XXI. First Sunday after the Octaves of Easter, Prayer

Latin (Borgnet)English

pp. 365–366

XXI. Dominica prima post octavas Paschae, Oratio. Ego sum pastor bonus ¹. Domine Jesu Christe, pastor Angelorum et hominum, bone per essentiam, cujus eadem bonitas et officium, licet ratione differant: qui pro ovibus tuis animam tuam in pretium, carnem in cibum, et sanguinem in potum dedisti: qui venisti ut oves tuae vitam habeant gratiae, et abundantius habeant gloriae: in passione factus es nobis ostium in Ecclesia militante, in resurrectione in Ecclesia triumphante, ut per te ad salvandum introeamus ad te: cognosce oves tuas ut cognoscaris ab eis, ut conformemur tibi te imitando. Sit ratio nostra pastor per charitatem, non mercenarius per cupiditatem: ingrediatur per studium contemplationis, egrediatur per exercitium bonae actionis: ingrediatur per secretum orationis, egrediatur per exemplum boni operis: ingrediatur se occultando per humilitatem, egrediatur se manifestando propter necessitatem: ingrediatur per observantiam mandatorum, egrediatur per supererogationem consiliorum: et pascua inveniet mel divinitatis, et lac humanitatis tuae: huic aperi ostium veritatis ad recte intelligendum, justitiae ad bene operandum. Oves ejus, scilicet, internae cogitationes voci obediant: proprias oves vocet nominatim, sollicite perlustrando, vel totum bonum gratiae Deo attribuendo: ante eas vadat, ne quid in verbo, vel opere, vel cogitatione perperam fiat: vocem alienorum non audiant, scilicet mundi, carnis, et diaboli: pascat oves incommutabili unitate, sacra Scriptura in terra Gessen, in agro Booz; animam suam ponat pro eis, rationibus naturalibus contradicendo pro fide; dispersas per infinitam rerum temporalium diversitatem in unum colligat. Oves affectionis, et intelligentiae coadunet, ut omnes rationi obediant, et fiat unum ovile. Amen.

XXI. First Sunday after the Octaves of Easter, Prayer. I am the good shepherd ¹. Lord Jesus Christ, shepherd of Angels and human beings, good through essence, whose goodness and office are the same, although they differ in account; who for your sheep gave your soul as price, your flesh as food, and your blood as drink; who came so that your sheep may have the life of grace, and may have more abundantly the life of glory: in the Passion you were made for us the door in the Church militant, and in the resurrection in the Church triumphant, so that through you we may enter unto being saved, unto you. Know your sheep so that you may be known by them, so that we may be conformed to you by imitating you. Let our reason be a shepherd through charity, not a hireling through cupidity; let it enter through the study of contemplation and go out through the exercise of good action; let it enter through the secret of prayer and go out through the example of good work; let it enter by hiding itself through humility and go out by manifesting itself because of necessity; let it enter through observance of commandments and go out through the supererogation of counsels; and it will find pastures, the honey of divinity and the milk of your humanity. Open for it the door of truth for rightly understanding, and of justice for working well. Let its sheep, namely inward thoughts, obey the voice; let it call its own sheep by name, by carefully surveying them, or by attributing every good of grace to God; let it go before them, lest anything be done wrongly in word, or work, or thought; let them not hear the voice of strangers, namely of the world, the flesh, and the devil; let it feed the sheep in unchangeable unity, sacred Scripture, in the land of Goshen, in the field of Boaz; let it lay down its soul for them, by contradicting natural reasons for the faith; let it gather into one the sheep dispersed through the infinite diversity of temporal things. Let it unite the sheep of affection and understanding, so that all may obey reason, and there may be one sheepfold. Amen.

Notes

Compare John 10:1-21. (Cf. Joan. X, 1-21.) ↩