Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture”—those are words that pastors dread to hear. Yet to ones who are part of the flock, they come as a welcomed warning.

Most in the congregation will be able to relate to both the promise of rest that Jesus offered his apostles (“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while”) and the frustration when needy people intruded on their hope of rest.

Back in grade school I smelled a rat when it came to the works of mercy. I understood perfectly why feeding the hungry or giving water to the thirsty was a compassionate thing to do. And of course the homeless need shelter, the shivering need clothing, the sick and imprisoned want company, and the dead could use a proper burial.

There is a tyranny of technology that we all are facing. The very inventions that were created to save time, make life easier, and assist us at the workplace have instead turned on us and made our lives more complex by making us more accessible.

Like the apostles who gathered together to tell Jesus “all they had done and taught,” every evening at dinner my sisters and I would report to my father and mother all that we had done and learned during the day. We were filled with enthusiasm, each bursting to tell our stories because they delighted my parents.

A noticeable “buzz” spread through the wedding banquet  hall. Two great-uncles of the groom, brothers who had been so close growing up but who hadn’t spoken to each other in more than 20 years, were soon going to be in the same place at the same time. How would they react?

The Lord is our shepherd. Thankful for the goodness and kindness the Lord shows us, we make known our prayers.

As king he shall reign and govern wisely. Jeremiah prophecies against “bad shepherds,” the kings who allowed Israel to go into exile. They did not protect the people, and let them scatter, prey to their enemies.

This is what it means to really take pity on the poor, and on those who have no one to guide them: to open the way of truth to them by teaching, to heal their physical infirmities, and to make them want to praise the divine generosity by feeding them when they are hungry . . . . —Venerable Bede (c. 673-735)