Ezekiel 34: the indictment of shepherds who feed off the flock

Ezekiel lashes out at the shepherds who feed themselves

Today's gospel and the readings for Mass this Wednesday, 19 August, are no balm. In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel (34:1-11) denounces the shepherds of Israel who "feed themselves": they eat the best part of the flock, wear its wool and slaughter the fattest sheep, but they do not care for the weak, do not heal the sick and do not seek the lost. A warning that, centuries later, still sounds uncomfortable in any institution.

The contrast with the psalm that gives the day its title, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want", could not be starker. Against the ideal shepherd who guides and protects, the reading denounces the shepherd who rules "with force and violence". The homily, entrusted to Father Santiago Martín of the Franciscans of Mary, and the quote from the Apophthegms of the Desert Fathers, recall that the spiritual tradition has always kept watch over the exercise of religious leadership.

The day is also structured around devotion: Mass at 20:00 with the rosary from 19:30, and at 22:00 the praying of the Holy Rosary. the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, ideally at 15:00, completes a day of prayer that links prophetic criticism with supplication.

Everything suggests that this kind of prophetic denunciation will remain uncomfortable as long as there are shepherds who confuse their mission with a privilege. But perhaps, as the reading suggests, the flock has already learned to tell the difference.