Sunday Reflections

Imitating the Good Shepherd

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” These are the beautiful opening verses of Psalm 23 which describes God as a shepherd taking care of His people. One attribute of shepherds that is especially poignant is how hard they labour for the good of their flock. Faithful shepherds will journey with their flock, seek out the lost sheep and defend them from any ravaging predators. Jesus does this as well, labouring for us so that we may reach our eternal home where we will rest in His love.

As Christians we are called to imitate Christ in all things including being a shepherd. We too should labour for others, putting their needs before our own. To be a shepherd is essentially to be a good steward. As stewards, we offer ourselves and our gifts for the good of others, especially our parish communities. Let us labour for Christ and His Church in thanksgiving for how he labours for us.

One practice we can adopt, especially on this world day of prayer for vocations, is to encourage and pray daily for an increase in vocations to priesthood and religious life. Cardinal Collins in his Pastoral Letter on Stewardship* says that “stewardship parishes report an … increase in religious and priestly vocations.” Let us play our part as stewards and begin to share our gifts for the good of the Church.

Summary

Faithful shepherds labour for their flock by journeying with them, seeking out the lost sheep and defending them from any ravaging predators. As Christians we are called to imitate Christ in all things including being a shepherd, which means we too should labour for others, putting their needs before our own. Let us labour for Christ and His Church in thanksgiving for how he labours for us.