They were like sheep without a shepherd

SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY (Mk 6,30-34

The condition of the sheep without a shepherd is quite wretched. It is without a present of life and also without any hope of a better future. Sheep and shepherd must be one. The Shepherd must consume his life for the sheep. We know that Jesus goes beyond the gift of life for the sheep. He actually makes himself flesh to be eaten and blood to be drunk. Every sheep that wants to live for Him must really eat Him. This truth is thus affirmed in the Gospel according to John: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6,53-58).

This truth is reaffirmed even when Jesus announces himself as the Good Shepherd: “So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father” (Jn 10,7-18). The children of Israel were like sheep without a shepherd because the shepherds given to them by God were all intent on treating themselves. The problem of the shepherds has been, is and will always be the true great problem of the heavenly Father. For the shepherd the sheep are saved and for the shepherd they are lost. They live for the shepherd and die for the shepherd. The shepherd is everything to the sheep.

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

It is the shepherd who makes the flock. Without the pastor one is also without the flock. Today in God’s people every sheep walks for itself. It is a sign that the shepherd is missing to them. Sometimes there is the minister of the Word, there is the administrator of the sacraments, but the pastor is missing. What ensures that a minister of the Word and an administrator of sacraments becomes a true pastor? Jesus revealed it to us. It is his giving his life for the sheep. It is his dying and living for the flock that was entrusted to him. We can be ministers of the Word, but not pastors. We can also be administrators of sacraments, but not pastors. The shepherd has the heart of Christ that beats in his chest and the Holy Spirit that fills him with every concern for the sheep. The shepherd lives with the same love that the Father has for his flock. The love of the Father is so great as not to be spared in anything. He gave his Only Son for his sheep. The true shepherd has the heart of God.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every pastor is a true shepherd in Christ Jesus.