The Lord Bless You and Keep You

The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

Reflecting on the Word

By Dr. Karla J. Bellinger

When I was little, I worried about the sheep. The angels sang  “Glory to God in the highest” and the sky burst with light. I loved  the story of the shepherds. But I worried about their sheep. In the  picture in my children’s Bible, they looked like white dots scattered  on the hillside. I saw no fences with barbed wire. In the next picture,  when the shepherds knelt by baby Jesus in the manger, they were not  there. Had the sheep wandered every which way and gotten lost?  Did they fall off a cliff? I looked at the pictures a long time. Would  they be okay?

In my adult life, I have learned that ancient shepherds used  shrubbery to make a fold called a keep, a hedge with thorns to guard  and preserve and keep their animals. The sheep were enfolded, kept  secure. Yes, they would be okay. 

The author of Numbers uses that same Hebrew verb “to keep”  in the blessing of Aaron: “The Lord bless you and keep you.” He is  asking the Lord to protect, to preserve, to hedge us in, to make us  safe. When the Lord “shines his face upon us,” we are beloved sheep.  We are enfolded, kept secure from all harm. 

Mary also “kept” all these things in her heart. In the Greek, that  verb has a similar sheltering feel—to keep close together and to  preserve from all harm. As the shepherds departed from her, her face  shone upon her newborn beloved and she treasured these thoughts;  she built a hedge around all that was said about him to shelter him  in her heart. 

Maybe we still worry in our grown-up way, will those we love  wander and get lost? Will we ourselves be okay? Lord, bless us and  keep us! 

Consider/Discuss 

  • Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe involves a powerful sense of the  Virgin Mary’s protection, asking her to wrap her cloak or mantle around  us. What joy and security do you feel when you are enfolded by love? 
  • The shepherds in Jesus’ day were not cute little children dressed up in  robes carrying stuffed animals. They were characters outside the margins  of society, not necessarily the most desirable of guests. Yet the Gospel of  Luke places them on the inside, at the heart of the Christmas story. As you  make your New Year’s resolutions this day, who are the shepherds in your  life? How could you enfold them into your life more intentionally in this  upcoming year? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Shepherd of souls, the thorns that surrounded your head have  become the source of our safety. Wandering and scattered, we  sometimes feel lost. We pray for those we love who also feel lost.  Wrap your arms around them and do not let any harm befall them.  Also protect those whom we do not love as we ought. We may all  just be little white dots on a hillside, but we are also all your beloved  sheep. In this New Year, whatever comes, be our shelter, keep us safe.

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