Today we celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a
heart that is full of love for all of humanity. Today’s readings, Ez 34: 11-16
and Luke 15: 3-7, speak to us about God as our shepherd. We are the sheep of God’s flock. The Lord claims us as His own. “I
myself,” God tells us through the prophet Ezekiel, “ will look after and tend
my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they
were scattered when it was cloudy and dark….I will pasture my sheep; I myself
will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I
will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the
sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly.”
Who am I in Jesus’ flock? Am I
injured or sickened by sin and
selfishness, by pride and lust, by arrogance and abuse of power, by rejection
and hatred (my own or that of others)? Am I in the dark, confused by what I see
around me and hear on the news each night? Have I been scattered—put out to
pasture in places that do not really give life or do not make me feel
secure? The Lord knows where I am and
will rescue me. The Lord sees my wounds and will bind them up with love and
mercy and forgiveness. Have I strayed? “The lost,” the Lord says, “I will seek
out, the strayed I will bring back…”
“I tell you,…there will be more
joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
people who have no need of repentance” (Luke 15:7).
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