24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 15th September 2019 (YEAR C)

A bishop in a rural diocese was explaining to the confirmation class how he was the shepherd of the flock. Given that many of the children came from large sheep farms he decided to draw on today’s Gospel as an analogy for his pastoral leadership. ‘I care for all of you like the Good Shepherd,’ he said. The students seemed consoled. Warming up, the bishop continued, ‘For instance, what would your fathers do if he lost one of his sheep?’ The class was silent. The bishop asked again. The students were confused. The bishop got personal, ‘Michael what would your Dad do?’ ‘Seeing we’ve 42,000 of them, bishop, he’d let the stupid blighter go!’

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