GOSPEL POWER | JULY 18, 2021 | SUNDAY | 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mk 6: 30 – 34

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Reflection

Compassionate shepherding is the unifying theme of  this Sunday’s liturgical readings. This is the only kind  of shepherding or mode of leadership that is attuned to  God’s heart and can mediate God’s care for His people. Jesus, the  righteous shoot whom God promised to raise to David, is the perfect  embodiment of compassionate shepherding. His decisions in today’s  Gospel are all motivated by compassion. He makes sure that his  apostles get their needed rest after their missionary journey. But he  himself renounces his time of rest to attend to the crowds that have  taken the trouble to come on foot to be with him. The second reading  speaks of the climax of Jesus’ compassionate shepherding — his death  on the cross — as the principle of unity of God’s scattered flock

Prayer

Lord Jesus, our compassionate Shepherd, protect your terror-stricken  sheep from the greed and abuses of plundering shepherds. Amen.