ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH

 

How appropriate it is to celebrate Mother’s Day and Good Shepherd Sunday on the same day!  Many of us are fortunate to have mothers who have cared for us, comforted us, and protected us, much as shepherds do for their flocks.  A mothers’ love is an example of the Good Shepherd’s love for each of us. Let us give thanks for all those who have mothered us and shepherded us throughout our lives.

 

Paul and Barnabas were urgent in preaching the gospel, according to Luke’s narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. They disregarded every attempt by their critics to stop them. Threats were ignored, and they seemed driven by an inner God-given sense of mission to promote faith in Jesus. This links well with the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, who invites people to follow him to eternal life. The church today invites us to pray for vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, since such vocations play an active part in handing on the faith. All Christians believe that God is love and goodness. But love and goodness need to be communicated to others, “in season and out of season.”

 

The Holy Spirit inspired evangelical zeal in the early Church, making them eager to share their faith with others. When the first missionaries passed from the scene, there was no scarcity of others to take their place. It was this willingness to take an active part that kept the church alive and spreading. We admire the missionary zeal of the early Church, and that of the Irish people during that era when missionaries from these shores spread abroad the ideals of loving God and living together in harmony and peace. But the question is, who will answer that kind of calling, today?

 

Most vocations to a life of service are first nurtured within the family. The French Jesuit, scientist and philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin, once said, “It was in my family that I became who I am. Most of my opinions, of my likes and dislikes, of my values and judgments, my behavior, my tastes, were moulded by the family I came from.” Parents remain the first and most important teachers of the faith, and of ideals. In fulfilling this role they should try to make daily prayer a natural part of life within the home. By so doing, they may sow the seeds of those vocations which will serve the spiritual needs of the next generation.

 

Church leaders need to think soberly about the structures that can help foster genuine vocations to ministry in the future. It may well be that celibacy needs to be made optional for priesthood, so that all local communities can be provided with Mass and the sacraments. Vocation to ministry must be seen in the context of viable spirituality here and now, the spiritual values and aspirations of the community which is to be served.

 

Just as Christ called some to be his evangelists, so he calls you and me into his service. What I do, how I live as his follower, concerns others too. On this special Sunday, we ask God’s blessing, that volunteers will feel drawn to continue Christ’s work. His wish for his disciples was quite explicit, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest, to send laborers to his harvest” (Mt 9:37).

 

Jesus was often drawn to use the imagery of shepherds and sheep. Today’s gospel considers the relationship between Jesus the Good Shepherd and the sheep he cares for an protects. The imagery is old, but the message is topical. It is relevant to us and to the vibrancy and viability of our church. Our relationship with Jesus is a deeply personal one, but it is a force in our life that we are invited to share with others.

 

In order to gain eternal life, we need to listen to Jesus our Shepherd and follow him. We attune our minds to the sound of his voice and let him lead us in the path he has shown. Self-centeredness’ can make deafen to the voice of Jesus. The easy option is to wander into rosier paths than the one he has traced. Many siren voices can draw us into an existence of corporate materialism and selfish comfort. But God is faithful and will not let us be tempted beyond our strength. We are in good hands, since God has entrusted us to his Son, our shepherd and Savior.

 

Paul and Barnabas ‘spoke out boldly’, and their conviction made an impact. A courageous speaking about our inmost beliefs can be as fruitful now as it was in apostolic times. Everyone who has been baptized and confirmed in entrusted with spreading the faith. Laity as well as priests and religious are in the service of the Risen Lord.

 

Recent popes have urged us to take personal part in the work of evangelization. Are we doing so? How many harmful situations flourish in our society just because good people say nothing and do nothing about them? The words of an Easter hymn spell out what is expected of us by the Risen Lord:

 

“Now he bids us tell abroad
How the lost may be restored
How the penitent forgiven
How we too may enter heaven.”

 

“GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY” is a time to wonder how priestly ministry the catholic church will fare into the future. If the average age of priests in Ireland is about seventy, it calls for significant change in how to recruit priests for the future, and what to require of them. There should be no such thing as a priest-less parish. There may not be an ordained priest there right now, but the parish is a priestly people. Are there factors which had value in the past which now are an obstacle to the mission of the church? What new model of ministerial priesthood is called for?

 

Here are three questions worth examining today:

1) Who will shepherd our church in the coming years?
2) How will those shepherds reach out to those outside the fold?
3) What needs to change, so that the faithful can have Mass every Sunday?​

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