Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

16th Sunday In Ordinary Time (July 20, 2003)

Readings Jer 23: 1-6 Ps 23: 1-6 Eph 2: 13-18 Mk 6: 30-34

Salesian Perspective

Today’s readings reveal what it means to be a good shepherd. In the first reading we experience the voice of God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah. God promises to appoint shepherds who bring back the people of Israel “to their meadow.” So much is God’s love and compassion for the Israelites that God promises them a ‘righteous’ shepherd, named the ‘LORD our justice’, who “shall reign and govern wisely.”

As a shepherd, Jeremiah relates very personally with his flock, no matter how disordered some of his people have become. He stirs up hope in the midst of the day to day busyness of his people. Like Jeremiah, we Christians today energize the lost and confused souls in the thick of things, as we awaken in them the hope of Jesus Christ.

Paul, in the second reading, shepherds his people by offering them a vision of the New World Jesus founded. Jesus, through his passion, death and resurrection, shepherds into the future all of humanity, forming the Body of Christ. Paul makes conscious the movement of God’s love penetrating our hearts through the Spirit, who is forming us into a peace-filled body. Like Paul, we also are helping humankind evolve into one body by exemplifying Jesus.

Jesus, in today’s Gospel, exemplifies in two ways the love and compassion that a good shepherd ought to have. First, we see Jesus concerned for those who work in his name. Before his workers return to their missionary activity, Jesus invites them into ‘a deserted place’, where there is a different pace of life. We may not be able to go to a different place, but we ought to find a space for God alone who orders our needs.

We also experience Jesus in today’s Gospel preaching to the ‘vast crowd’, who have no one to teach them. Jesus is without equal in his love and compassion for the marginalized of society. As good shepherds, we participate in Jesus’ salvific work in the world, where our love and compassion brings the Reign of God. We achieve Jesus’ saving mission through the Spirit, who empowers us to be witnesses of God’s love.

Our home and work place are opportunities to be servants who witness God’s love and justice. We witness God’s love and justice through our care-giving in the midst of the day to day busyness of our daily lives. Our vigilant care for those, who come into our lives each day, reawakens hope in Jesus’ New World that brings eternal life.

St. Francis de Sales speaks of three virtues that make for a faith-filled witness to the Church: temperance, justice and holiness. Temperance has us develop a program that puts our personal needs in balance. Justice demands us to care for others. Holiness is the way to serve God.

Let us shepherd humanity into the future, by serving God in the joy of holiness, so that the Reign of God may evolve in our midst. Then, as St. Francis de Sales tells us, let us not worry whether our work will bear the fruit we desire. “God will not ask you if you have gathered a harvest, but whether you have taken sufficient care to sow the seed.”

Pasqualina Young is a member of St. John Neumann Parish in Reston, Virginia. She is also a
member of the lay Association of St. Francis de Sales.