HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR I.
THEME: He took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA.
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Hebrews 13:15-17,20-21
Psalm 22
Mark 6:30-34
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
GREEN
*INTRODUCTION*
The image of the shepherd links this morning’s first reading, responsorial psalm and Gospel reading.
*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
The first reading speaks of God raising our Lord Jesus from the dead to become the great Shepherd of the sheep.
*FROM OUR RESPONSORIAL PSALM*
The Responsorial Psalm is the much-loved Psalm, ‘the Lord is my shepherd’. On the lips of the Jewish people who prayed that Psalm ‘the Lord’ referred to the God of Israel. As Christians, we instinctively think of Jesus when we say ‘the Lord is my shepherd’. He is, in the words of the first reading, ‘our Lord, Jesus’.
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*FROM OUR GOSPEL READING*
In the gospel reading, Jesus looks out upon the crowd who have so unexpectedly disrupted his plans for rest with the eyes of a shepherd. He had compassion for them, because he recognized that they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus would become their shepherd, which is why he immediately set himself to teach them at some length. He went on to feed them with bread and fish as a shepherd feeds his flock.
*CONCLUSION*
The risen Lord continues to look upon us with the eyes of a shepherd. He feeds us with his teaching, with his word, which we hear in the Scriptures. He feeds us with the bread of life, his body, in the Eucharist. He looks to us to feed the physically and spiritually hungry, as he did. Jesus was not disturbed by the crowd who interrupted his plans for some rest for himself and his disciples, because his instinct was always that of the shepherd. It remains his instinct as risen Lord. His deepest desire is to feed and nourish us. He has no times that are out of bounds for us. It is always timely for us to turn to him in our hunger and allow him to feed us with his presence, so that we can be good shepherds to each other.
May God bless Us Through Christ our Lord.
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