On the Good Shepherd... and the Other One!

 (Fr. Andrew’s Homily for Sunday, April 21, 2024)

The problem of talking about the Good Shepherd is that the mind goes faster than our feet. It is easier to understand how the Good Shepherd must be than to make it happen in ourselves. It is easier to write a poem about Jesus than to become ourselves a living image of the Beautiful Shepherd.

Today, Good Shepherd Sunday, is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. We need to pray so that more people, especially young people, make it their choice to serve God in their neighbors. And praying will certainly help, but I think that the reason we do not have more vocations is that, sometimes, we shepherds are not able to inspire young people. Not because we do not know how to talk about the Good Shepherd but because we find it difficult to follow his steps in a way that we ourselves may in turn be followed. Our own words are empty when they are not full of love for what we say. Our words are cold when there is no fire in our hearts...

I wish my words today were fire, even if I had to burn myself too with what I will say. Jesus today does not speak only about the Good Shepherd but also about the bad one, and I would like to set fire to that bad shepherd today or, at least, ignite in so many of us priests that part of our hearts which does not yet burn in love for our neighbors.

1.  Let us reflect upon the good shepherd. “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” A good shepherd could say, “I know my sheep because I care about them. I spend time with them, talking, visiting, realizing their situation and this is why they also know me. They can see how I react to their situation. They know what I think, and I know what they think, because we talk. They know what I love and I know what they love. They know what I want from them too. They know what is important for me. They know of my love for God not just because of what I preach but because of the way I live. They can see it.”

2.  This knowledge generates communion and love. According to St. Gregory the Great,[1] when Jesus says, “I know mine and mine know me” we could translate it “I love my sheep and they love me.” A good priest loves his people as a father loves his children. And a good priest is loved by his people... at least by his good children! The point is that a good priest is loved and not simply served. A good priest can generate around him the feeling that the church is a family, not a business, and that he is not just the boss, but a father, someone who cares for you personally even when you do nothing or very little for him. Someone who does not deal with you only when he needs you, but someone who is always there for you, open to you and to your needs. Now, if it is difficult to be a father of four or five children, and make them all feel loved, what does a priest do with such a large community? They asked something similar to a mother: “How do you divide your love among so many children you have?” She answered, “Love is not divided, it is multiplied.” The Holy Spirit, like the light of the Easter candle, does not diminish when it is distributed among the faithful.

3. Love does not remain inactive. A large fire cannot be contained and spreads everywhere. Jesus continues “and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Jesus knows and loves even those sheep who do not even know him and are not yet part of his flock. He wants to lead them “to green pastures,” and save them from hunger, from the wolves and from hired men who are worse than wolves. The Heart of Jesus burns in love for those people and ardently desires their salvation.

A priestly vocation is a participation on the fire with which Jesus burns. It is a desire to feed people with the truth of life, to feed people with your own flesh if need be, and certainly to feed them with the Body and Blood of Jesus. A vocation is a participation in Jesus’ desire to go through mountains and valleys in search for the lost sheep, and the desire to go wherever there is someone who does not yet know that Jesus loves them.

May the Holy Spirit kindle these desires in the hearts of our young people.


[1] Cf. Homily on the Gospels by Saint Gregory the Great, pope (Hom. 14. 3-6: PL 76, 1129- 1130).

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