The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Today is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations as declared by our Catholic Church. Some of our readings today directly talk about shepherds, helping us to reflect upon the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who devotedly takes care of his flock. The title of the parish priest, "pastor," actually means “shepherd”. A shepherd leads, feeds, nurtures, comforts, corrects, and protects his flock—responsibilities that belong to every church leader. Christ’s disciples in the Early Church had seen him as the fulfillment of the ancient Jewish vision of a good shepherd. Paul and many of the other early disciples saw Jesus as the shepherd of all peoples, not just the Jews, as they wanted everyone to be invited to be members of God’s flock.
Throughout Israel’s history, the Jewish people had many shepherds that God selected to lead them and guide them on their journey. The Jews had a very interesting legend that has been passed down through the generations to explain why God chose Moses to be the leader of His people. It explains that when Moses was tending the sheep of his father-in-law in the wilderness, a young lamb ran away. Moses followed the lamb until it reached a ravine, where it found a well to drink from. When Moses got up to it, he said: “I did not know that you ran away because you were thirsty. Now you must be weary.” He took the lamb on his shoulders and carried it back. Then God said: “Because you have shown pity and mercy in leading back one of a flock belonging to another man, you shall lead my flock Israel.” In our faith we are comforted by the images of shepherds, whether it be the image of the Lord as the Good Shepherd in the 23rd psalm, the image of Moses shepherding the people of Israel, or Jesus as the true shepherd who has love and concern for his people.
In praying for vocations today, on Good Shepherd Sunday, hopefully it is obvious to all of us that our Church today is in great need of good shepherds, the shepherds who are totally committed to the Way of Jesus. We are very proud to have a member of our parish, Andrew Bowden, as a seminarian, and Mark Bowden, in the diaconate formation program. Pope Francis leaves us these thoughts on this occasion: “Dear friends, on this day in particular, but also in the ordinary pastoral life of our communities, I ask the Church to continue to promote vocations. May she touch the hearts of the faithful and enable each of them to discover with gratitude God’s call in their lives, to find courage to say ‘yes’ to God, to overcome all weariness through faith in Christ, and to make of their lives a song of praise for God, for their brothers and sisters, and for the whole world. May the Virgin Mary accompany us and intercede for us.” As we are asked to pray today that our Christian communities will be graced with good shepherds and good pastors, we are called to not narrow the term “vocation” to those who feel called to the priesthood or to religious life as a sister or brother or monk. We in the Church emphasize that every single baptized person has a vocation, with each being called by God not just to a vocation in which he lives out his professional life or trade, but also in a specific role in the Christian community and in the wider community. Indeed, unless we Christians see that vocation as something that we are all called to, it is not likely that there will be enough people to meet the service needs of our Christian communities. Our Christian communities can only grow and thrive when every member makes a contribution to the well-being of the whole. I will close our homily today with this prayer for vocations that I adapted from the National Religious Vocation Conference:
Holy Spirit, stir within us the passion to promote vocations to the consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, diocesan priesthood, and permanent diaconate.
Inspire us daily to respond to your call with boundless compassion, abundant generosity, and radical availability.
Help us to remember our own baptismal call to rouse us to invite the next generation to hear and respond to your call.
Inspire parents, families, and lay ecclesial ministers to begin a conversation with young Catholics to consider how they will live lives of holiness and sacred service.
Nudge inquirers and motivate discerners to learn more about monastic life, apostolic life, missionaries, and cloistered contemplative life.
Ignite our Church with the confident humility that there is an urgent need for religious sisters, brothers, deacons, and priests to live in solidarity with those who are poor, neglected, and marginalized.
Disrupt our comfortable lives and complacent attitudes with new ideas to respond courageously and creativity with a daily 'YES!' Amen.
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