Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and “Good Shepherd Sunday”.
Today we will speak of shepherds, and sheep: those who lead, and those who form part of the flock.
To be a good member of Christ’s flock means to train one’s ears well to recognize, and listen to, the voice of the Good Shepherd. In the times of Jesus, different flocks of sheep were kept together for the night in one sheepfold, in one enclosure. In the morning, the sheep had to recognize the voice of their own shepherd, in order to stay together with other members of the same flock. This happened as the different flocks were led out to different pastures by different shepherds (Didache Bible, Jeffrey Cole ed., 2021, pg. 1430). To be a good member of Christ’s flock means being able to pick out the voice of the Good Shepherd among the many voices that are making themselves heard today. Members of Christ’s faithful are to train themselves to recognize this voice, since the voice of the Good Shepherd is not just a voice among many, or one opinion among others. The voice of the Good Shepherd is the voice that ought to guide us, his voice is the needle of the compass that ought to keep us on the narrow path to salvation. As the Catechism states, “The Good Shepherd ought to be the model and ‘form’ of the bishop's pastoral office. Conscious of his own weaknesses, ‘the bishop . . . can have compassion for those who are ignorant and erring. He should not refuse to listen to his subjects whose welfare he promotes as of his very own children. . . . The faithful . . . should be closely attached to the bishop as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father’” (CCC 896).
To be a Good Shepherd means speaking with charity and clarity in presenting the truths of the faith, and the requirements of the moral life that are part of the Christian life. To be a good shepherd means that one will at times have to challenge entrenched interests, and speak boldly, like Paul and Barnabas from the Acts of the Apostles. Priests, and in particular, priests that exercise the function of pastors of souls, co-operate with the bishop in fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd.
What would Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd and the Chief Shepherd, want his shepherds to say to their flocks? Many things, most likely. I’d like to focus on two. First, I believe that shepherds, pastors of souls, are to remind their flock that the Son of Man is returning in glory. Christ Jesus has already come in humility, in the stable in Bethlehem, and He will come back in glory, to judge the living and the dead. No matter what is happening in the world, no matter what is happening in our personal lives, the Day of the Lord, and the final consummation of creation, is approaching. No machinations or calculations, no sinful conduct, no human planning or scheming can stop the approach of the Lord’s return. We have to be ready for this return, as we ought to be ready for our own death, which is our moment of passing from this brief life to life eternal.
Second, I think that shepherds need to speak about the need to pray, fast, and work for peace. Peace among nations, in a particular way peace in Ukraine, but also peace in the womb. St. Theresa of Calcutta spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994, in Washington, in front of an audience of 3000 people. Among them were the President of the United States, lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, and prominent members of Washington’s society. In her address, Mother Theresa said, “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because Jesus said, ‘If you receive a little child, you receive me.’ So, every abortion is the denial of receiving Jesus -- is the neglect of receiving Jesus. It is really a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?” Mother Theresa continued, “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion”. Towards the end of her speech, she mentioned, “If we remember that God loves us, and that we can love others as He loves us, then America can become a sign of peace for the whole world, be a sign of joy. From here, a sign of care for the weakest [of] the weak, the unborn child, must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders -- founders of this country stood for”. For America, we can substitute the name of Canada, the name of other nations, in that sentence. In other words, concern for the weakest of the weak – the unborn – will make us a “burning light of justice and peace in the world”. If we recall that God loves us – and that we can love others as He loves us – we can be this oasis of light and peace(Quotes taken from https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/motherteresanationalprayerbreakfast.htm accessed on May 6, 2022).
Mary, the Mother of God, will help us recognize and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray for our shepherds, that they may speak with charity and clarity, as they follow the example of the Good Shepherd, who is also the Chief Shepherd. Let us ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His vineyard, on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Let us remember that God loves us, and that we can then in turn, love others.
Niech będzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus.
May Jesus Christ be praised.
(Fr. Pawel Ratajczak, OMI, May 8, 2022)