Smoke and sheep

The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want; I lack nothing”. We know this Psalm very well. Probably not so well that we can imagine the importance of a shepherd, because it does not seem to me that many of us have the direct experience of agriculture or breeding. But anyway, it is important to reflect on this picture of a shepherd. Close your eyes for a while and think what you can see when you have in your mind these words: “The Lord is my shepherd…” Don’t move on. Reflect for a moment.

To be sincere, these words provoke in me two reflections. The first one is linked with words: there is nothing I shall want, I lack nothing. Interesting, because generally in life we can feel that we want this or that, all the time we want, we desire, we look for something. Is it possible to feel that I lack nothing??? God’s word wants to say: there is nothing I shall want, if and only if the Lord is my shepherd. So if I lack something, He is not my shepherd? Indeed, maybe sometimes it happens that in a greedy manner we seek for so many things, because we have not found the powerful presence of God… But maybe also it means that if we look for many things, in reality we seek for Him. Because our hearts are restless until they find rest in true God.

The second reflection is linked with one of my memories. Once I walked through the Park della Caffarella in Rome, near to the area of Christian catacombs, the sun was setting, many sheep close to the restful waters in the park, fresh and green pastures because it was in May (they start to yellow in June), and I saw two shepherds. The first, young one, totally absorbed by his mobile, probably tweeting or rapidly looking at his facebook account. And the second shepherd, an old one, wearing used clothes, sitting in the shadow with a cigarette in his mouth. He was sitting, smoking and calmly looking at sheep. This reminiscence helps me to think, what does it mean that the Lord is my shepherd?

Fr Michael