SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B (LEARNING FROM JESUS, OUR SHEPHERD PAR EXCELLENCE)

A shorter version in text

COMPASSIONATE JESUS

Today’s responsorial psalm says, “The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want”.

This psalm is a prayer, a confession and an invitation. Confident in God’s care, we pray for a divine provision. We confess that God is Our Shepherd and are invited to follow in obedience imitating his compassion.

Due to the lack of compassion in many shepherds of God’s people, God promised to care for his flock by himself in this Sunday’s first reading. Thus, in this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus teaches us compassion. Jesus and his disciples had set off to a quiet place for rest. When he saw the people, he was so moved by compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Therefore, Jesus chose their urgent needs for care and guidance over his need for quiet and set himself to teach them at length.

We are to be compassionately mindful of those gracious moments (in our families, workplaces, among friends etc) when God places people under our care. However, we can only be truly compassionate if we have experienced it and learnt from the Compassionate One, Jesus. It is true compassion that we are healed of our division and break down the barriers that separate us. Let us trust in God’s care, learn from him and be compassionate like Jesus. Amen