The Shepherd Of My Soul
By Rev. Charles J. Callan
Of the Order of Preachers
John Murphy Company, Publishers
100 W. Lombard St.
Baltimore, MD.
Printers to the Holy See
1915
CONTENTS
Psalm of the Good Shepherd
Introduction.
I. Christ the Good Shepherd.
II. Shepherd Life in the Orient.
III. The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want.
IV. He Maketh Me to Lie Down in Pastures of Tender Grass; He Leadeth Me
Beside the Waters of Quietness.
V. He Restoreth My Soul.
VI. He Leadeth Me in the Paths of Justice for His Name’s Sake.
VII. Yea, Though I Walk in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Will Fear
no Evil, for Thou Art With Me.
VIII. Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me.
IX. Thou Spreadest Before Me a Table in the Presence of Mine Enemies.
X. Thou Anointest My Head With Oil; My Cup Runneth Over.
XI. Surely Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me All the Days of My Life; and
I Shall Dwell in the House of the Lord Unto Length of Days.
Footnotes
Nihil Obstat:
M. A. WALDRON, O. P. S. T. M.
J. A. McHUGH, O. P. S. T. Lr.
Imprimi Potest:
J. R. MEAGHER, O. P. S. T. Lr.
Imprimatur:
++ J. CARD. GIBBONS.
PSALM OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in pastures of tender grass.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of justice for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil, for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou spreadest before me a table in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I
shall dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.
INTRODUCTION.
No types more beautiful could have been chosen under which to picture the
character of our Lord and the souls He came to redeem than those of a
shepherd and his flock. As nothing on earth could more fitly illustrate
the infinite love and sacrifice of the Saviour than the enduring labors
and tenderness of a shepherd, so nothing here below could better portray
the multiple wants of our spirits than the needful dependent nature of
sheep. After the knowledge we possess of our Redeemer, only a slight
acquaintance with the characteristics of pastoral life, as it exists in
oriental countries, is needed to discern the charming fitness of these
comparisons. The similarity is at once striking and most easily
understood. Hence it is that our Lord, as well as those who described Him
before He came, so often appealed to shepherd life when speaking of the
Messiah’s mission; hence, also, it is that He was so fond of calling
Himself the Good Shepherd, and of alluding to the souls He loved as His
sheep.
It is the purpose of the pages that follow to trace some of these
beautiful and touching resemblances of the shepherd and his flock, on the
one side, roaming over the hills and plains of Palestine, and the Saviour
of the World with the souls of men, on the other, pursuing together the
journey of life. We have taken as our guide, in noting these charming
likenesses, the Twenty-second Psalm, or the Psalm of the Good Shepherd,
every verse of which recalls some feature or features of pastoral life,
and sings of the offices, tender and varied, which the shepherd discharges
towards his flock.
As this shepherd song was composed and written in the Hebrew tongue, the
language of ancient Palestine, we have employed here a literal translation
from the original language, simply because it expresses much more
beautifully and more exactly than does any rendering from the Latin or
Greek the various marks and characteristics of the shepherd’s life and
duties. The oriental languages, like the people who speak them, are
exceedingly figurative and poetic in their modes of expression; and hence,
for our present purpose, it is only by getting back as closely as we can
to the original that we are able adequately to appreciate the beauty and
poetry of that simple but charming life about which the Psalmist is
singing.
Although the Shepherd Psalm refers, in its literal sense, to the human
shepherd attending and providing for his sheep, it has also another higher
meaning, which its author gave it, and this has reference to Christ in His
relations with the souls He has made and redeemed. It is by reflecting on
this sense of the psalm, and on all His gracious dealings with us, that we
are enabled to realize how rightly and justly our Saviour is called the
Shepherd of Our Souls, and how beautifully the Psalmist, in the shepherd
song, has depicted His relations with us. And how important this is! how
much it means for our spiritual welfare and spiritual advancement to
reflect on the many mercies of Christ and on the love He bears each one of
us! If the considerations that follow assist their readers to appreciate
more fully and love more ardently the Divine Shepherd of Souls, who daily
and constantly throughout our lives is ministering to our spiritual needs
and trying to further our eternal interests, the desire and aim which
prompted their writing will be fully and perfectly realized.
THE AUTHOR.
I. CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
It was announced by the prophets of old that the Messiah, who was to come,
should bear the character of a good shepherd. He was to be a shepherd, and
His followers, the faithful souls that should believe in Him and accept
His teaching, were to be His sheep. It was foretold that He would select
and purchase His flock; that He would choose them from out the vast
multitudes of their kind and gather them into His fold, that He would
provide for them and guard them against every evil; that He would lead
them out to green pastures and refresh them with the waters of rest. “He
shall feed his flock like a shepherd,” sang the Prophet Isaias; “he shall
gather together the lambs with his arms, and shall take them up in his
bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.”(1) In like
manner did Jeremias, referring to the comforting advent of Christ, liken
the offices which the Saviour would perform towards His people to those of
shepherds towards their flocks. “I will set up pastors over them,” said
the Prophet, speaking in the name of Jehovah, “and they shall feed them;
they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed; and none shall be
wanting of their number.... Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I
will raise up to David a just branch; and a king shall reign, and shall be
wise, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.”(2) The Prophet
Ezechiel also prophetically portrayed the Saviour’s character when he
pictured Him in the capacity of a shepherd visiting and feeding his sheep:
“For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and I
will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he
shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my
sheep, and I will deliver them out of all the places where they have been
scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will set up one shepherd over
them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them,
and he shall be their shepherd.”(3)
And when at length the Saviour did appear in the world, He declared, not
only by His life and example, but in explicit terms, that He was the
fulfilment of these prophecies—that He was, in truth, the Good Shepherd,
and that His followers were the sheep of His fold. In the tenth chapter of
the Gospel according to Saint John we have His own words to this effect.
There He tells us plainly that He has not come as a thief and a robber, to
steal, to kill, and to destroy; that He is not a stranger, at the sound of
whose voice the sheep are terrified and flee away; that He is not a
hireling, who cares not for the sheep, and who, beholding the approach of
the wolf and the enemy, fleeth and leaveth the sheep to be snatched and
scattered and torn. The Saviour is not any of these, nor like unto them.
He is the Good Shepherd who enters the sheepfold by the door, and not as
the thief and robber who climb up some other way. To Him the porter
openeth, and He calleth His sheep, and they know His voice and follow Him,
and He leadeth them out to pasture, to rest, and to abundant life. Nor is
this all, for He protects and guards His sheep. By day and by night He is
ever near them: when circling the green plains, or beside the still
waters, or when asleep beneath the silent stars, the sheep are protected
by their Shepherd. Faithfully He watches His dependent flock; and at the
end, as a proof of His love and fidelity, He generously lays down His life
for His sheep.
II. SHEPHERD LIFE IN THE ORIENT.
We cannot appreciate the beauty of this picture of our Saviour under the
symbol of a shepherd, nor can we later understand the detailed description
which is given of Him through the spiritual meaning of the Good Shepherd
Psalm without first taking into account some of the features of pastoral
life as it prevails in eastern countries. For us of the western world it
is difficult, and at times next to impossible, to represent to ourselves
the life and customs of the Orient; and in particular do we find it hard
to picture to our minds and to understand the simple poetry of that
shepherd life for which Palestine has always been known. Time has little
changed the scene of the Saviour’s earthly labors. The people, their
manners and customs, their life and occupations, remain much the same now
as when the land was graced by His sacred presence. Thus today, as in
those olden times, all the level country east of the river Jordan, as well
as the mountains of Palestine and Syria, serves as vast pasture lands for
innumerable flocks and herds. The country throughout is essentially
pastoral in its character, and the care and raising of sheep constitute
the chief industry of the people. From sheep the people are furnished with
nearly all the necessaries of life—with meat, clothing, milk, butter, and
cheese.
The care of sheep is a delicate and, in many ways, a difficult task. Not
that they are froward or hard to manage, for of all animals they are the
most tender and gentle; nor again, that they need abundant nourishment in
the way of food and drink, since they require water but once a day, and
can maintain life and strength on a plain which, to the naked eye, seems
little more than a barren waste of sand. But because, in other respects,
they are exceedingly timid and helpless creatures, especially in times and
places of danger, the burdens which their welfare and safety impose upon
the shepherd, while paternal and winning, are, nevertheless, arduous and
manifold. There are the changes and hardships of the climate—the cold and
frost in winter, and the heat and drought of summer; there are the long
rough walks, the steep and dangerous passes which they must climb and
descend; there are perils from robbers, from wolves and wild beasts, which
not infrequently demand the shepherd’s utmost watchfulness and care. The
oriental climate is such that they can graze nearly the whole year
through; and whether they be grazing on the wide open plains, or huddled
snugly within the sheepfold, it pertains to the shepherd to provide for
their varied needs. His vigilance can never cease. He must lead them out
to pasture and to water, he must guide and protect them, he must gather
them into the fold at night or into caves and enclosures, at times, during
the day, to shield them from great danger, whether from enemies or violent
weather; and upon all occasions he must be prepared to defend them, even
at the risk of his own life.
The folds or sheep pens, it must be observed, into which the sheep are
gathered for rest or protection are not roofed over or walled in like a
house. They are enclosures left open to the sky, and consisting simply of
a high wall of rough stone, to protect the sheep from the attacks of wild
beasts, and from prowling marauders who threaten their safety by night. It
often happens that several flocks, belonging to different shepherds, will
graze on the same pastures during the day, and will be penned in the same
sheepfold at night. While the sheep are sleeping, and the shepherds near
by are taking their needed rest, the door of the fold is carefully locked,
and another shepherd or porter is left on guard, lest perchance a hungry
bear or wolf might scale the wall and destroy some member or members of
the sleeping herds. Early in the morning the shepherds come in turn and
rap at the door, and to each the porter opens. Then each shepherd calls
his flock by name; and they, knowing his voice, follow him, and he leads
them out to their pastures. There is never any confusion, for each flock
knows its own shepherd and obeys him alone. Other shepherds they will not
heed; and from the voice of strangers they flee.
