The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want

This reflection based on the readings for the Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year B: Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2: 13-18 and Mark 6: 30-34.

During these summer months, when many people take a break from the hectic pace of life, this Sunday’s readings reinforce for us the importance of stopping to recharge and take a rest. Although we do not often think about it, rest is an important theme in our spiritual lives. The eternal, all-powerful God, who created Heaven and earth, stopped to rest Himself on the seventh day. In doing this, God intended to set an example for us. The human person needs rest in order to maintain a healthy and balanced spiritual life. As scripture reminds us, the Sabbath Day of rest was made for man, and not the other way around (Mark 2:27). Rest allows us time to reconnect with God, ourselves and others. Taking time on the Sabbath is also vital for the human person to reflect upon who each of us is as a child of God and our relationship with God and others. 

The Gospel this Sunday presents us with one of the many stories in which Jesus calls his disciples and apostles away to a quiet place to spend time with Him. They have returned from a busy mission and are anxious to reflect with Him on the events of their mission. We too, the disciples of today, also live in an extremely busy and hectic world. Every day we face the complexity and confusion of attempting to live a Christian life in a world with so many different values and constant demands. As the apostles needed to spend time with the Lord, we too need to speak with Him, hear His word and encounter Him in the sacrament of His Body and Blood. Jesus commanded that we celebrate the Eucharist “in memory of Him,” because knowing our human condition, He was aware of how important it is for us to have rest time with the Lord and to be refocused amidst the business of the world on His saving message and the reality of who we are as men and women created in His image and likeness. If the apostles themselves needed this rest time with the Lord in their lives, how much more must it be necessary for you and I in the hectic reality of today’s world. Just as God himself rested on the seventh day, in the scriptures today, the Lord himself calls his apostles aside, both for themselves, and as an example to us, to show the importance of the rest we all need for a healthy life and spiritual renewal with the Lord. Jesus was for His disciples, and is for us today, the Good Shepherd, who compassionately cares for us the sheep of His flock. He invites us to take refuge in Him and His word to find strength and perspective amidst the trials of life. We do this primarily through our attendance of the Sunday Eucharist in the community of faith. However, there are also times during the course of the day that each one of us can take time to rest in the Lord and allow Him to guide and strengthen us in the course of our hectic and busy days. When we feel harassed by the business of life, the Lord is always with us to provide us refuge, strength and love.

One of the very powerful ways in which we can turn to the Lord for refuge during hectic times, in the course of the day, is by creating a small period of time for prayer in the midst of a busy day. During these times of prayer, we may find ourselves so overwhelmed that we do not know how to pray. Happily, this is why Jesus and scripture have provided us with prayer forms that express what we might want to say or need to be reminded about in our relationship with God. Of course, the most perfect prayer is the “Our Father.” Many people turn to this in difficult times. In fact, one of the earliest rules of prayer that was proposed for the Christian life was a recommendation found in a late first century document called the Didache. It suggested that the Christian pause three times in the day to pray the “Our Father.”  Another wonderful prayer that is so helpful to many is the Rosary and the meditations on Christ’s life that it allows us to make as we look upon Christ’s life through the eyes of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We hear in the Psalm today another beautiful prayer from the Old Testament that many people turn to in times of difficulty for strength, refuge and guidance. The twenty-third Psalm is certainly one of the most popular passages from scripture. One that is turned to by many in times of trail and difficulty as a way of finding refuge in the Lord. Because the twenty-third Psalm is so beautiful and helpful to people in time of difficulty, I thought today I would like to just go through it and share with you some of the themes that I reflect upon when I recite it to myself. I hope this will help to allow it to offer you some solace from the Good Shepherd in the midst of your busy lives. 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me besides still waters;
he restores my soul. 

