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(Looking for this weekend's readings and background on the scripture? Check out this post for quick reference!)
Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'm posting the prayer in the post below and inviting you to pray for priests. This Friday I also ask you to pray for priests who will preach this weekend.
It would be impossible at any one moment to know what all the Catholic priests in the world are doing but I believe I can tell you something that's on the minds of priests everywhere as this weekend approaches. What's on our minds is this Sunday's first scripture lesson from the prophet Jeremiah:
Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD.
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.
You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
from all the lands to which I have driven them
and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply.
I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them
so that they need no longer fear and tremble;
and none shall be missing, says the LORD.
(Looking for this weekend's readings and background on the scripture? Check out this post for quick reference!)
Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'm posting the prayer in the post below and inviting you to pray for priests. This Friday I also ask you to pray for priests who will preach this weekend.
It would be impossible at any one moment to know what all the Catholic priests in the world are doing but I believe I can tell you something that's on the minds of priests everywhere as this weekend approaches. What's on our minds is this Sunday's first scripture lesson from the prophet Jeremiah:
Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD.
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.
You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
from all the lands to which I have driven them
and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply.
I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them
so that they need no longer fear and tremble;
and none shall be missing, says the LORD.
There's not a priest who's reading these words who's not pondering his own ministry, his own call to shepherd God's people. And each of those priests is reflecting on all the people who have been entrusted to his care over the years, and in his present circumstances, and recalling the times when he has failed to care, lovingly and fully, for those who depend on him and his ministry. I certainly know that's what's on my mind and heart as I read Jeremiah here.
So, on this particular weekend in this Year for Priests, I ask you to pray for those who have shepherded you and your loved ones... Pray for priests who have been unfaithful in any way, large or small... Pray for people who have left the Lord's flock, hurt or betrayed by a priest's words or deeds... Pray that the Lord might send good shepherds to care for his people... And pray that all of us, shepherds and flock, might support one another in fidelity to the Good Shepherd of us all...
-ConcordPastor
