St. Rita: Pastor's Message

May 6, 2007

Pastor's Perspective

Last Sunday is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday”. In the Gospel of John that was proclaimed, we heard: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” In another passage from John’s Gospel that we shared on Monday, Jesus refers to himself as both “the shepherd” and “the gate for the sheep”. From the earliest days of the Church the image of the Good Shepherd was one of the most powerful ways used to describe how Jesus guards us, cares for us, and feeds us.

In Psalm 23 ~ often referred to as the Good Shepherd Psalm, David says: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Leonardo Boff has a lovely little book of reflections on this Psalm titled simply, The Lord is My Shepherd. In the book he reflects on the meaning of the phrase, “I shall not want”.

    God – the essential Being, the originating Source of all being – is the only object adequate to our desire. Until we acknowledge that, we will be restless and unhappy. Other objects of desire, regardless of how significant they seem at any given time, do not have the power to still our restless hearts. If we place all our trust in them, we ultimately will be defrauded, not because they are false objects of desire, but because they do not have the mark of the true Infinite. The infinite void that threatens to devour us can only be filled by the infinite God. In this we can trust because, indeed, “God alone suffices.”
    When the psalmist says “the Lord is my shepherd,” he is testifying that he has found in the Lord the infinite he has desired and sought out. The “I shall not want” now makes sense. He can entrust his life and his death to God. Even if he has to go through the most radical depths of the human condition, perhaps even succumb there, he can still trust in God.
    That is what Psalm 73 states in more detail: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Indeed, those who are far from you will perish; but for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge.   (Ps 73:26-28)
    It is only in this profound sense that we can understand the full force of the expression “I shall not want”.

In this Easter Season, may we come to an even deeper awareness of the abundant ways the Good Shepherd provides for us.

Easter Peace,
Fr. Chuck


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