Posted March 3, 2006 Book: The Lord is my Shepherd: Divine Consolation in Times of Abandonment Author: Leonardo Boff Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY, 2006, pp. 144 An Excerpt from the Jacket: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters. . . Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; For you are with me . . .” Psalm 23: 1,2,4 One of the most heart-felt and popular prayers in all of scripture, Psalm 23 expresses a deep faith and trust in a loving God. In this line-by-line reflection, Leonardo Boff shows us how this prayer, attributed to King David, speaks to our own and the world’s condition, offering us peace and comfort in times of fear and sorrow. “If God is with us,” Boff writes, “we have everything. . .That is the divine consolation for the human plight.” An Excerpt from the Book: What are the safe paths? Which are the main paths over which God-shepherd safely leads us to our destination? We are going to note only some of them. The first path is personal conscience. The bishops from around the world, meeting as a council in Rome in 1965 with Pope Paul VI, wrote: “Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary, of human beings where they are alone with God, whose voice echoes in their depts” (Gaudium et Spes, no. 16). Indeed, we all hear an inner voice in the various circumstances of life, counseling us to do good and avoid evil. It is God speaking to us. This voice is clear on this point when it says, “Do not do to the other what you do not want others to do to you.” None of us likes to be deceived, to suffer violence, to see our things destroyed. Therefore, we ought not do such things to someone else. Translating for the present: “Don’t deceive your customer in business”; “Don ’t destroy someone else’s image for your own personal advantage?”; “Don’t evade taxes to increase your profit”’ “Don’t use the Internet to spread falsehood against an individual or organization or opposed political party”; “Don’t humiliate a weaker nation”; “Don’t exploit its oil or its water”; “Don’t wage a devastating war that mows down the innocent and destroys the infrastructure of countries.” If the powerful heads of state had followed this golden rule, we would not have to stand by impotently before assaults that annihilate innocent people, make entire peoples insecure, and contribute to the endless spiral of violence. Situations in life are complex. The voice of conscience is not always clear. And we can deceive ourselves. How are we to act? The rule is always this: Follow your conscience, but try to clarify it. We clarify it by talking with people, especially those who are wiser or more steady-tempered, seeking good sense and proper balance, and heeding guidance from religions, churches, and other sources of meaning and value that exist in society. Only then may we make our decision and take responsibility for it. Even so, we will not always avoid errors. But as the bishops said in Rome, “Even when it is mistaken, conscience never loses its dignity.” What is never permissible is lying to ourselves or acting against our conscience, even to follow a norm, regardless of how sacred its source (from a religion or from the pope), that goes against our inner voice. In doing so we would be unfaithful not only to ourselves but also to God. The key thing is being at peace with our conscience and being sure that the path is the path of God. It may bend, go up or down, skirt along precipices, but it will surely take us to our desired destination. Table of Contents: Part 1: Praying amid contradictions Prayer: Breath of the soul The psalms: our spiritual Xray Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd and host Part 2: The Song of the Shepherd The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters He restores my soul He leads me along safe paths For his name’s sake Even though I walk through the darkest valley I fear no evil; for you are with me Your rod and your staff — they comfort me Part 3: The Song of the Host You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies You anoint my head with oil My cup overflows Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long Conclusion