It is a beautiful scene to see a shepherd with his flock. First, we must
remember that he never drives them, but leads them; and they follow him
with instinctive love and trust whithersoever he goes. He usually carries
a rod and a staff: the latter he uses, when need be, to assist the sheep
along dangerous paths and narrow passages; the former, to protect and
defend them, if assailed by enemies or beasts of prey. Another evidence of
their implicit love of their shepherd and trust in his goodness, as also
of their obedience to his voice and commands, is beautifully manifest when
several flocks are led to drink at the same stream or well. Although the
sheep need to drink but once a day, the shepherds never forget, throughout
the day’s roaming, that they must lead their flock to water. And as the
drinking places in Palestine are comparatively few, it often happens that
several herds, whether from the same or neighboring pastures, will arrive
simultaneously at the same spring. But here again, there is neither
trouble nor confusion. When they have drawn near to the place of water
each shepherd gives a sign to his flock, and obedient to his voice, the
respective flocks lie down and patiently wait their turn to drink. The
troughs are then filled with the refreshing water, and when all is ready a
shepherd calls and his flock at once rises and comes forward to drink. The
sheep being satisfied, the shepherd gives another sign, and they promptly
return to their previous place of rest, or move quietly away to their
pasture, as the shepherd may direct. Another flock is then called up,
watered and led away, and so on, in like manner, till all have been duly
satisfied.
With this passing glance at shepherd life, we can better understand and
better appreciate the likeness between the character of the Saviour and
that of the good shepherd. We can see how apt it was that our Redeemer
should choose a shepherd, with his multiple and tender cares and duties,
to illustrate His own watchfulness and loving kindness towards the many
wants and needs of our souls. For we are, indeed, His sheep. He has called
us, we have heard and understood His voice, and He has gathered us into
His flock and fold. He has literally vindicated for Himself in our regard
all the attributes and qualities of the good shepherd, so far as
described, and as still further depicted in every verse of the
Twenty-second Psalm. This is called the Psalm of the Good Shepherd,
because in it the Psalmist, under the symbol of a shepherd, prophetically
foretold the character of the Messiah, our Saviour. The psalm has,
therefore, a twofold meaning: in its literal sense it deals with the
faithful shepherd, ranging with his flock over mountains and plains, and
providing for their every want; and in its spiritual and prophetic meaning
it relates to our Creator and Saviour, caring for our spiritual
necessities. Let us see how this is; and that we may better perceive the
application in detail, let us take this shepherd song, part by part, and
see how beautifully it describes the whole person of Christ as God, and in
His capacity as Redeemer—in all His tender relations with us, and towards
the various needs of our souls.
III. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT WANT.
How full of meaning and how comprehensive are these simple yet beautiful
words which introduce the Good Shepherd Psalm! They at once sum up the
whole round of the shepherd’s life—his duties, his solicitude, his
ceaseless care of his sheep. But here, be it noted, in this opening verse,
the reference, so direct and unmistakable, is not to an earthly shepherd;
it is to the benign and constant Providence of Jehovah towards His
children, to the untiring love of God, our Father and Saviour, for the
souls He has created and redeemed. The Psalmist is looking back, in
grateful remembrance, upon the history of his race, and upon his own life
in particular, and he traces there at every step the goodness and
watchfulness of his Creator. He sees there has never been any want. Dark
days at times have come upon his nation, sufferings and trials there have
been; and in these, as in other respects, his own individual experience
has mirrored the history of his people; but throughout it all there has
never been any lasting want. As the shepherd is ever near his sheep,
whether at peace or in trouble, to provide for their needs, so, sings the
Psalmist in gratitude, has God been near him and his people. And his
confidence is unshaken; that which has been in the past will be in the
future; as sheep put their trust in their shepherd, so will he put his
trust in his Lord and God. Nor is this gratitude for past favors and this
unshaken trust for the future to be restricted to the Psalmist alone; his
words had meaning not only for himself; he knows the same Providence
provides for us all, and therefore he would have his words find an echo in
the hearts and sentiments of all.
The Lord is my shepherd; He ruleth me with the rod of gentleness. I am His
creation, He has bought me with a great price, He has set me a divine
example and taught me the way to life. There may be times of distress for
me, brief periods of temporal need; but surely, since I am the possession
of my God, and He is providing for me, nothing can long be wanting to
me—permanent want there can never be.
The Lord ruleth me, and all my kind, as a shepherd ruleth his flock. What
a consoling thought to each one of us, if only we be faithful souls! How
unspeakable the thought, how surpassing the privilege to know and to be
assured that we belong to God! that out of countless millions of
creatures, far nobler than we, to whom He might have given the joy of
life, He has chosen to select us; to think that He has allotted to us a
short period of existence here below, during which it is our privilege to
be able to merit and draw near to Him for eternity; and that after this,
our little time of trial, we are to reign with Him in everlasting glory!
Of a certainty we are a favored people and a royal race, for we belong to
God. He has purchased our souls by creating us, He has come down from
Heaven to redeem and buy us back from the enemy to whom our race in folly
had surrendered itself, He has borne our sorrows and our sufferings to
make amends for us and to teach us the way to life, and finally He has
given His own life for our salvation.
Since, then, God has created us, it follows that He must have had us in
His mind from everlasting, because nothing that is, or can be, is
unforeseen by Him. From the remotest dawn of eternity, therefore; from the
very beginning of the eternal years, He saw us as He sees us now, clearly,
distinctly, lovingly. We did not exist from eternity as we do now, but we
were present to God before we were to ourselves, He saw us mirrored in
Himself. And when, in time, He called our race into being and endowed it
with life, we know what happened. This human nature of ours which He had
loved from eternity, and favored in time with existence, turned its back
upon its God and strayed away to sin and death. This was the disobedience
of our first parents, and in their sin we all have shared, for the very
reason that they were our parents and responsible for us as well as for
themselves. We became a ruined race, deserving punishment, fit for
perdition; and yet God did not give us up. He followed after us, as it
were; He pursued us, as a shepherd pursues his chosen flock, until finally
He led us back to His fold, and to pastures of rest and plenty.
It was not enough for God’s goodness to give us the gift of life, and to
endow us with understanding, will, and freedom; it did not satisfy His
bountifulness to make our life fair here on earth, and to enable us to
reap much of the joys and pleasures with which even this world abounds—no,
far more than all this has He wished and prepared for His elect, for the
souls who belong to His flock. It was nothing less than Himself, Heaven
and its rewards, that the eternal Father had in store for us when He
called us into being. In order, therefore, that we should not lose our
destined crowns through the guilt and wounds of original sin, He provided
for us a remedy, He sent us a Saviour, who was His only son, our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Now since it is to Christ, the Saviour, that the spiritual meaning of the
Shepherd Psalm refers in a particular manner, it is in Him especially, and
in His earthly life, that we discern and find fulfilled the chiefest
qualities of the good shepherd. As God, we see, He has, indeed, been our
shepherd from the beginning, creating and endowing our nature, and
providing for us unnumbered benefits, temporal and eternal. But it is in
His human nature, in His character as God and man, that He draws nearest
to us and proves unto us in ways most gracious that He is, in truth, our
loving Master and the Shepherd of our souls. Marvelous, assuredly, has
been the goodness of God to create us at all; and still more marvelous
that He should have destined us for a participation in His own eternal
blessedness; but in no way has the heavenly Father so stooped to us, in no
way has He so manifested His utter condescension towards us, as in the
abasement of His Only-begotten Son, “who, being in the form of God,
emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.”(4) For let us reflect that
to raise our race from its fallen state and restore it to the divine
good-pleasure, it was not necessary that the Second Person of the Most
Holy Trinity should have come down to earth. Such extraordinary means were
not of necessity to bring us back to Heaven’s smile and favor. As by a
simple act of His omnipotent will God had called the world and us and all
that is out of nothingness in the beginning, so again by a single wish of
the same divine will He could have restored us, from a condition of
bondage and sin, to the realms of grace and peace. And even when the Son
of God did condescend, in accordance with the will of His Father, to
clothe Himself with our nature and visit our blighted sphere, how simple,
really, He could have made our redemption! How easily could He have
blotted out the handwriting that was against us, and presented our tearful
world, all smiling and glad, to the arms of His eternal Father! Yes,
Christ could have made our redemption easy. He could have paid our debt to
God in a thousand different, simple ways, had He wished it so. One drop of
His precious blood, one tear of His eye, one sigh of the Sacred Heart
would have sufficed to redeem innumerable worlds like ours.
But the Saviour wished it otherwise. He was our Shepherd and He loved us,
His deceived and wounded sheep. He was with the Father when we were
planned and made. He it was, in truth, who made us, for He and the Father
are one.(5) He, therefore, knew our nature, since He designed and gave it
to us. He foresaw our yearnings and aspirations; He knew the sublime,
transcendent possibilities of which, with His help and divine example, we
are capable; He understood the heights of love and worship to which the
human heart can ascend, when assisted from on high, and hence to awaken
and kindle on earth these all-consuming fires;(6) to stir the very depths
of our souls, and elevate and perfect our gifted nature; to afford us the
utmost inspiration to climb with Him the heights of Heaven. He stooped to
our own estate, in all things made like unto us, except, indeed, our
proneness and ability to sin. Since He loved us, He longed to be like us,
in as far as that was possible, and not even our sin-stained, wounded
nature could stay the force of His love.
There is another reason for the mysterious manner of our redemption, a
further explanation of the extreme condescension on the part of our Lord
towards the frail creatures whom He came to save. Had he come to us in a
foreign attire, with a nature unlike our own, would it not have been
difficult for us to approach Him, and to put our confidence and trust in
Him? If He had appeared like an angel, all bright and dazzling with glory,
if He had come as an earthly king and ruler, crowned and clad in regal
splendor, would it not have been hard for the poor ones of earth? would it
not have been a trial for those who were in need of a shepherd’s love and
care? Already sorely oppressed and trodden down by worldly pomp and power,
they could only have tried to shun His notice and draw back from Him with
feelings of fear and awe. But our Redeemer came not only to save, but also
to teach and to lead the way to life. As a shepherd He was not to drive,
but to lead His sheep; He does not point the direction, but goes before
His flock, and they follow Him, and He leads them out to living pastures
and to bright, sparkling, far-off waters.
Because He was God, as well as man, Christ knew that, as a result of our
sinful state, we should have to pass our earthly sojourn forever beneath
the shadow of the cross. When sin entered into the world by the
disobedience of the first man, the handiwork of the Creator was despoiled.
That which before had been a paradise of pleasure, replete with all
delights, was wrecked and ruined, and became a place of sorrow, suffering
and death. Thenceforth, pursuant to the divine decree, the lot of man was
to labor, to suffer, and to die.(7) Knowing, therefore, that this was to
be our portion, the Shepherd-Saviour of our souls must also teach us the
secret of pain and toil, and help us to bear our cross.
According, then, to our present state, suffering and sorrow are
inseparable from us, because we are born into the world with sin upon our
souls, and in the wake of sin follow all the evils to which the world is
heir. And, moreover, under existing conditions, it is necessary for our
future happiness that our earthly life be largely spent amidst toil and
pain and tears. It is only through these that we shall be able to atone
for the injuries sin has done, and hold in check the disorders of our
nature. The cross is before us and we cannot escape it. It is ready for us
when we enter the world, it follows us throughout the length of our days,
and finally bears us down in death to our graves. This does not mean that
life on earth is entirely made up of pain and sorrow, for the divine mercy
has mitigated even the stroke of sin, and has caused the world, in spite
of all its wounds, to bloom with many delights. Nevertheless, our sojourn
here below shall always be fraught with diverse ills, and we at last must
yield to death. In spite of all the world can afford us, in spite of its
pleasures and joys, its sunshine and pleasing pastimes, real, though
fitful and fast-flying as they are; in spite of health and wealth and fame
and honor; in spite of all the goods that life contains, it still is ever
true that we live in a region of tears, and that death and sorrow are sure
to follow upon the footsteps of joy and mirth. It must be so, for the
stains of sin are indelibly upon the world; and not until the final
renovation comes can life on earth be made entirely happy.
All this our Saviour knew when He chose our human nature and embraced a
life of labor and sorrow. His divine foreknowledge took in our lives, and
the lives of all our kind, until the end of all shall be. Our infant
tears, our trials and pains of body, the ceaseless pangs of mind and heart
that pursue us throughout life, were all before Him as in a mirror, and He
must needs instruct and assist us to fight this battle and walk this way
of earth, lest all should perish before the journey’s end. Since we were
to suffer, then He would suffer also; since our lives were to be amidst
labors and trials, then He would labor and travail also; since we were to
feel the sting of pain, be subject to heat and cold, be in want, in
poverty, and in distress, be misunderstood, be thwarted, be cast down from
our highest hopes, and broken, at times, in every cheerful prospect—since
these and other countless ills were to be woven in our web of earthly
life, He, the divine Master, who came to save, to teach a lesson, to
suffer and die, would assume a body so sacred, so delicate, so pure and
sensitive that, when exposed to the rough and ruthless ways of life, He
could truly cry out from the depths of His anguish: “O all ye that pass by
the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow!”(8)
How comforting, then, it is for us to feel that we are not alone in
suffering, and to know that, while all we suffer is but just and due to
our sinful state, we can nevertheless make use of all our ills to attain
to joys unending in Heaven! If we must toil and struggle while on earth,
it is because these things are a result of our state; if we must be
subject to sickness, to weakness and fatigue, to cold and hunger, to
weariness and pain, it is not because God is pleased at the misery of His
creatures; neither does He rejoice on account of our misfortune. We are
simply reaping the harvest of sin and transgression, and sin is the work
of our own free choice and that of our ancestors. And even though it be
objected that we are born into this inevitable condition, and are made the
unconsulted heirs of a heritage we loathe but cannot escape, the solution
of our difficulty is not far to seek. We need but hearken to the
promptings of reason, and lift our sorrowing eyes to the realms of faith
to be convinced that God’s mercy and goodness are above all His works,(9)
and that for reasons not less benevolent than holy He has called us into
life and permitted all our woes. God could not have created us for
suffering and punishment, because He is infinite goodness; He cannot be
pleased at our misfortunes, since He Himself has borne our sorrows and
carried all our pains.(10) If He Himself had not come into the world in
visible human form; if He had not explained our purpose and destiny, and
led the way to Heaven; if He had not, by His words and divine example,
provided us with the solution for all life’s difficulties, then, in truth,
we might object, and sit and grieve and wonder. But in the light of the
life of Christ all this is altered; the picture takes on a different
coloring. Who now can rail at the crosses of life and think of the
sufferings of Christ? Who can murmur at the injustice of pain, and
remember the passion of Jesus? Who can say that God is deaf to our
pleading and unmoved at our tears, and look upon the Saviour dying? Who
can believe that our lives are of little worth, or of no account with the
Almighty, and recall the price that was paid for our souls and ponder the
death of our God?
Thus it is with a bountiful goodness that the Saviour has purchased His
sheep. By His own free choice, by a life of suffering entirely voluntary,
endured for our salvation and instruction, through a bitter, but willing
agony and death, He has provided the means to free us from sin, and has
bequeathed to us every blessing. Now we can truly say: the Lord is my
shepherd, and I shall not want. If only we can look into that divine life
which has been given as our model, if only we can ponder it, and read in
it the lessons, the hopes, the inspirations it contains for us, we shall
not be weary of our burdens and cares, we shall not falter in any of
life’s battles. Rather, rejoicing at our opportunities, eternal as they
are, and with feelings of exultant gratitude over our condition, as heirs
with Christ to the kingdom of Heaven,(11) we shall bravely welcome all the
conflicts of life, being assured with St. Paul that “that which is at
present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above
measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.”(12)
IV. HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN IN PASTURES OF TENDER GRASS; HE LEADETH ME
BESIDE THE WATERS OF QUIETNESS.
Our attention is now directed to a particular phase of the shepherd’s
life, and here we see some of the ways in which he actually provides for
his sheep day by day. For it is not enough that the shepherd has purchased
his flock, by means however difficult and labors however loving; it is not
sufficient that he have procured for them, in a general manner, all that
they need for their life and safety, he must also arrange for their daily
care and provide for their separate wants. Sheep, as we know, are delicate
creatures, and they must be directed in their roamings, and sustained by
sufficient nourishment. Accordingly, we have said that it belongs to the
duties of a good shepherd to lead them out to pasture, and to provide for
them every day adequate food and drink.
Here again we behold the infinite kindness of the Shepherd of our souls.
Not alone has He deigned to stoop to our fallen state and restore us from
death to life, not only did He take upon Himself our infirmities and bear
our woes, but tenderly also has He provided for our constant direction,
and for the daily needs of our lives.
The level to which the Saviour raised our lives and the dignity to which
He invites us are far, indeed, above our natural powers. Left to
ourselves, we could never attain the heavenly heights to which, in His
goodness, He has called us. Through the infinite merits of His life and
sacrifice we have been redeemed and reclaimed from the enemy of our souls;
the gates of Heaven, closed against us before, have been opened wide; and
our wayward race is again restored to the road that leads to our immortal
home. But just because our celestial destiny is of so high and sublime a
character, it is impossible, if left to our own abilities, that we should
be able long to pursue it, and vastly beyond our sublimest hopes that we
should ever finally attain it. We have, it is true, ever before us, the
life and example of Him who has saved us; we know that His cross and death
have delivered us from the wrath that frowned upon us. But we are weak and
fragile mortals. With respect to things of the higher life—of the
supernatural world—we, of ourselves, shall always remain as helpless and
frail as infants. Not less unable is the babe of yesterday to traverse
unaided and explore the material world, than the wisest of men would be to
know and grasp by his natural powers the unrevealed good of the immortal
human spirit. And as, in our natural state, we could not know the true end
of our existence, without a divine revelation, so likewise, we could not
pursue and attain our spiritual destiny without special assistance from on
high.
How well all this was known to our kind and kingly Shepherd! How keenly
did He appreciate our frailty and inability to walk alone the paths which
He had trodden! Not unmindful, therefore, was He constantly to teach and
direct the way which leads to unending life. When going before his flock
and teaching them by force of example, He did not omit to give them that
saving doctrine which, when He had disappeared, would be their guide, and
the guide to their future shepherds in the direction of safety and truth.
Hence He propounded a teaching which should be to its obedient followers a
realization at once of all He had promised them, and of all their heart’s
desires. Not that it would make them rich or great in the eyes of the
world and according to human standards, but that it would confer a truer
and a higher greatness by lifting them above their weak and natural level
and preparing them for eternal blessedness.
Men had the Law before the coming of Christ; they knew the ten
commandments. But the state to which the God-man called them, and the
eminence to which they were raised, were quite beyond anything the world
till then had ever been able to conceive. Human nature, under the New
Covenant, was invited to attain to perfection. Things which before were
thought impossible, were now to be the objects of our daily strivings. It
was no longer an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; now not only was
good to be done to those who were good to us, but to those also who did us
evil; not only were we to love our friends, but to love and assist our
enemies also; not only should evil deeds be avoided, but evil thoughts
were likewise forbidden—yea, we were asked to be, in all our thoughts and
deeds, imitators of the Shepherd who leads us.(13)
Poor human nature, when raised so high above its natural powers, stood in
perilous need of a shepherd’s tender care. The new demands of every day
made indispensible new and special daily helps. While our spirits can see
and know the way, under the light of heavenly teaching, yet how weak and
faltering is our flesh! We have the will to do; but to accomplish, we
alone are not able. Therefore our Saviour said, “Of yourselves, you can do
nothing, but in me all things are possible to you. The branches are
nothing unless they abide in the vine; I am the vine, you the
branches.”(14) Thus He is our Leader, our divine Teacher and our source of
strength. Without Him we can do nothing, but in Him we are strong. And
daily and constantly He is near us, though we see Him not. It is He who
sustains our very life and moves us to all that is good. Like an
ever-present friend, He offers us constant assistance: He instructs and
guides and helps us, and this is the strength and food of our souls. God’s
grace it is, always ready for our use, which makes possible all the high
demands put upon our nature. Without it we should faint and starve on our
journey, and hence He who has planned our high perfection, has provided
the help to attain it. What are those seven wonderful sacraments which He
has left us, but perennial channels of grace, constant fountains from
which stream the life-giving waters that nourish our weary souls and make
them strong for life eternal! Through these sacred means we are brought
into contact with the life and merits of our Shepherd-Redeemer. They
prolong His life and labors among us, they continue in our midst the
strength of His sacred presence.
In a manner altogether special is this true of the Holy Sacrament of the
altar. By the Holy Eucharist, Christ still is with us, and will so remain
till the end of time, as really and as truly as He dwelt on earth in the
days of His mortal life. Bound down as we are by the things of sense, we
may, at times, be tempted to complain that Christ in this sacrament is all
invisible to us. We can not see Him directly and immediately. His voice is
silent and we do not hear Him; we do not feel the caress of His hand. But
nevertheless we know He is present, for He has said it, and His word must
remain, though heaven and earth should pass away. Even were we privileged
to see the sacred humanity as it was seen of old in Palestine, we should
not then, more than now in this sacrament, directly see the divinity
concealed by the human frame. Faith then was required as well as now—faith
in His sacred words, made evident by His sacred deeds. This is not
strange; it is not too much to ask. The same demand of faith is daily made
upon us in much of our intercourse with our fellow mortals. Much that we
do not clearly see we must perforce believe, else life would be
impossible. The same, in a measure, is also true in all our human
friendships. That which is most precious in our friends, that which is the
source of life and beauty, of holy words and loving actions, of all we
love and cherish in them, is the soul, the spirit that quickens and moves;
and this we do not see.
Thus Christ in the Eucharist is truly present, though faith alone can
apprehend Him. He requires of us this faith—this humble subjection of our
sensible faculties to the power and truth of His words. It is all for our
good that now He is hidden from our sight. He is not the less truly
present, not less truly kind, not less loving, not less merciful and
forbearing; but He wishes to exercise our faith, to prove our fidelity and
trust in His teaching and promises, and hence He is hidden from the powers
of our senses.
In the sacrament of the Eucharist the gracious Shepherd of our souls
performs in particular three offices for us: He is our sacrifice, our
silent patient friend, and in communion He becomes the actual spiritual
food of our souls. As a victim He is daily and constantly, from the rising
to the setting of the sun, lifted up for us in the holy sacrifice of the
mass. The mass is the perpetuation of the sacrifice He offered long ago
for our redemption. All the altars throughout the world, on which He is
ever born and dies again in mystic repetition, are but an extension of the
one great altar of Calvary, where first He gave His life for our
salvation. And in this real and awful sacrifice, forever repeated in our
midst, He pleads again our cause with God, the eternal Father. Again in a
mystic manner He suffers for us, again He bleeds, again He is nailed to
the cross and raised on high, and in that same abandoned, pitiable state,
to which His love for His flock has reduced Him, ever and anon in our
behalf He pleads: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they
do!(15) Holy Father, Powerful God, stay Thy avenging hand! and save the
souls which Thou hast created for Thyself, and for which till the end of
time I die!” He lifts, as it were, before the great white throne, His
bruised and blood-stained hands, He shows those wounded feet, the scar of
the spear in His sacred side; He points again to the agony in the garden,
to the scourging at the pillar, to the cruel crown of thorns, to the weary
way of the cross, and exclaims to Him who sits upon the throne, “Behold,
my Father, and see the price of my sheep, the tears and sorrow and blood
they have cost me! and spare them and save them for the sake of Thy Son!”
Through the holy sacrifice of the mass, identical as it is with the
sacrifice of Calvary, all the merits of Christ’s life and death are
applied to our souls. By His physical and bloody immolation on Calvary,
Christ purchased for us infinite treasures of grace, and it is His will
that these graces shall be dispensed to us, even till the end of the
world, through the august sacrament of the altar. Moreover, except for the
mass, we should not be blessed with the abiding actual presence of our
divine Shepherd among us—that is, we should not possess Him in that
special, intimate manner in which we now have Him in the Eucharist. For it
is only in the mass that the sacred species are consecrated; and
consequently it is through the mass alone that He takes up His sacramental
presence in our midst and becomes our food in holy communion. He could,
indeed, have ordained it otherwise, but such has been His blessed will,
and such the condition in which we are placed by the direction of His holy
Church.
Besides being our daily sacrifice, then, under the appearance of bread and
wine, besides ever prolonging in our midst that wondrous act of Calvary by
which at once He liberated our race and reopened to us the gates of
Heaven, the bounteous Shepherd of our souls enters into the tabernacles of
our churches, and there in silent patient waiting He craves the love of
our hearts and longs for our intimate friendship. He is not content alone
to plead for us with God, His Father; He is not content continually to
renew in our presence the tragic mystery by which at the end of His
earthly labors, He procured us every blessing—no, over and above these
sovereign acts of kindest benediction, He wishes to remain among us, and
to converse with us, each and all, as a friend would converse with his
friend. This is what He meant when He said by the mouth of His inspired
writer, “my delights are to be with the children of men.”(16) As a
Shepherd, His chiefest pleasure, as well as His supremest care, is to be
with the flock He has purchased and loves. Yet it is a lonely life for our
Shepherd-King, this abode in the silent tabernacle; but it is all for love
of us. He wishes to be there where we can find Him, where we can come to
Him at any hour and speak to Him, to praise and thank Him for all His dear
and endless gifts, to tell Him our needs and our sorrows, to open our
breaking hearts to Him and reveal the secrets of our souls. This it is
that He desires from us—the outpouring of our hearts and souls in His
presence. This it is which renders unto Him that homage of faith and love
and devotion that He came into the world to inspire. It will not do to say
that, being God, He is acquainted with all our thoughts and aware of all
our wants, for it is intimacy and confidence that He desires, the intimacy
and confidence which alone can create a true and noble friendship. “I will
call you no longer servants,” He said to His disciples, “but I have called
you friends; the servant knoweth not what his Master doth, but a friend is
admitted to confidence.”(17) Christ in the tabernacle is our friend; He
has loved us unto the end, and He yearns for our love in return. Why is
this? Why are we so precious in His eyes? What are we that the great
Creator should at all be mindful of us?(18) We must remember and ever bear
in mind the lofty purpose which the Creator had in view when first He
called us into being—the same purpose it was which prompted our redemption
and all the gracious dispensations that have followed thereupon—namely,
that God, while achieving His own eternal honor and glory, might
communicate to us a portion of His own ineffable blessedness. We were made
for God, and not for the world, or for creatures, or for ourselves. And
precisely because we are the possession and property of God, He wants us,
soul and body, for Himself; and in this blessed sacrament He calls to us
individually, “Son, give Me thy heart;”(19) “come to Me, all you who are
burdened, and I will refresh you.”(20) “come to Me and find rest for your
souls, I will lead you beside the waters of quietness.”
But the excesses of our Shepherd’s love and care do not stop with the
altar and with the tabernacle. He is not satisfied with being our daily
sacrifice and our abiding friend, not satisfied until He enters into our
very bosom and unites us to Himself. Union with the beloved object and
delight in its presence are characteristic of all true friendship, whether
human or divine. That which we really love we desire to have, to possess,
to be united with; and hence it is that Christ, the lover of our souls,
has not only given His life to purchase us for Himself and Heaven, but has
so extended His loving-kindness as to become Himself our actual food.
It is incomprehensible, in a human way, that the love of a shepherd for
his flock, the love of God for His creatures, should be so extraordinary
as to provide the wondrous benefits which Christ in the Eucharist has
wrought for us. We simply cannot grasp with our feeble minds the
prodigality of such enduring love. But the Saviour knew His purpose with
us, and He knew the needs of our souls. As guests destined for an eternal
banquet, and as heirs to celestial thrones, it is needful for us, amid the
rough ways and perils of life, to be constantly reminded of our royal
destiny and strengthened against our daily foes. This world of ours is an
arena in which each one must contend for his eternal prize; and it is not
possible, considering our natural frailty and the enemies that oppose our
forward march, that we alone, without an added strength, should ever be
able to win the battle of life.
Hence, as the body, to maintain its vigor and perform its work, needs its
material and earthly food, so the soul, to live and be strong, must be
nourished with the bread of Heaven. “The bread that I will give,” said our
Lord, “is my flesh for the life of the world ... unless you eat of this
bread you cannot have life in you ... and he that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the
last day.”(21)