Show me, O Lord, your mercy, and delight my heart with it.
Let me find you whom I so longingly seek.
See, here is the man whom the robbers seized, mishandled,
and left half dead on the road to Jericho.
O kind hearted Samaritan, come to my aid!
I am the sheep who wandered into the wilderness – seek after me,
and bring me home again to your fold.
Do with me what you will, that I may stay by you all the days of my life,
and praise you with all those who are with you in heaven for all eternity.
St Jerome, c.347-420, translator of the Latin Vulgate
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I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
prayer & verse 