THE HUMBLE FLOCK OF THE BRAVE SHEPHERD.

May 03 2020: Fourth Sunday of Easter – A.

A Russian proverb says, “The wolf can always be hired very cheap as a shepherd.” Another Latin proverb adds, “It is the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to skin it.”
“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” Here is the beautiful response of the Psalm that gives meaning and color to our today’s Eucharistic celebration. He who has the Lord by his side wants for nothing; for, he already has everything. ‘Christ alone suffices,’ could we say, paraphrasing St. Teresa of Avila.
The Easter season is the best time for us, Christians, not only to strengthen our belonging to the Risen Lord, but also to recognize and affirm that he is our all, and that in him and through him, we have all things. For, “He made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the flock he shepherds” (Ps 100:3). Though we are humble, weak and broken by sin, he, the strong one is our shepherd.
We are today the fourth Sunday of Easter, well known as “the Good Shepherd Sunday”, a day of prayer for vocations. All the readings, or to be honest, almost all, except the first reading, speak of shepherd and sheep.
In the Gospel, Jesus defines himself not as a shepherd, but as the gate that leads to the sheepfold. It is a solemn affirmation of who he is. By saying so, the Lord emphasizes on the need to pass through him, to belong to him. He says, “whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.” As Christians, that must sound like a stern warning for us. Do we belong to Christ or are we just like some thieves, a special breed of brigands bearing falsely the Christian name?
The Lord goes farther to stretch on the relationship between sheep and shepherd. This could be a special address to us, leaders of the flock of Christ, we, pastors and churchmen and women. The Lord says that the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd, that is, they know his voice and they follow him. They follow not a stranger or a brigand. Instead, “they will run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” We, leaders, do our sheep know us? Do they recognize our voice? Do they willingly and happily follow us?
Pope Francis, on this matter, has a beautiful expression, speaking of the relationship that must exist between pastors and sheep. He says that we Church leaders should be “shepherds living with the smell of the sheep”. A leader, a shepherd who refuses to smell like his sheep is a thief, a brigand, a usurper of title.
Unfortunately, to say it honestly, many of us, Church leaders and pastors are not where we are supposed to be. Many have lost their vocation or chosen others’ vocation. Many priests, evangelists, pastors, and prophets are more businessmen than shepherds. They know their sheep only for their personal and egoistic interests. Some pastors fatten themselves with the fat of their sheep. And because the sheep know them, they are afraid to listen to them and therefore do not follow them. Some sheep prefer getting lost than to follow a mercenary.
As pastors, we need to pay great attention to what the people say about us, how do they judge us. What our parishioners and the faithful say of us are not always only words of gossip, but what they perceive of us. Therefore, we will recognize which category of shepherds we are if we listen carefully to them. Are we good shepherds or brigands?
In the second reading, taking the same image of shepherd and sheep, Peter, in his pastoral letter exhorts us to be Christ’s imitators. That is, to be able to bear patiently punishment when we go through trials. Moreover, we need a firm relationship with Christ through whom we are saved. For, if before we were lost, away from God because of our sins, now in Christ, we have been brought back to righteousness. That is actually what does the “Good Shepherd”. He searches for the strayed one and brings him back into the flock.
The first reading can teach us the way to come back to the Lord our shepherd and into the sheepfold. This is found in the answer Peter gives to the people who ask, “What are we to do, my brothers?” What must we do to be back to Christ? Peter answers, “Repent… for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Easter is the time for you and me to come back to the Lord our shepherd. It is the time to repent, to change our evil ways and embrace righteousness. These words, this call to repentance apply to sheep as well as to the shepherd, and even more so to the shepherds that we are. God's call to you and me is a call to holiness. Let us respond with courage to this common vocation.
In these times of pandemic due to the Chinese Virus, God's people need pastors, not the least, but good pastors. Let us all, each according to his possibilities, be shepherds for our brothers and sisters, starting in our families, as fathers and mothers, parents and children. Let us cultivate concern for each other as Christ cares about us and has laid down his life for us. He is our archetypal; may we imitate him.

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