and his sheep willingly run after him.
(Jn.10:4)
Good Shepherd Sunday
Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 29, 2012
Acts 4:8-12
I John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18
First reading from Acts
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said: "Leaders of the
people and elders: if we are being questioned today about a good deed done to a
cripple, and how he was made well, then you and all the people of Israel should
know that this man stands here before you, completely well by the power of the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who you crucified and God raised from the
dead. Jesus is the one of whom Scripture says, `The stone rejected by you, the
builders, has become the cornerstone.’[1]
Salvation is to be found through Him alone; for there is no other name under
heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved."
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be
to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.
Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because the hired hand works for pay, and he has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. As the Father knows me, so I know the Father. And I am willing to die for my sheep.
I have other sheep that don’t belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd. The Father loves me because I am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again. No one takes my life away from me. I give it up of my own free will. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it back again. For the Father has given me this right.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Good
Shepherd - a favorite theme
The fourth Sunday
of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday. The gospel for that Sunday in all three liturgical cycles of A, B and C
is from the 10th chapter of John, which through 15 verses
lists the qualities of a Good Shepherd. That chapter no doubt helped to make
the Good Shepherd theme a favorite in Christian tradition. A favorite psalm of ours declares, "The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” (Ps. 21) A favorite parable of ours has a shepherd going in search of a lost sheep, and when found, hoists it on his shoulders and carries it safely home. (Lk. 15:4-6) A favorite Basilica of ours (St. Peter’s in Rome) in its the lofty heights has written in gold mosaic letters six feet tall the risen Lord’s command to Peter to shepherd his lambs and sheep. (Jn. 21: 15-17). A favorite Pope of ours (John XXIII) on the day of his `coronation,’ Nov. 4th 1958, in his homily told his flock that his pontificate would be inspired by the example of “Jesus, the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve.”
A litany of the qualities of a good shepherd
All the Sundays of the year have three different Alleluia verses to announce the gospel (one for each of the three liturgical cycles). Good Shepherd Sunday, however, has only one Alleluia verse, which it repeats every cycle: "Alleluia! Alleluia! I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.” That `knowing of the sheep’ is not purely intellectual; rather it has warm emotional overtones: a good shepherd lovingly knows his sheep, and his sheep, in turn, lovingly know him.
A good shepherd knows what’s not greatly important.
He knows also that
most of his sheep no longer agonize over contraception or divorce and
remarriage or sacramental confession, as they used to agonize about these
issues in times past. He knows also that an ever-increasing number of his sheep
are no longer conflicted about their homosexuality but accept themselves, even
though the institutional church does not. A good shepherd knows all these
things, and doesn’t pretend not to know
Fr. Boulad knows what’s not greatly important.
Father
Henri Boulad (b.1931) is an Egyptian Lebanese Jesuit of the Melkite rite,
rector of the Jesuit school in Cairo, regional superior of the Jesuits in
Egypt, professor of theology, and publisher of some 30 books in 15 languages. In 2007 this highly
qualified Jesuit priest wrote a personal, private and lengthy
letter to Pope Benedict (which
in its entirety can be found on the Internet).
In the letter
Fr. Boulad shows himself to be a good shepherd who knows
what’s not greatly important to the sheep. He writes:
In the matter of morality and ethics, the
injunctions of the Magisterium,[2] repeated
ad nauseam on marriage, contraception,
abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, clerical celibacy, divorce and remarriage,
etc. touch nobody [do not touch the sheep] and only engender weariness and
indifference in them. All these moral
and pastoral problems deserve more than preemptory declarations. They deserve an approach that is pastoral,
sociological, psychological and humane -- an approach that is more in keeping
with the Gospel.
The culture of pretense
“I
am the good shepherd. I know my
sheep, and my sheep know me,” says
Jesus. What is it that a good shepherd knows about his sheep? He knows that
many of them have either solved many of these matters for themselves, or don't
know what the problem is, or simply don’t care much, one way or the other. A
good shepherd might not like these facts, but they’re there, and he doesn’t pretend
that they’re not there.
The
former auxiliary bishop of
Detroit, Thomas Gumbleton, is a
good shepherd who refuses to blend into `a culture of pretense.’ In a letter to the America magazine he wrote, "I can vouch for the fact
that very many bishops share the same conviction [that not every contraceptive
act is intrinsically evil]. However, sadly enough, fewer and fewer are willing
to say this publicly. [3]” Such a culture of pretense is neither honest
nor healthy. What’s more, it’s not good for our Catholic faith; at the end of
the day it can set us wondering whether we are also `pretending’ when we raise
Bread on high at Mass, and proclaim it is the very body of Christ. (It all
hangs together.)
A good shepherd knows what indeed is important.
A good shepherd who knew his sheep
Through his very short term of shepherding the Church (1958-1963) Good Pope John lovingly knew his sheep, and the sheep, in turn, lovingly knew him. He walked up front, and the whole Church willingly ran after him. And when John lay dying on June 3, 1963, and the papal sacristan Van Lierde was about to anoint the dying Pope, John spoke for the last time: “I had the great grace to be born into a Christian family, modest and poor, but with the fear of the Lord. My time on earth is drawing to a close.” And then the dying Pope prayed, “Ut omnes unum sint.” “That all might be one.” (Jn. 17:21) His dying prayer reflected the aspiration of Jesus the Good Shepherd who said: “I have other sheep that don’t belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.” (Jn. 10:16) After praying “Ut omnes unum sint,” Good Pope John breathed his last at 7:49 p.m., June 3, 1963.
A sheep who lovingly knew the good shepherd
When John lay dying, the
whole world was there kneeling at his bedside, and among them was Australian writer Morris L. West (1916-1999),
famous especially for his books The
Devil’s Advocate and The Shoes of the
Fisherman. Though West was and always remained a Catholic, his various
writings contained an amount of criticism of the
Church, and the Church was not always pleased with him. He was, however, a sheep who lovingly knew the good
shepherd, Pope John. In a little volume entitled A View from the Ridge he writes,
I
believe I can say with certainty that I remained in communion with the Church
even when the Church itself excluded me, and I remain there still, principally
because of the presence of John XXIII, the Good Shepherd, whom I never met,
though I did meet his predecessor and his successor. Goodness went out from
this man to me. I acknowledged it then. I acknowledge it again. We had had a
surfeit of princes and politicians and theologians – even of conventional
saints. We needed a man who spoke the language of the heart. We had John too
briefly.
Conclusion
All are shepherds.
An
old ecclesiology simply viewed shepherds as hierarchy, and sheep as laity. Life
isn’t so clear-cut. Sometimes we all are sheep who have to be shepherded, and
sometimes we all are shepherds who have to shepherd someone. Good Shepherd Sunday is not
only about popes, bishops and priests; it’s about all of us who sooner or later
are called to shepherd others by walking up front, by leading them into green
pastures, by protecting them from hungry wolves, and by lovingly knowing them.
