sheep – Kate Bluett

O loving shepherd of the flock,
the storm is rising high
and predators who stalk the dark
are circling nearby.

Your voice still sounds, a constant pulse
that rings out low and clear
amid the howling of the wolves
so swiftly drawing near.

O, let us hear you through the storm
and panic-stricken night,
and keep us safely in your fold
'til morning rises bright.

But if we're scattered to the winds,
still you would find us there.
If we are driven by our sins,
we have not left your care.

For you have climbed the farthest hills
and combed the valleys deep,
that even from the darkest vales
you will bring back your sheep.

Not one is lost forever, then,
though we have left the fold;
not one will slip out of your hand,
but you will bring us home.

I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.
Ezekiel 34:11-16

But is this not enough?
You've ninety-nine in fold.
Why range the dales and hills above
one lamb the more to hold?

Why seek the ones who stray,
too foolish for their good?
The wolves will teach what all their prey
should well have understood.

The feeble and the lame--
these ones you ought to cull.
Instead, how senselessly you claim
they make your sheepfold full!

And so you seek them out,
abandoned on the hills.
From living springs they fled to drought,
and yet you seek them still.

O Christ, I'm just as lost,
and lame and foolish, too,
a fleece that isn't worth the cost
my care would be to you,

but you have gathered me,
a lamb within your arms.
Good Shepherd, gather every sheep
and keep us all from harm.

Tag: sheep

Good Shepherd

Sacred Heart 2022