Let us sing our praises to the Lord our God accompanied by our acts of obedient love for Him and for brethren. This is what it means to offer Him an unending sacrifice of praise. For we have heard Him say to us, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” 1 Sam 15:22 and so we must always be attentive to obey His Will for us. Our Lord had also instructed us, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matt 9:13 And our beloved Shepherd showed us how much He loved us, for in His mercy He sacrificed Himself by laying down His life for His sheep. So that we have hope of eternal life with God our Heavenly Father.
How merciful and loving then are we? How have we sacrificed ourselves for love of the Gospel? That we would do whatever it takes to share His message of love and mercy to all who will listen? Are we not called to likewise be Shepherds after His own heart in caring for His sheep? To teach them the ways of our Lord and to lead them into His heavenly fold. We can only do so if we are living His Word and journeying with Him, through Him and in Him. We therefore need to spend time in solitude and prayer, so as to be nurtured by Him; and filled with His grace we can then minister to His flock as we should.
You O Lord are my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. Amen
St Paul Miki and companions pray for us…..
First reading
Hebrews 13:15-17,20-21 ·
May God turn us all into whatever is acceptable to himself through Jesus Christ
Through Christ, let us offer God an unending sacrifice of praise, a verbal sacrifice that is offered every time we acknowledge his name. Keep doing good works and sharing your resources, for these are sacrifices that please God.
Obey your leaders and do as they tell you, because they must give an account of the way they look after your souls; make this a joy for them to do, and not a grief – you yourselves would be the losers. I pray that the God of peace, who brought our Lord Jesus back from the dead to become the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood that sealed an eternal covenant, may make you ready to do his will in any kind of good action; and turn us all into whatever is acceptable to himself through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.
Gospel
Mark 6:30-34
They were like sheep without a shepherd
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.
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