Monthly Archives: April 2012

Apr 28 2012

What it is to be a good Shepherd?

Homily for Easter IV B 2012

There was a time when Australia was said to ride on the sheep’s back. The production and sale of wool was an immensely important part of our economy. Most Australians would occasionally have had some contact with sheep. Of course we didn’t call their owners ‘shepherds’: they were graziers. In the early years of settlement, there were shepherds in Australia, but these would be employees of the squatters. In the ancient world there were plenty of owner-shepherds. The kind of care they exercised over their flocks provided a good model of the care a wise ruler gave his people.

Consequently there is plenty of shepherd imagery in the Bible. As far as the gospels are concerned, we think of the Good Shepherd who, if one sheep in a hundred strays, will leave the 99 unattended and go looking for the stray. But today’s gospel, taken from St John, goes further. Jesus says: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. We shall see presently that that is a development of received shepherd imagery.

Let me explain. The prophet Ezekiel wrote at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity in Babylon of most of the Jewish leaders – early in the 6th century BC. Jewish thinkers wondered why God had allowed these terrible things to happen to them. The common conclusion was that they had not honoured their part of the alliance which God had made with their ancestors. The exile and all that went with it was a punishment for their infidelity.

In his 34th chapter, Ezekiel records a message of comfort for the people and of condemnation for their leaders who were supposed to be their shepherds: Shepherds, the Lord God says this: Trouble for the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shepherds ought to feed their flock, yet you fed on milk, you have dressed yourselves in wool, you have sacrificed the fattest sheep [and eaten most of the meat themselves] but failed to feed the flock … You have failed to bring back strays or look for the lost. On the contrary you have ruled them cruelly and violently … In view of all this, shepherds, hear the word of God … I am going to call the shepherds to account. I am going to take my flock from them … I am going to look after my flock myself. God spells out in some detail the measures he will take to care for ‘his flock’ i.e, Israel his Chosen People, and concludes: I shall be a true shepherd to them.

Then there is this promise: I mean to raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and to put him in charge of them and he will pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd. I said just now that Ezekiel wrote around the beginning of the 6th century BC. King David reigned about 1000 BC. So the promise must refer to a descendant and possibly heir of David: I suggest it is a prophecy concerning Jesus the Christ.

Returning now to today’s gospel, the late, great American scholar, Raymond E. Brown, wrote that the phrase I am the good shepherd would translate more accurately as I am the model shepherd. In this sense, a model is an ideal, an example and inspiration for all who come after him. So in this passage Jesus contrasts himself with the hired hand who takes to his heels as soon as he sees a wolf coming … because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. By contrast, Jesus can say: I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.  If any of you have not had much to do with sheep I can assure you that individual sheep can recognize their master, and an observant shepherd can distinguish between individual members of his flock.

The next verse is always trotted out during the week of prayer for Christian unity: There are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock and one shepherd. I think we can say that for many years we Catholics took those words to mean that it was God’s will that everybody should become Catholic. That’s not what the gospel says. Indeed, since Vatican II we have recognized that God works through many other Christian churches and even in some way through non-Christian religions. It is not for us to define the outer limits of Christ’s flock. When Jesus says: The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again; and this is the power I have been given by my Father,  Jesus shows that already he has a fair idea of what lies ahead of him. He is ready to make a sacrifice never expected of other shepherds.

Let me point out that these lines occur in the 10th chapter of St John’s gospel – long before Jesus enters upon his Passion. He had come into the world to repair the alliance which human beings had so often flouted. He came in perfect obedience to his Father’s will and, in himself becoming man, was to show that at least one human being could respect the terms of the alliance. He was in control of the situation.

We also read just now a passage from the first letter of St John. Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us – he writes – by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are. In the ancient world, adoption conferred full rights. When a testator died there was no distinction between the biological children and the adopted children of the deceased. All were equal before the law. So the author is asserting boldly that we shall enjoy the same rights as the only begotten Son of God. It’s just that we don’t know what they are. My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.

Not for the first time, we find Scripture pointing out the responsibilities of the leaders of the community, and this is something which is always relevant. When you think about it, nearly every adult has some of the responsibilities of a shepherd. Take first of all parents. Obviously their first duty is to feed and clothe and nurture and educate their children. We notice a good deal of eagerness to enrol Catholic children in Church schools. We also notice a great deal of reticence about bringing those same children to Mass on Sundays. Yet the parents – not the school – are supposed to be the first teachers of the faith to their children. Godparents are supposed to help the parents teach the faith to the children. Their first duty is not to supply birthday presents – there is so much more to it than that. And why do Catholic parents so often choose a non-Catholic godparent? At present in secular Australia, just as formerly in communist Eastern Europe, much of the education in the faith is left to grandparents.

Our society is fascinated by celebrities, and especially by sporting heroes and pop stars. How many of them would you point out to your children as role-models?

