us never
forget these truths; let us never forget, on the one hand, that we are sinners;
let us never forget, on the other hand, that Christ is our guide and guardian.
He is the
way, the truth, and the life. He
is a light unto our ways, and a lantern unto our paths. He is our shepherd, and the sheep know his voice.
If we are his sheep, we shall hear it, recognize it, and obey it. Let us beware
of not following when he goes before: He goes before,
and his sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Let us beware of receiving his grace in vain.
Sermon 16. The Shepherd of Our Souls
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." John x. 11. http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume8/sermon16.htmlSermon 16. The Shepherd of Our Souls
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." John x. 11.
{230} OUR Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." And in like manner St. Peter speaks of our returning "to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls." [Ezek. xxxvii. 24. Zech. xiii. 7. 1 Pet. ii. 25.]
