Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. The people of Israel were familiar with the image of God as Shepherd. We sung one of our most beloved Old Testament Psalms today, Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me. “
I learned something recently about sheep and
shepherding. Unlike cows and horses,
sheep can survive on just about anything.
The shepherds of Israel could lead their flocks of sheep through vast
wildernesses, knowing that they could survive even upon scraggly clumps of
weeds, scorched brown by the Middle Eastern sun.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus refers to himself as the Good
Shepherd. He is not content to see us
barely survive. He wants us to
thrive. He takes pleasure in plumb,
robust sheep, not scrawny and anemic ones.
So the pastures to which he leads us are verdant and lush. He spreads out a banquet table before us, a
true feast. He doesn't ration our
nourishment; instead, the cup he gives us overfloweth.
The Lord leads us to good pastures because of his great love
for us. He loved us all during His life
on earth, all that he did in life and all that he suffered in death and all
that he continues to do for us through his Church he does out of his exceeding
love us and for our welfare. The
Shepherd’s heart is full of love, affection, and tenderness. One spiritual writer put it, “No mother is so
solicitous, no bride so tender, no loving heart so gentle and yielding, and no
title of friendship so well-founded as to equal Him in his love. Before we love
Him, He loves us, and even when we foolishly offend Him and neglect Him, He
seeks us. Our blindness and stubbornness
can never exceed the gentleness of His sweet mercy.”
Our Catholic heritage is the rich feast the Lord provides
for us: Scripture, Sacraments, the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the
Church, the spiritual masters; the example of the saints, the teachings of the
Councils and the Popes, the care and comfort we receive from fellow Christians,
and most especially the Feast of Faith which is the Eucharist.
On this Good Shepherd Sunday we also celebrate Mother’s Day
this year. Good Mothers are a lot like
Good Shepherds? They want us to thrive,
and their love for their children is incomparable. Our mothers remind us to eat our vegetables
even when they don’t taste good, take our vitamins, get our exercise.
A mother also protects her children fiercely from
danger. They warn us not to talk to
strangers.
Our Good Shepherd does the same. Following his voice, he keeps us safe from
the voice of strangers and thieves want to steal and slaughter and destroy
us. He’s talking here about the
temptations which lead not to eternal life with him in heaven, but eternal
ruin.
I learned something else about sheep and Shepherds
recently. When a disobedient sheep forms
a habit of wandering away from the flock, for its own safety, do you know what
the shepherd would do? The shepherd
would break the leg of the sheep so it couldn't run off, and carry it on his
shoulders while the sheep healed, caring for the sheep and building a bond with
the sheep, so the sheep would realize its dependence on the shepherd and love
the shepherd and not leave him. It sounds cruel yes, but what is more cruel,
letting the sheep go free and be killed in the wild or correcting it and
keeping it safe?
Through the teaching of Our Holy Mother the Church Jesus
shepherds us. The Church warns us
against the errors and sins of the world, like our own physical mothers warning
us against bad decisions. When we fall
into sin or error the Church is there to correct us, just like our physical
mothers, at least my mother…
Sometimes the teachings of the Church seem harsh or
out-of-date. But they are for the safety
of our souls.
And like a good mother, even, when we ignore her and get
hurt, she is always there to welcome us home, to anoint us with the healing
balm of mercy.
This Good Shepherd Sunday is also a Day of Prayer for
Vocations. Today we pray in particular
for an increase in vocations to priesthood and consecrated religious life. Of
course we need faithful moms and dads to help raise their children in the faith,
but we also need faithful priests and religious.
One of the ways Jesus shepherds us is through other
people. Priests and consecrated
religious are meant to be agents of Jesus shepherding of the Church. Priests and religious who through their
visits to the sick, and their care for the poor, and their preaching and
teaching, through their lives of prayer are ways that Jesus shepherds the
Church.
Next week on Saturday at the Cathedral of St. John the
Evangelist, Bishop Lennon, will ordain 5 new priests for the diocese of
Cleveland, one of whom, Tim Roth, has been assigned here to St. Angela’s.
We have so many gifted, intelligent, funny, personable young
men and women at St. Angela with so many gifts for service. And we pray in a special way today that they
may incline their ears to the voice of the Shepherd who may calling them to a
very special vocation: priesthood or consecrated religious life.
I hope that everyone here today, has in mind one person that
they will pray for or encourage to consider a religious vocation. We need priests to continue the ordained
ministry and sacramental life of the Church, we need consecrated religious
brothers and sisters to remind us that holiness is possible in the world, and
we need families to pray for and promote vocations…vocations come from
families. And to hear from one’s mother
or father or aunt or uncle that they are supportive in you pursuing a call to
the priesthood or religious life is invaluable.
May we be obedient members of the Shepherd’s flock, open to
the ways in which the Shepherd wants to use us as his instruments, amidst so
many evils of the world, instruments filled with joy and his Holy Spirit for
the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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