The daily Mass reading for today, 22 August. How appropriate!
¹And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;
8 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;
10 Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
11 For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
—Ezekiel 34:1-11 (KJV)
Thank you, Dr. Kurland. Exactly what I posted as a comment to a different blog post here at TAC.
Yes, timely. Perhaps also timely that it is the feast of the queenship of Mary today also.
LQC, I apologize. I didn’t read the other posts or comments before I posted this. But…what can I say–great minds ….At any rate, this will give the Scripture reading more exposure.
No apology necessary, Dr. Kurland. I was very happy you posted this. I try to do the daily readings – well, daily. And the past several weeks of readings have really applied to the current situation in the Church and the Nation. God isn’t a disinterested spectator in human affairs and I think we will find that out the hard way.