Amidst the craziness of life, it is so important that we remember that God made us and we belong to Him. We are loved by the creator of the universe, He cares for us, and by the power of the Holy Spirit is present to each of us in our struggles. Each person is sacred to the Lord. Each person has a purpose and is cared for by God. God does not wish for us to get lost in the rat-race of life or to doubt our value. We are His beloved sons and daughters. While the world may tell us that we need so many other things; what we really need is found in His care. The Lord wants us to know that we can turn to Him and He will provide for our spiritual needs. God invites us to find comfort in His love for us, to be freed by His love from our bonds to false gods, and to find rest in Him. As we read this passage, we might even think of the image of the Good Shepherd carrying a beloved sheep on His back. In this way, God wishes to be for us the one who carries us through the difficulties of life. This is why Jesus came into the world and sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts after His ascension into Heaven. Sometimes, amidst the uncertainties of the world, the only way that we can find refuge is to hand our problems over to God and trust in His loving providence. In the end, no matter what happens, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” 

He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake 
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
For you are with me;
Your rod and your staff they comfort me.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. When we feel most confused and overwhelmed by life, we will find the path forward in His Word and teachings of His Church. We often think that we do not know what to do and have been left without guidance. However, that is not the case. Jesus has left us His teaching and we can find the answers to our difficulties in the words that He has left us. The problem is, often we do not wish to hear what Jesus has to ask or tell us. In the midst of the darkness, as John’s Gospel tells us, humanity has often failed to recognize Christ as the light sent by the Father to save us, and has preferred to walk in the darkness (John 1: 12). More often than not, the situations that distress us the most are of our own making. We choose to give our hearts, our energy and our love to false gods. Self-destructive behaviors lead us far from the light of Christ and we do not know how to get ourselves out of these situations. The word of God has been given to us to guide us out of the darkness. Like a shepherd’s staff, Christ’s word is intended to give us a steady path amidst the confusion. It is sometimes so sad to meet people who are depressed, confused and lost and yet are so adamant that they are better off on their own efforts, which have done nothing but complicate their lives, then they are to  follow the simple teachings and words of Jesus. When our own efforts have had a disastrous effect on our lives, how comforting the words: “you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

You prepare a table before me 
In the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

When you enter a church and see the altar at the heart of it, do you ever stop and think that table was prepared just for you. In the Eucharist, Jesus has given His Body and Blood for you and me. He has prepared a table for us to be nourished on our journeys through the trials of life. His exact words in preparing the table were: “This is my Body which will be given for you,” and “this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” In these words, Jesus shows us what the Good Shepherd will do for the lost sheep of His flock. He will lay down His life for His sheep. The Good Shepherd cares not just for the good sheep, but gives His life even for sinners, so that sins may be forgiven. As the parable of the lost sheep tells us, there is no one who can be lost if they desire to be found. The complexity of life can often lead to despair and allow us to be overwhelmed by the darkness. The Good Shepherd never stops caring for us. He always invites us back. Like the prodigal son who was anointed with oil and welcomed to a rich banquet, we are anointed in baptism and confirmation to know God’s love for us. The gift of Christ’s Body and Blood are intended to feed us with that rich banquet that leads to the priceless gift of Jesus Himself and eternal life. When enemies appear to have gathered around us, and we appear on the brink of losing everything, we can look to the Lord and thank him as we recall: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Finding rest and nourishment at the table of God’s word and sacrament, we can know that the Lord is with us through all our trials.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long. 

St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading from the Letter to the Ephesians that Jesus has come to reconcile us in a New Covenant formed by His blood. God’s mercy has been extended to all people in the death of His Son Jesus Christ. This mercy is to be the constant source of our hope, all the days of our lives, no matter where we go and what we do. The greatest sin is despair and to give up hope in the Lord. Judas’ real sin was not that he betrayed the Lord, but that he believed he could not be forgiven. Peter betrayed the Lord and understood he could be forgiven and Christ’s love transformed him. Even when our earthly situation appears hopeless, we are still promised a place in the Lord’s house where we shall be with Him forever. A great title for Jesus is “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” This is really what this stanza of the psalm means. God’s love and mercy is with us all the days of our life on this earth and shall be all the days of eternity in the House of the Lord. In the midst of all of life’s trials and tribulations, each one of us can find rest and strength in the certainty of these beautiful words: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.”

I pray that this summer may permit all of us to find some rest from the hectic pace of life. Jesus invites us to find this rest every Sunday at the Eucharist. We can also find it in the course of our day through prayer. Hopefully, this reflection on the twenty-third psalm might provide a little insight on the rest to be found in this passage from scripture. To conclude, I would like you to slowly read this beautiful passage of scripture:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me besides still waters;
he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
For you are with me;
Your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
In the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.

Fr. Michael McGourty is Pastor of St. Peter’s Church in downtown Toronto.