“Look kindly upon Your people, we beseech You, O Lord”
This sentence is from one of the priest’s prayers in today’s Mass.
This is why I exist: to ask God to look kindly upon His people.
The sacred priesthood is: Begging God, look kindly on us, please.
Plus, there is preaching and teaching.
But the main thing is begging God.
This sentence from today’s Mass is a shorter version of my favorite Mass prayer:
“Father, …You sent [our Redeemer] as one like ourselves, though free from sin, that you might see and love in us what you see and love in Christ.”
…John 10 contains statements by Christ that are illuminated somewhat by the following facts of first-century life in the province of Palestine:
1. Shepherding was the #2 most common occupation, after farming.
2. Shepherding was not romanticized by first-century Palestinians. Our Lord’s audience knew that shepherding was a difficult, exceedingly dangerous life.
3. There were two kinds of shepherds: Those who owned their own sheep, and those who tended sheep owned by someone else. The second category was the LEAST desirable of all jobs, just one tiny notch above being a criminal.
4. Sheep are not stupid in every way. They have no sense of direction and are utterly defenseless against predators. BUT they learn their names quickly and recognize voices.
5. Shepherds used common sheepfolds to protect their sheep from predators at night. One of the shepherds slept in the opening in the hedge or fence. He would be the human gate.
6. In the morning, the gatekeeping shepherd would only allow shepherds he knew and recognized to enter the sheepfold.
These facts make our Lord’s discourse a little easier to understand.
If you have never read Jesus Christ’s discourse in John 10, then you are seriously impeded from understanding reality.
Click the link and read it right now.
…Ovie hat-trick!!!
Caps up 2-0!!!
Father Mark White Blog 
Does that make Ovie a lead shepherd since he is leading his flock closer to Stanley Cup victory with a hat trick?