...for they were like sheep without a shephard; and he began to teach them many things.  
Mark 6: 34

Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day

In today’s Gospel, people from towns all over Galilee hurried to see and hear Jesus. His heart was moved, for they appeared to be “sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus is that shepherd. Jesus is our shepherd. He has drawn us here today, from different households, from different families, perhaps even from different towns. We come today to celebrate the Eucharist, this wonderful sacrament that Jesus established to be celebrated in his name until the end of time, this sacrament in which we receive our Lord, our redeemer, our shepherd.

Reflection

• When Jeremiah wrote that the LORD said, “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,” he was not just speaking in the abstract (Jeremiah 23:1). He was referring to the last few kings of Judah before its fall to Babylon, the ones who reigned after Josiah, considered the last of the great Davidic rulers. Jeremiah spoke out against each of them for both political and religious reasons, for they had corrupted themselves and their people through their personal be- havior and their unholy alliances with Judah’s enemies. Zedekiah, the final king of this era, grew furious with Jeremiah and attempted to have him killed. When Jeremiah prophesied about a future shepherd who would rule with justice and righteousness, he somehow saw promise in the face of utter hopelessness. The final words of this oracle, referring to the name of this future ruler—“The LORD, our justice” (Jeremiah 23:6)—were almost certainly used in bitter irony, for “Zedekiah” literally meant “The LORD is justice.” Zedekiah was anything but.

• Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is his great essay about the universal church. There is but one body of Christ, one body whose blood was shed so that we may be redeemed, one body of all the faithful, Gentile and Jew. No longer can barriers or enmity stand in the way of peace and unity. All the baptized are reconciled in the one body of Christ, not only in the first century but just as much in the twenty-first century.

• Mark does not tell us the “many things” that Jesus taught the vast crowd (Mark 6:34), but we do know the lesson he taught the Twelve. He taught them what their priorities should be. Tired and hungry, they hoped to get some rest away from the townsfolk, some of them they may have just visited when Jesus sent them out two by two. But their plans were changed in an instant, for Jesus’ heart was moved to pity. Compassion caused them to turn their attention away from themselves and their need for food and rest so they could attend to strangers in need of healing and guidance. Lesson learned.
 

Question of the Week

When has my compassion for someone or for others pushed aside my own needs? How can I put others’ needs first more often?

-from the pages of Pastoral Patterns