Feast of the Sacred Heart
June 11th, 2010
"The thoughts of his heart last through every generation,
He will rescue them from death and feed them in time of famine"
(Psalm 32)
(Ezekiel 34. 11- 16)
Thus says the Lord God. “I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
As a Shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep.
I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
I will feed them with good pasture, “and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pastures,
There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.` I will seek the lost and bring back the strayed and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the week, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed my sheep with justice”.
Two themes in this section of Ezekiel are obvious. One, denunciation of bad rulers who have shepherded Israel. Two, Gods plan to shepherd the sheep himself and to appoint a new David over them.
Ezekiel delivers a woe oracle depicting the suffering, scattering and exile of the defeated Israelites. God will be their good shepherd, defender of justice and of upholding the weak. David will not come back from the dead, instead a new David will rule and shepherd God’s people with care and justice. “I will feed my sheep with justice”,
Prayer
Father, we rejoice in the gifts of love we have received from the heart of Jesus your Son.
Open our heart to share his life and continue to bless us with his love. Amen
The prayer for each day has been prepared by various members of the Holy Family Association. All who visit our website are remembered in prayer. If you would like us to pray for a particular need, simply complete and submit the form on the right hand side of this page. You may wish to leave a comment in the space below.
Just a Thought
How the Holy Family prayer: A Reflection by Pope Benedict XVI
“I would like to invite you to reflect on the place of prayer in the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The home of Nazareth, in fact, is a school of prayer where we learn to listen, to ponder and to penetrate the profound meaning of the manifestation of the Son of God, drawing our example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
Pope Paul VI during his visit to Nazareth said “we come to understand the need for a spiritual discipline, if we wish to follow the teaching of the Gospel and become disciples of Christ.” And he added: “First, it teaches us silence. Oh! That there would be reborn in us the esteem for silence, that wonderful and indispensable atmosphere of the spirit: while we are deafened by so many noises, sounds and clamorous voices in the frantic and tumultuous times of modern life. Oh! Silence of Nazareth, teach us to be resolute in good thoughts, intent upon the interior life, ready to listen well to the secret inspirations of God and the exhortations of the true masters.”
We can glean several insights on the Holy Family’s prayer and relationship with God from the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ childhood. We may begin with the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. St. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph, “when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, brought the child up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord”(2:22). Like every observant Jewish family, Jesus’ parents go up to the temple to consecrate the firstborn son to God and to offer sacrifice. Moved by fidelity to the law’s prescriptions, they set off from Bethlehem and go up to Jerusalem with Jesus, who is now forty days old. Instead of a one-year-old lamb, they present the offering of simple families; that is two young pigeons. The Holy Family’s pilgrimage is one of faith, of the offering of gifts, a symbol of prayer, and of encounter with the Lord, whom Mary and Joseph already see in the son Jesus.”
