Reflection on the figures of the shepherds and the wise men
Here’s a reflection I was asked to write for an Advent vocation discernment Zoom meeting on the theme of Shepherds + Wise Men. The Shepherds + Wise Men (Compass in Advent - 18/12/20) Each group, in its own way and in its own context, responded to a call from God. We find the story of of the Shepherds in Lk 2 and the Wise Men in Mt 2. The Shepherds (Lk 2:8-20) It was not the most trusted profession, so why are they reported as being the first to witness the birth of this Saviour? They were considered unclean and outside the law, not the poorest of the poor, but certainly mistrusted, sometimes making use of other people’s land to graze their sheep. But, as such, they chime well with Luke’s emphasis in his Gospel, where Jesus states that he came to save outcasts and sinners, people on the peripheries, as Pope Francis would say, people who would have been relatively uneducated. And yet, God saw something in them that he could work with. For those who may feel that God is cal