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| “The Vigil of the Shepherds (detail)” by Benozzo Gozzoli, 1459-60 |
Saint Damasus I, Pope
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Isaiah
40:1-11
Comfort, give comfort to my
people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem
that her service is at an
end,
her guilt is expiated;
Indeed, she has received from
the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way
of the LORD!
Make straight in the
wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled
in,
every mountain and hill shall
be made low;
The rugged land shall be made
a plain,
the rough country, a broad
valley.
Then the glory of the LORD
shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it
together;
for the mouth of the LORD has
spoken.
A voice says, “Cry out!”
I answer, “What shall I cry
out?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all their glory like the
flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower
wilts,
when the breath of the LORD
blows upon it.
So then, the people is the
grass.
Though the grass withers and
the flower wilts,
the word of our God stands
forever.”
Go up onto a high mountain,
Cry out at the top of your
voice,
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his
flock;
in his arms he gathers the
lambs,
Carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with
care.
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Commentary on Is
40:1-11
The Prophet Isaiah describes two real
events with his oracle in this section. Most familiar to us is the description
of John the Baptist since this passage is quoted in Matthew 3:3. It is also a description of the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem
This description is followed by a
vision of the messianic kingdom to come and the rule of God who creates all
things and has authority over all things. The Kingdom of God
This selection concludes with the
analogy between the benevolent leadership of the Messiah to come with that of
the good shepherd who feeds and guides his flock. These verses tie nicely to
the passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel below.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13
R. (see Isaiah 40:10ab) The Lord our God comes with
power.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you
lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his
name;
announce his salvation, day
after day.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
Tell his glory among the
nations;
among all peoples, his
wondrous deeds.
Say among the nations: The
LORD is king;
he governs the peoples with
equity.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
Let the heavens be glad and
the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it
resound;
let the plains be joyful and
all that is in them!
Then let all the trees of the
forest rejoice.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
They shall exult before the
LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the
earth.
He shall rule the world with
justice
and the peoples with his
constancy.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
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Commentary on Ps
96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13
Psalm 96 is a
hymn of praise. These strophes direct us back to the glorious rule of the
Messiah to come. Looking forward, the singer rejoices in the rule of Justice,
mercy, and peace.
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Gospel: Matthew
18:12-14
Jesus said to his disciples:
“What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep
and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the
ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the
stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I
say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine
that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is
not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones
be lost.”
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Commentary on Mt
18:12-14
This passage from the Gospel of St.
Matthew is part of a larger discourse about how to correct those who have gone
astray but are still within the Christian community. In this short passage the
image of the Good Shepherd is used to demonstrate the Father’s love for all
those given to His Son. “…it
is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
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Reflection:
The Candle of Love now joins the Candle of Hope giving
light to the darkness!
The Jerusalem Bible presents the last
line of the Gospel message with a slightly different emphasis “…it is never the will of your Father in
heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” If we listen
to the Lord as his disciples must have listened to him we see a few things very
clearly. First, knowing the prophecy of Isaiah, we know that he came to fulfill
what had been spoken of by not just Isaiah but all of the prophecies handed
down to us. Jesus is the shoot from the stump of Jesse. He is from the line of
King David, Jesse’s son. He is the good shepherd who, as Isaiah said, “…feeds his flock;” (with
his own body) “in his arms
he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with
care.”
We also hear his concern for those
the Father has handed to him, the flock he shepherds. We are co-heirs of that
apostolic mission, to make sure “…that
not one of these little ones be lost.” In this, our season of
Advent, when the whole world looks forward to the Feast of the Nativity of
Jesus, Christmas, we feel the pull to reach out to those who have stayed,
especially those closest to us. This is a time, ironically, when families are
under a great deal of stress. Everyone knows that the Nativity of the Lord is a
time when families should be together, basking in the glow of the love of God
who “so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son.” Yet, because of our humanness some
of us pull away – walk down dark paths – become lost in the morass of hedonism
and greed. It is for this reason that the weeks leading up the Christmas see an
upswing in suicides and domestic violent crimes.
Now it is handed to us that we, the
disciples of Christ today, are asked to participate in seeking the lost,
inviting the strayed back to the love of Jesus, back to the place were “…he gathers the lambs, carrying them in
his bosom”. This can be difficult or easy. The closer the one who
needs to hear that invitation is to our hearts the more difficult it becomes.
Never the less, our Lord reminds us that if we are to follow him, we must seek
the lost with love and compassion.
Our prayer today is that we have the
strength to do what is difficult, the courage to stand in the place of Christ
the Shepherd and reach out to those who do not want to be found, inviting them
home.
Pax
[2]
The picture is “The Vigil of the Shepherds (detail)” by Benozzo Gozzoli,
1459-60
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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