Getting to know the Shepherd
Penguins are very ritualistic birds. They are deeply committed to their families, mate for life, and maintain affectionate bonds with their offspring.
If a penguin is found dead on the ice, members of its social circle have been known to dig a hole in the ice using only their beaks and vestigial wings. They carefully roll the departed into the hole and bury it with care.
Then, they gather around the icy grave and sing:
"Freeze a jolly good fellow… Freeze a jolly good fellow…"
You didn’t really believe I knew anything about penguins did you? What I do know is worth singing about. I have stood with others around an icy grace of a loved one and sung, “Holy God we praise Thy name.”
John of the Cross, one of foremost poets in Spanish literature, wrote:
And I saw the river over which every soul must pass
to reach the kingdom of heaven
and the name of that river was suffering:
and I saw a boat which carries souls across the river
and the name of that boat was love.
The author of love and suffering is Jesus Christ. He knows about boats and sometimes walks across the water to us. At the risk of mixing metaphors, He is the shepherd that will lead us along the path that takes us home. Getting to know the Shepherd should be our life’s goal.
There are several versions of this story: A young boy recited Psalm 23 flawlessly, with oratorical mastery. There was much applause. Then an old man stood up and recited the Psalm with a trembling voice, cracked by time.
When he finished, there was not a dry eye in the place. Some wept. Someone asked the old man why everyone was so moved. “Well,” said the old man, “the boy knows the psalm, but I know the shepherd.”
Our life sometimes resembles a vale of tears. We will all experience suffering, pain, and ultimately death, but cultivating an attitude of gratitude is easy when we see life’s gifts surrounding us. It’s true! “Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health, personal growth, individuation and self-actualization.” (Carl Jung).
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. …It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” (Melody Beattie).
Get to know the shepherds in your life! My life experience has been privileged. My father and Mother were shepherds of their flock. Easily recognizable, they led us through many difficulties. Sometimes it was a life and death situation, like being lost in a blizzard, on a bobsled, with their family, and one of the horses falling down, exhausted.
Then there was the choice about selling the farm or continuing with drought, dwindling livestock numbers and farm bank debt. I know how much prayer kept us moving forward. Prayer and gratitude were one, and they prevailed. Love prevailed!
My father did not often say “I love you” to us. We knew. Jesus, our shepherd, appeared to Sister Josefa in the 1920’s to tell her how much he loves us.
On one occasion he said, “I am God, but a God of Love! I am a Father, but a Father who loves with tenderness and not severity. …my Heart pours out its Compassion and Tenderness on sinners with even more generosity than on the just."
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
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