Daily Mass Readings 08/20/2014 or Being part of God's flock isn't BAA-d in fact, it's Shear Joy!

"For thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep." EZ 34:11

Daily Mass readings 08/20/2014 Memorial of St. Bernard

Ah, how I do enjoy being referred to as a sheep!

No, seriously, I do. If my shepherd is the Creator of the Universe and the Author of Life, I am blessed to be a woolly member of His flock.

This passage in Ezekiel is great because he is telling us exactly what the Lord is going to do for us. He is going to come down and take care of business on his own. The imagery of a shepherd trusting his flock to others and then coming himself to save them from mistreatment is uplifting and really should confirm for us how much God wants to draw us back to Himself. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God is telling us that He will come after us because we are worth being pursued.

And the psalm for today is a familiar one as well, Psalm 23 (which I wrote about here). The prophecy gives way to a description of God's love for us and desire to be in relationship with us, blessing us and protecting us. Again, that sounds like a pretty good shepherd to fall in with, no?

What I really like about both of these readings is what it tells us about Jesus. First, the prophecy of Ezekiel foretells exactly what Jesus does when he comes to us. He runs out the old guard and their overbearing ways and shows us that our relationship with Him is not a legalistic exchange of 'x' for 'y', but it is a spiritual exchange of love where we become a part of His love for us all. But even if it were not enough that Jesus lives out and fulfills Ezekiel's prophecy, these readings give Jesus the opportunity to tell us in plain words,who he is. "I am the good shepherd." JN 10:11. Jesus is telling the apostles in very plain language that he is God. He and the father are the same, consubstantial as we refer to it in the creed during Mass.

I know it's not in the readings for today, but when Jesus says that, he is verifying that he is God and that he has come here to pursue us and bring us back to Him.

A couple of years ago we were listening to the girls' CD that they had gotten from Vacation Bible School and there was a song with the lyrics:

"Here is our King
Here is our love
Here is our God who's come
To bring us back to Him
He is the One
He is Jesus"

It was written by the David Crowder Band

Here is the Kingdom Rock VBS version

In that moment, the truth of it all hit me so hard I got choked up while I was trying to sing along. (and if you've heard my singing, then you would know anything that puts an end to that is a blessing)

I then decided that it had been too long since I had been to the sacrament of reconciliation because if He came here to share in our suffering and die so that we could be forgiven, I could at least take the time to stop in and let Him forgive me.

You see there, in the end, it always goes back to God pursuing us for that relationship with Him. As a Catholic I feel abundantly blessed that we exercise that relationship in such a palpable way through the sacraments that Christ left His Church.

Come to think of it, I'm kinda overdue for reconciliation again. I best make that a priority.

God bless,
P.D.O.