Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 30 2025

A Shepherd’s Heart

Recently I heard some statistics that said for every person coming into the Catholic Church, four are leaving it. It is estimated that 33 percent of those baptized Catholic already have left. This is staggering news. Where are they going? Some join other churches; others just drift away. Why do they leave? Different reasons are given, but many said they left because they were not being nourished spiritually.

In the Gospel the disciples have returned from their work of preaching and casting out demons. They brought many stories back with them, telling about all that had happened, all that God had done through them. Jesus noticed they were tired, so he invited them for a rest, a little “R and R.” But when they arrived at their destination, they discovered that a huge crowd had followed them there.

Mark presents Jesus as one whose “heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” And so he began to teach them. Jesus is a good shepherd, in contrast to the religious leaders Jeremiah speaks of. The religious leaders of his day made God angry. “Woe” is the equivalent of “Damn you.” And for good reason: they were misleading the people, causing them to scatter.

Every age has had its bad shepherds as well as the good ones who have served faithfully. Today more than ever we need good shepherds, as many of those who have served faithfully for years are no longer in active ministry.

Consider/Discuss

Is God refusing to send good shepherds to lead the people, or are there other reasons for the lack of clergy in the United States?
Have you ever considered inviting someone to contemplate a vocation to ordination or professed religious life?

Responding to the Word

God, you spoke through Jeremiah, saying you would appoint shepherds to care for your people. In your Son Jesus you gave us a shepherd who laid down his life for us. Answer our need today for shepherds who will be faithful servants, shepherding with compassion and perseverance.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

Jeremiah’s indictment of the leaders of the people is terse and decisive. They have not only neglected the people of God, they have actually misled them. Because the shepherds had not cared for the flock, God would definitely care for the punishment of these derelict leaders. They had scattered the sheep; God would gather them up again. They had been false shepherds; God would be the true shepherd. God promises to raise up a new royal shepherd, a righteous leader who will govern the nation wisely and justly. The coming king will reestablish both Israel and Judah, and he will do it in the righteousness that comes from God. The reading from Ephesians speaks of the union, accomplished in Christ, of two different groups of people. The author declares that a change has taken place in the Ephesians. Previously they had been far off from faith, but now, through the blood of Christ, they have been brought near to all those who believed in Christ before they did. Christ is their peace; in Christ they are one people. The passage ends with a Trinitarian proclamation of faith. Jesus has died and risen from the dead and now lives in the Spirit. Through him, in the Spirit, all believers have access to the Father.

Either the apostles were quite successful in their mission, or the fame of Jesus had spread abroad, or both, for the people were coming in such numbers that the missionaries had to get away from the crowds. However, their departure did not deter the crowds, who seemed to know where they were going and arrived there before Jesus and the apostles did. Seeing them, Jesus was moved with pity, for they were like sheep without a shepherd, searching for someone or something that they could follow. Seeing that the people were bereft of strong and dependable leadership, Jesus began to teach them.

Jan 27 2025

Exhausted—Just as Jesus Was

Exhaustion. Jesus understands it. When he heals, power pours out of him. When he sits down to rest, someone shows up to talk. After he preaches all day, crowds clamor after him until night. At night, he stays up to pray. Jesus knows how draining ministry can be. The exhaustion of helping others is very real.

In the work I do with clergy, I also see exhaustion. One pastor manages eight properties (including two schools) in Manhattan, in addition to meeting the everyday needs of several thousand people. Another pastor walks the streets of his inner-city parish where the blood of shootings is regularly splattered on his church door. A staff chaplain serves four thousand employees on a college campus. Servant leadership is exhausting. Deep fatigue permeates daily life.

For parents of young children, social workers, nurses and doctors, police, ministers and teachers, burnout is an occupational hazard. Researchers have found that burnout can creep up on any of us, no matter the occupation. We work harder but produce less; we become cynical toward the people we used to enjoy helping; we awake with a feeling of dread, already emotionally drained.

In today’s Gospel, the Twelve come back both exhilarated and exhausted. These are their early days, so they are not yet burned out. But Jesus knows that they are tired. He takes them away to a deserted place to recover.

But nobody rests for long. The crowds find them. Jesus’ heart is moved with pity. Can you feel Jesus’ urgency? So many people need help. That urgency keeps us going, too. The twinned graces of duty and compassion propel us to help, even long after we’d like to stop. The mission goes on. But Jesus knows that we also need to be refreshed.

