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| Dear Parishioners, Jesus is the "Good Shepherd", and at the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. He told his disciples to ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers because "the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few." We hear in today’s gospel the names of the twelve apostles and how Jesus gave them authority and sent them out to announce that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Well, we are those sheep. We are troubled, and though we may at times feel abandoned, especially when we consider the failings of some of the successors of the apostles who have been sent to guide us today, we are not abandoned. No, the Good Shepherd still guides us. The wounds of sin and division are being healed even as we pray today. The bishops of our country are gathering to pray and reflect on their mission, and the rest of us have an important duty also: we have got to pray for them, and for all of our brothers and sisters who have fallen into sin and need forgiveness and reconciliation. And each of us should examine ourselves since, to some extent, we share in the task of "shepherding" others. For example, parents shepherd their children. We must ask ourselves whether we have given good example, whether we have warned others about all the grave moral dangers our society poses to them. Or have we not shepherded them rightly, but abandoned them to the world to have their spiritual life choked off by the "weeds" of sin? —Fr. Mark Taheny |
