It’s no accident that when Jesus was born he was placed in a food trough. He was sent to feed a hungry world. We awake each morning with spiritual and emotional hungers and thirsts.

People will arrive at church this weekend and many of them will have spent the previous hour or two actively involved in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty.

IF, AS A SHEPHERD OF SOULS, you could change one thing about the minds and hearts of your parishioners, what would it be?

I am a city boy, born and raised. I profess very little knowledge about animals of any kind–wild, domesticated, or farm. I do like dogs and cats. Beyond that my experience has been pretty limited.

Some kids are sitting around a board game and one of them is reading the instructions. The rules are quite elaborate and confusing. Finally, one of them says, “Can anyone just tell me how you win this game?”

As we end another year of grace, we turn in prayer to Christ, who reigns in our hearts and minds.

But the sleek and the strong I will destroy. After hearing from Ezekiel a list of the nurturing things God does as a shepherd—rescue, gather, give rest, heal, guide, refresh, nourish—it is a bit jarring to hear about destruction.

It is by the works of mercy that we shall be judged. —Dorothy Day