We clergy also have shepherding tasks and readings such as we have heard today give us cause to examine our own performance. To neglect the duties of one’s state in life is a grave matter. Let us pray for one another. (Quentin.Howard)

29-04-2012

Apr 22 2012

Listening to the Scriptures and Breaking of the Bread (Eucharist)

To grow into a personal and real relationship with Jesus

Homily for 3rd Sunday of Easter 2012

  1. During the week I happened to watch the episode on the reality show called ‘The Voice’ wherein hopefuls would try their luck by singing and impressing the four judges with their voices. One of those who wen to audition was a legally blind girl. She has really  got a beautiful voice but what impress me all the more was her statement. She said: ‘I don’t want people to think of me as a blind girl who sings…but a singer who happens to be blind.

  2. What an extraordinary sense of self-confidence, of self acceptance, of self worth. Surely, she has acknowledged and accepted her disability but she didn’t let it become a hindrance to expressing her true self and to being true to herself. She is not having false illusions of herself. She accepted who she is, yet she also discovered that there is more that she can offer despite of her limitations.

  3. Friends, everyday we face all kinds of illusions. We have all kinds of persuasions that if we buy this car, or build this kind of house, or get the latest gadget, then we can be happy. But of course, we know that  these things are only giving us temporary happiness or contentment. The real happiness is only found in relationship…a real and a personal relationship.

  4. This is what hinders the disciples to believe that Jesus has really risen from the dead, as we have heard in our gospel today. They have an illusion of their messiah. They expected of the messiah who is powerful, invincible, has powerful followers, victorious in all respects. But the person to whom Simon Peter has made his confession as ‘the Messiah, the Son of God’ has suffered, mocked, spat upon, tortured, crucified, died, buried. Jesus was not the kind of Messiah they are expecting. What happened to him was an failure. And now these other disciples (on the Road to Emmaus) would tell them that they met the risen Jesus. They couldn’t take it. It’s too unrealistic.

  5. They couldn’t  belief the report of the disciples because they are still having this illusion of a powerful messiah.  But Jesus reminded them again of his constant offer of personal and real relationship that would help to get over with their false illusions. He invited them to ‘touch him and see for themselves’ the wounds he had on his body. They did and they believed in him, our Gospel today tells us.

  6. Because they responded to the invitation of Jesus their false expectations, their illusions of a messiah was purified. They became true witnesses of him, of his love and of his forgiveness. So even if we hear Peter in our First Reading today telling the Jewish authorities  rightly and bluntly that they were the ones who killed the Christ, the messiah, he didn’t bear grudge on them. The disciples who have now seen the real Jesus and who have understood the real meaning of a messiahship, have now braved the threats of death and persecutions just to preach to all people the risen Jesus. Hence we heard Peter after telling the Jewish  leaders of their terrible act of crucifying the Lord, inviting them  to repent of their sins, because Jesus Christ, has come to save everyone from sins.

  7. Friends, it is really just through a personal relationship with Jesus that our false expectations and illusions would collapse and crumble. He is the way, the truth and the life’ according to John. If our relationship with him is real and personal, we come to realize that there is more we can offer to the world and to everyone rather than just lamenting on our particular circumstances and life’s situations.

  8. How can we develop and grow into a personal relationship with Jesus?

  9.  Our Gospel offers us a way…to listen to the Scriptures. If we hear the report of the disciples who were walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, we know that in Jesus the Scriptures, the Word of God has really come alive and was made flesh. ‘Are not our hearts burning when he explained to us the Scriptures?’, they asked. It is so because they listened to the Word of God in the light of Jesus. They didn’t interpret it themselves. They let Jesus speak to them in  the Scriptures. Reading a passage of a Scripture everyday would be a very good start to grow and nurture our relationship with God.

  10. Another way is to share in the communion, or to break the bread and share it with one another. This is the Eucharist. It is very important indeed because the Eucharist is the source of our life. And more…it is the summit of our Christian life, according to the Second Vatican Council. In the Eucharist we can touch Jesus in our hands and receive him as our food. St Justin Martyr, one of the great Fathers of the Early Christian Church would attest to this, when he described the meaning of the Eucharist as they (the early Christians) celebrated it once a week. He wrote: For we do not receive this food as ordinary bread and as ordinary drink; but just as Jesus Christ our Saviour became flesh through the word of God, and assumed flesh and blood for our salvation, so too we are taught that the food over which the prayer of thanksgiving…has been said, the food which nourishes our flesh and blood by assimilation, is the flesh and blood of this Jesus who became flesh.’ In other words, in the Eucharist Jesus does not only come to feed us, but he really has become our food as well. The Eucharist therefore is a great way to grow into a deeper relationship with God in Jesus. Such is the beauty of our Eucharist. We are not just here to fulfil our Sunday obligation. We are not just here to sit down and rest after a whole day of worrying and of doing many things. We are here because we are called into a personal, real and intimate relationship with our Lord.

  11. So as we continue in our Christian journey let’s pray that God would break our false expectations and our illusions, so that we can really the real meaning and essence of things. Let’s do this by loving the Scriptures and by actively engaging ourselves in  every celebration of the Holy Eucharist. In this way, we can grow into more real, more intimate, more personal and deeper relationship with our God. We can know this, if the reason and the motive of everything we do is like Jesus to fulfil the will of his Father. Let this be our prayer.In and through personal relationship with Jesus, we can know who we really are and accept everything that we are.