Consider/Discuss

How refreshing it is when someone offers to help lighten our load! That accompaniment gives courage to life. Love comes from the graces of compassion and duty that show up in tiny ways—a guest helps with the dishes, a grandparent takes the kids for the day, a parishioner brings a meal, a businessman volunteers to do the books. How can the Holy Spirit– inspired impulses of duty and compassion move us to help someone carry his or her load today? How can duty and compassion toward ourselves spur us to ask for help today?
Jesus knows our weariness. Some surveys suggest that fatigue is a hidden but perhaps deadly epidemic in modern life. One out of five fatal car accidents is attributed to a drowsy driver. Work productivity is impaired by a lack of sleep. We are tired. (You might even be nodding off while you read this!) The graces of duty and compassion keep us going. Yet how can we allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to take steps toward restorative rest?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, you said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” Thank you for knowing what I am going through. Thank you for recognizing my need. Thank you for your compassion. This moment as I pray, I am falling asleep. Hold me now, tender Lord. Soothe my soul, blessed Savior. Let me rest in your calm for a moment. Then I’ll get up and get to work. Or maybe not. Good night, sweet Jesus.

Jan 27 2025

Scripture Study for

Today’s passage from Jeremiah occurs in a section of oracles from the very last days of Jerusalem. The prophet’s strongest criticisms are reserved for the Davidic kings, who are charged with maintaining justice and ensuring covenant fidelity. Yet these “shepherds” have failed to uphold justice and correct worship of God. Because of their negligence, Israel is now under judgment, which will include exile (the scattering of the sheep). Yet God insists that this judgment is not the end of the story. After a time, God will gather the sheep and return them to the land, placing over them a righteous Davidic king who will lead the people as God expects them to be led.

Paul reminds the Ephesians that before they became Christians, they were dead in their transgressions, but have now been brought to life in Christ, a completely unmerited gift (2:1–7). The Gentile Ephesians have thus been brought into the household of the God of Israel through the blood of Christ, who has erased the boundary that separated Jews from Gentiles. What was once two people is now one people. Not only has the estrangement between Jew and Gentile been overcome, but the estrangement of both from God has been healed in the very body of Christ, both the body of Christ on the cross and now in the body of Christ that is the church (the “one new person”).

The apostles Jesus sent out last week have returned. The work of proclaiming the Kingdom is exhausting, and so they are invited to rest. But the work is never actually over; the more the kingdom is proclaimed, the more the people clamor to receive its gifts. Jesus knows, however, that the apostles must be rested and fed so that they can continue their ministry. Yet the people keep coming, looking for Jesus. Not only is this a sign of the faith that Jesus admires and praises so much, but it is also a sign of the needs of the people. It is in response to both the faith and the need that Jesus begins to teach the crowd.

Jan 15 2025

The Patience and Power of God

Our experience of the world is often an experience of opposites: truth and lies, goodness and evil, beauty and ugliness. They are found in intimate proximity, often on the same page of the newspaper or in the same half-hour news report, and intertwined in the same human heart. Their existence is connected to human freedom as well as to the power of sin and evil in our world.

Jesus tells a parable that makes the same point as the author of Wisdom: God’s exercise of power is tempered by leniency and mercy; God’s justice is balanced by loving-kindness. Our desire to pull up and destroy the weeds prematurely could destroy the good wheat. While the interpretation in the Gospel applies this image to different groups in a community, we can also hear this parable as referring to the weeds and wheat, the evil and goodness residing in the heart.

Jesus says God’s active presence in the world is something as small as a mus tard seed and as fragile as a pinch of yeast, yet each contains a power that, when released, will bring about growth and expansion.

In the meantime, the challenge is being as patient with others as God is, while working with God to purify our own hearts. Last week Jesus warned about the sluggish heart; today he pictures a contaminated heart, good interpenetrated by evil. But the power of God is stronger than the power of evil and death. Be patient, and remain open to the workings of God’s grace.

Consider/Discuss

What do you see as “weeds” in your life, in the community, in the world?
Where have you seen the power of God at work in small and hidden ways?
How can the patience and kindness of God work through you?

Responding to the Word

We respond by praying: “O God, you have given us the gift of life; continue to keep us alive in Christ Jesus. Bring us from death to grow in faith, hope, and love. We remain patient in prayer and faithful to your word, until your glory is revealed.”