renew your wonders: 3 December 2022

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them

because they were troubled and abandoned,

like sheep without a shepherd.

The crowds were not unique in feeling troubled and abandoned. Yet in spite of the prevalence of the problem there was a lack of pity, a lack of hearts that could recognize and sympathize with those who were in that condition. The individuals that made up the crowd were too consumed with their own difficulties and distress to truly be available to others. The political leadership was the indifferent rule of Rome. The spiritual leaders, the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, were by and large more concerned about themselves than those over whom they had charge.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way (see Isaiah 53:6).

We see in this crowd sheep who had gone astray, each one turned to his own way, his own unique problem, his own isolated and isolating situation. But as they gathered around Jesus, as he healed every disease and illness, and proclaimed the Gospel, these sheep who had gone in a thousand different directions were being regathered.

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured (see Ezekiel 34:15-16).

It was because Jesus was the Good Shepherd that he was so amazingly available to the needs of the crowds. Those assigned the task of shepherding had proven themselves not to be good, preferring to feed themselves and to ignore the sheep. But the very purpose of Jesus in coming to the world was to give of himself so that the sheep could be fed. Because he did not come to do his own will or to indulge himself he was free to receive all who would come to him. In this as in all things he fulfilled the will of his Father. As he said, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out" (see John 6:37).

There were more sheep in need than were present in that crowd. The harvest was abundant but Jesus was a single individual at a single location in time and space. He desired to address the needs of all people in all ages who ever felt troubled and abandoned. But to do so he would seek from his Father the gift of laborers to share in his task of reaping such an abundant harvest.

The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;

so ask the master of the harvest

to send out laborers for his harvest.

The disciples and their successors were meant to be the Father's gift to the Son and in turn the Son's gift to those of us who still at times feel troubled and abandoned. These new shepherds would be different from the failed shepherds of history for they would be united to their Teacher in a new way. His own voice would guide them so that they in turn could speak his words to the flock.

No longer will your Teacher hide himself,

but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,

While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:

“This is the way; walk in it,”

The disciples that Jesus summoned and sent were the fulfillment of the promise of God given by God to Jeremiah, "And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding" (see Jeremiah 3:15). And if some of the successors of these disciples turned away from the path to which Jesus called them it nevertheless did not nullify the promise. God has filled his Church in every age with saintly pastors who shared the pity of Jesus at a deep and visceral level of their being. This was true of Saint Francis Xavier whom we celebrate today, and no less true of saints like John Paul the Great and Padre Pio in our own day. And the failures, however heartless and evil they may be, can never negate the power of such sanctity to feed the sheep. To the eyes of faith the cross continues to be victorious.

“Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Cure the sick, raise the dead,

cleanse lepers, drive out demons.

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

Although we may not be called to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles in the ordained life we are nevertheless called to have the same compassion for those around who who are troubled and abandoned. We know where the feast is to be found, the exact location of the green pastures promised by God. For those who still hunger for this feast must we not do all we can to welcome them to it?

He will give rain for the seed

that you sow in the ground,

And the wheat that the soil produces

will be rich and abundant.

On that day your flock will be given pasture

and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows;