Holy Father Pope Francis while addressing the faithful gathered at Casa Santa Marta for Holy Mass, conveyed the qualities of a good shepherd and highlighted that a good shepherd is always close to his people, while a bad priest is only interested in power and money, as he reflected on the Gospel reading for the day from St. Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus is in the synagogue where he meets a woman who has been crippled for years and is unable to stand up straight.
As reported by Vatican radio, Holy Father Pope Francis noted how St. Luke uses five verbs to describe Jesus’ actions as the good shepherd who is always close to his people. Jesus saw, he called her, he spoke to her, he laid his hands on her and he cured her. His Holiness remarked that “The doctors of the law, the Pharisees and Sadducees, those who are very distant from people, rebuke him (Jesus) continuously and these were not good shepherds as they were closed within their own world and not interested in their people.”
His Holiness concluded his message by reminding the faithful that just as God came close to us through Jesus Christ, all of us will be judged by how we try to be close to those who are hungry, sick, in prison or in any kind of need.
