21st July

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

They were like sheep without a shepherd

Collect: Show favour, O Lord, to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace, that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands. Through our Lord Jesus Christ …

Readings:
Jer 23:1-6
Ps 22
Eph 2:13-18
Gospel: Mark 6:30-34

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

Christ the Good Shepherd

Jesus presents himself as “the good shepherd,” not only of Israel but of all humanity. His whole life is a continual manifestation of his pastoral charity. He feels compassion for the crowds because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He goes in search of the straying and scattered sheep and joyfully celebrates their return. He gathers and protects them. He knows them and calls each one by name. He leads them to green pastures and still waters and spreads a table for them, nourishing them with his own life.

St. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis 22,

Apostolic Exhortation, March, 1992

We Honour The Saints

• Mon 22 – St. Mary Magdalen, Feast
• Tue 23 – St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious
• Wed 24 – St. Charbel Makhlouf, Priest
• Thu 25 – St. James, apostle, Feast
• Fri 26 – Ss. Joachim and Anne, parents of the BVM

St. Charbel Makhlouf, Maronite monk

Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born in 1828 to a humble family in Lebanon. Showing signs of piety from an early age, he made a pilgrimage to the monastery when he was 23 and decided to stay, taking the name of an early martyr: Charbel. Later professing vows and becoming a priest. His gifts were noticed by all in the monastery and even some Muslims in the vicinity, which earned him the nickname of Wonder-worker. At 47, he became a hermit and was deeply devoted to the Eucharist. In 1898 the hermit suffered a stroke and died shortly after on Christmas Eve. His tomb soon became a pilgrimage site and his body is incorrupt. Numberless miracles have taken place through St. Charbel’s powerful intercession, and devotion to him has spread all over the world, particularly in Central and South America. During his beatification in 1965, Pope Paul VI said that he was “a new, eminent member of monastic sanctity,” who “through his example and his intercession is enriching the entire Christian people.” He was canonized by the same Pope in 1977.

St. Charbel, pray for us

Next Sunday Readings (17th in Ordinary Time)

1. 2 Kgs 4:42-44
2. Ps 144:10-11,15-18
3. Eph 4:1-6
4. Jn 6:1-5