My Shepherd

1st Week of Advent - Wednesday (5 December 2018)

Isaiah 25:6-10. Psalm 23. Matthew 15:29-37.

“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”

Today I present a short meditation of Henri Nouwen on Psalm 23. As he says, an attentive repetition of a well-known prayer or passage is helpful in setting our hearts on the kingdom, and it has the power to transform our anxiety and restlessness into peace.

For a long time, I prayed the words, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit.” I prayed these words in the morning for half an hour sitting quietly on my chair trying only to keep my mind focused on what I was saying. I prayed them during the many moments of the day when I was going here or there, and I even prayed them during my routine activities. The words stand in stark contrast to the reality of my life. I want many things; I see mostly busy roads and ugly shopping malls; and there are any waters to walk along they are mostly polluted. But as I keep saying “The Lord is my shepherd...” and allow God's shepherding love to enter more fully into my heart, I become more fully aware that the busy roads, the ugly malls, and the polluted waterways are not telling the true story of who I am. I do not belong to the powers and principalities that rule the world but to the Good Shepherd who knows his own and is known by his own. In the presence of my Lord and Shepherd there truly is nothing I shall want. He will, indeed, give me the rest my heart desires and pull me out of the dark pit of my depression.

It is good to know that millions of people have prayed these same words over the centuries and found comfort and consolation in them. I am not alone when I pray these words. I am surrounded by countless women and men, those who are close by and those who are far away, those who are at present living and those who have died recently or long ago, and I know that long after I have left this world these same words will continue to be prayed until the end of time.

The deeper these words enter into the centre of my being, the more I become part of God's people and the better I understand what it means to be in the world without being of it.