Lessons born out
of love
A number of years ago, I
arrived in the parish where I was to live for a number of months during the
time of my formation in preparation for priesthood. Within the first days after my arrival, I
found myself in the church, sitting in a pew, for I wasn’t yet a priest. People
were filing into the pew beside me, and in front of me, and behind me. I didn’t know a single soul that day except
the pastor, who I’d met only a few days before.
I knelt and uttered a prayer. I
think it sounded something like this: Dear Lord, thank you for the opportunity to
live among these people. Help me to love
them, so that I can serve them as you would serve them, but most of all, help
me to be attentive to the lessons that you will teach me through them in the
coming months.
When you’re a stranger in a
new place, it can seem overwhelming, but if you’re lucky it won’t take long
before a few people introduce themselves.
As time goes on, you remember faces, and perhaps names. If you’re lucky enough to learn something
about people’s lives, then you’ve reached the next level of friendship, and
when you begin to know how people are related, then you can truly say that you’ve
begun to know them. All of this takes
time and lots of effort. It’s a test of
memory, a challenge for some and lots of fun for others, but it’s only the
beginning of the process if we truly want to love them, and it’s an absolute
necessity if we’re serious about believing that lessons about life and faith
can be learned through our interactions with the people God puts on our path.
The fourth Sunday of Easter is
referred to as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations or Good Shepherd Sunday,
because of the gospel associated with today’s liturgy: the gospel we have just
heard. The people of Jesus’ time were
well acquainted with shepherds. They
knew what it meant to be a good shepherd, and they knew what a bad one was
too. In order for us to grasp the meaning
behind the words of this passage, we must understand that in certain European
countries, even today, sheep are raised principally for their meat, but in
ancient Israel, they were raised principally for their wool and their
milk. Certain flocks of sheep remained
for many years in the company of a given shepherd who over time would come to
know each sheep’s character. He might
even give each sheep a name. Jesus knew
many shepherds, and understood that though they many have been devoted to the
care of their flocks, they were not well respected by the rest of society.
To a hired hand, sheep are
merely a commodity, to be watched over only so that they can provide a source
of revenue, but to the good shepherd, sheep are far more than just a responsibility,
because shepherds are often also the owners of their sheep. If a shepherd owns his sheep, he will come to
love them, and he will be genuinely concerned for them. This is the kind of relationship Jesus had
with his Father; it is the kind of relationship he came to tell us the Father
has always wanted with all his children.
The disciples had to have
experienced this relationship of genuine love.
John spoke of it when he said that we are all called children of God: and that is what we are. Because they had experienced this deep
abiding love, Peter and John were able to speak to the rulers of the people and elders, pointing out to them that it was
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who had been crucified, and had risen from the dead,
who was still curing the sick in their midst.
What about today? Do we believe that Jesus still heals the
sick? Is it possible that Jesus, the
Good Shepherd loves us as deeply as the good shepherds of ancient times loved
their sheep? The answer is yes. Jesus loves us today with the same intensity
that he has always loved. In fact love
must be at the heart of everything we do, every relationship we are called to
enter, even, and perhaps most especially the relationships over which we
exercise some kind of authority. Pray
today for those over whom we exercise this authority: our children, elderly
parents, co-workers and colleagues, parishioners, people who ask us for help in
any way, people who depend on us for their material or spiritual needs. These are often the people who teach us the
most valuable lessons in life, because whatever station we might occupy in
life, we are all called to be good shepherds.
The staff we carry must never be a symbol of oppression. Instead, it must always remind us of our
heavenly calling to act out of dedication and love for those entrusted to our
care.
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