Apr 21 2012

Jesus is real: Not an Ilusion

 Easter III B 2012

The gospel passage we read today is the last we shall read on the Sundays after Easter relating appearances of Our risen Lord. This one occurs near the end of St Luke’s gospel. Again the emphasis is on the joy of the disciples. Their joy was so great that they could not believe it, and they stood dumbfounded. Jesus took the initiative and asked: Have you anything here to eat? The fact that he was able to eat a piece of fish before their eyes satisfied them that he really was there in the flesh; he was not an illusion.

This incident follows the return of the disciples from Emmaus. When Jesus joined them as they walked towards the village, he drew their attention to all the passages in Scripture which spoke about the Messiah – this without revealing that he was speaking of himself. It was only when they were at table that they recognized him in the breaking of bread. Back in Jerusalem he repeated the lesson for the Eleven: Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled. And after explaining everything he concluded: So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And the punch line is: You are witnesses to this.

Once the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, their fear left them and they did indeed begin to testify to the fact that Jesus, who had been crucified, had risen from the dead. His death won pardon for our sins. He is the Son of God. The Acts of the Apostles is concerned mainly with just two apostles: Peter and – above all – Paul. In the early part we can read several of Peter’s sermons, and today’s first reading was taken from one of them. Addressing a Jewish audience, he tells them bluntly: the same Jesus you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate … It was you who accused the Holy One, the Just One, you who demanded the reprieve of a murderer while you killed the prince of life. Peter recognizes that there were mitigating circumstances. They didn’t know that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. And in any case the prophecies had to be fulfilled. When all was accomplished, God raised him from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses.

 I expect you remember that last Sunday we read St John’s account of Jesus’ apparition to the disciples on that first Easter Sunday evening. It was then that Jesus gave them the power to forgive sins – the sacrament of reconciliation. St John touches on this matter in the letter from which our second reading was taken. It is concerned not so much with what priests can do for sinners as with what Jesus does for us all: If anyone should sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just; he is the sacrifice that takes our sins away, and not only ours, but the whole world’s. Jesus’ suffering and death have won us pardon, but if we do sin after Baptism he will continue to argue that we should not get our just deserts. He never ceases to implore the Divine Mercy for us.

To recapitulate: in the gospel Jesus told his followers that they were to be witnesses to his death and resurrection. In the Acts we see that they had begun to do that. Bearing witness to the resurrection is expected of every Christian – including ourselves.

A lady who heard me last week suggested that I should tell you something of my experience of missionary work in Africa. It is a form of bearing witness, but there is much more to it than standing up in a market place and shouting “Jesus is alive”. For a dozen years I worked in country parishes in Burkina Faso, a poor, dry, land-locked country in West Africa. Missionary activity began there in 1900 and has made good progress to the extent that there are now 15 dioceses, each headed by an African bishop, with many vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Despite that progress there are still many people who follow the African Traditional Religion, who make sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors asking them to intercede on their behalf with the Supreme Being. There are many Muslims too. In the cities you find that the great majority are either Christians or Muslims, but in country districts many still follow the traditional religion.

Why does anybody change? The motives are usually mixed. People follow their friends. Or there may be economic reasons such as not being able to hold a stall in the market unless they become Muslims. Or – and this is important – they may be attracted by the mutual support they see in the Christian community, and the hymns they hear the Christians sing as they worship. If somebody wants to become a Muslim, it’s very easy: they just have to raise their finger and say: “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet”. This can be done without giving the person any instruction at all – which means that there are lots of very ignorant Muslims around. By contrast, someone who wants to become a Christian, must follow instruction for several years; at the end of each year they will be examined on what they have learned and if they don’t answer well enough they’ll have to repeat the year. Meanwhile, they are expected to participate in the life of the Christian community, come to Mass regularly, take part in working bees and live upright virtuous lives.

On the Sundays of the last Lent before their Baptism, the catechumens take a number of steps towards reception of the sacrament. On one Sunday, for instance, the priest formally teaches them the Lord’s Prayer. In fact they will have learned it long before, but on this Sunday it is transmitted to them, phrase by phrase, in the presence of the whole community. When we got to that part of the Mass on that Sunday I would always ask the catechumens alone to lead the community in saying the prayer.

Their initiation reached its climax during the Easter Vigil when, after years of preparation, whole crowds of catechumens were baptized. At the beginning of Mass they were dressed in their ordinary clothes, but once the waters had been poured they went out into the night with their godfather or godmother and put on new white clothes, then processed back into the church while the choir – and congregation – sang this joyous hymn “Tônd fâa soob daare” (= “The day of our Baptism”). And the festivities continue on Easter Sunday.

Missionaries do much more than teach the faith and administer the sacraments. We work at promoting development, sinking wells and bores, trying to improve agriculture, maternal and child welfare, responsible citizenship. The tasks never end. All are aspects of bearing witness to God’s love for humanity. And we have vacancies! (Quentin Howard)

22-04-2012