20150427
SHEPHERDS MUST LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE GOOD
SHEPHERD
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Acts 11:1-18 ©
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The apostles and the
brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and
when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him and said, ‘So you have
been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them, have you?’ Peter in reply
gave them the details point by point: ‘One day, when I was in the town of
Jaffa,’ he began ‘I fell into a trance as I was praying and had a vision of
something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. This
sheet reached the ground quite close to me. I watched it intently and saw all
sorts of animals and wild beasts – everything possible that could walk,
crawl or fly. Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Now, Peter; kill and eat!”
But I answered: Certainly not, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed
my lips. And a second time the voice spoke from heaven, “What God has made
clean, you have no right to call profane.” This was repeated three times,
before the whole of it was drawn up to heaven again.
‘Just at
that moment, three men stopped outside the house where we were staying; they
had been sent from Caesarea to fetch me, and the Spirit told me to have no
hesitation about going back with them. The six brothers here came with me as
well, and we entered the man’s house. He told us he had seen an angel standing
in his house who said, “Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon known as Peter; he has a
message for you that will save you and your entire household.”
‘I had
scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way
as it came on us at the beginning, and I remembered that the Lord had said,
“John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” I
realised then that God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when
we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?’
This
account satisfied them, and they gave glory to God. ‘God’ they said ‘can
evidently grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.’
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Psalm
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Psalm
41:2-3,42:3-4 ©
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My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life.
or
Alleluia!
Like the deer that
yearns
for
running streams,
so my soul is
yearning
for you,
my God.
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life.
or
Alleluia!
My soul is thirsting
for God,
the God
of my life;
when can I enter and
see
the face
of God?
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life.
or
Alleluia!
O send forth your
light and your truth;
let these
be my guide.
Let them bring me to
your holy mountain,
to the
place where you dwell.
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life.
or
Alleluia!
And I will come to
the altar of God,
the God
of my joy.
My redeemer, I will
thank you on the harp,
O God, my
God.
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn10:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the good
shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my own sheep
and my own know me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 10:1-10 ©
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Jesus said: ‘I tell
you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate,
but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through
the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep
hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he
has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because
they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they
do not recognise the voice of strangers.’
Jesus
told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling
it to them.
So Jesus
spoke to them again:
‘I tell you most
solemnly,
I am the gate of the
sheepfold.
All others who have
come
are thieves and
brigands;
but the sheep took no
notice of them.
I am the gate.
Anyone who enters
through me will be safe:
he will go freely in
and out
and be sure of
finding pasture.
The thief comes
only to steal and
kill and destroy.
I have come
so
that they may have life and have it to the full.’
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SHEPHERDS
MUST LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ACTS 11:1-18;
JOHN 10:1-10
Regardless
of who we are, we are all shepherds in our own ways, whether at work, at home
or in the Church. All leaders, in their respective capacities, are all
called to a shepherding role. To be good leaders, we must endeavour to be
shepherds after the heart of Christ, our Good Shepherd. It is not even
enough to aspire for leadership; we must earnestly seek all means to make this
dream of ours a reality.
For
this to happen, it is essential to listen to His voice speaking to us.
Jesus makes it clear that, “The sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his
own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead
of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a
stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of
strangers.” So the question is: are we hearing Him clearly enough?
Are we sufficiently intimate with Jesus to recognize His voice amidst our
activities? Or have the voices of the world, our friends, our enjoyments,
our academic pursuits and even apostolic zeal prevented us from hearing His
voice? There is a real danger that we might not be listening to Him
sufficiently.
If we
have not listened to Him and we pretend to be His shepherds, are we not guilty
of being thieves and brigands? Why is that so? Jesus said, “I am
the gate of the sheepfold. All others who have come are thieves and brigands;
but the sheep took no notice of them. I am the gate. Anyone who enters through
me will be safe: he will go freely in and out and be sure of finding
pasture.” How can we be shepherds when we do not have the heart of the
Shepherd, His mind and will? By shepherding those under us with the
counterfeit values of the world, we lead those under our care away from truth
and from God. We steal them away from Jesus because we are often
misguided, and thus we kill them.
In
contrast, in the first reading, we have Peter who listened attentively to the
voice of the Lord. He must be a man of prayer, otherwise he would not
have been so sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit, who showed him a vision
of the animals and wild beasts, which God declared all to be clean, when he was
at prayer. He recounted thus, “I fell into a trance as I was praying and
had a vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its
four corners.” Again, St Peter underscored that when the three men from
Caesarea were outside his house to fetch him to meet the Centurion Cornelius,
it was the Spirit who told him “to have no hesitation about going back with
them”. On this basis and prompting, he went with them to Cornelius’
house.
We can
be certain that Peter had the courage to do so, only because of the vision and
the prompting he received from the Holy Spirit. Indeed, without listening to
the prompting of the Holy Spirit, St Peter, a Jew, would not take the risk of
being made spiritually unclean by visiting Cornelius. Non-Jews were
considered profane and unclean, and thus Jews were forbidden to mix with people
of another race or to visit them. This also explains why the three men
stood outside the house; they knew the sensitivity of the Jews.
But
what happened to Peter also happened to Cornelius. For in the Acts, we
are told that Cornelius sent his men to fetch Peter because he was directed by
an angel to bring him to his house, so as to listen to what he had to
say. He too had a vision when he was at prayer. He “suddenly saw a
man in front of him in shining robes saying to him, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has
been heard and your alms have been accepted as a sacrifice in the sight of
God.’” It is significant that it was at the ninth hour when this event
took place, because this was the hour that the veil of the Temple was torn
right down the middle, and when Jesus cried out, “Father into your hands I
commit my Spirit” (Lk 23:44-46).
Yes, it was that hour when He poured forth His Spirit on the world.
Finally,
we read that when Peter was still speaking to them, the Holy Spirit came down
on all the listeners. Peter and the rest of the Jewish Christians “were
all astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit should be poured out on the
pagans too since they could hear them speaking strange languages and
proclaiming the greatness of God.” As a result, Peter said, “Could
anyone refuse the water of baptism to these people, now they have received the
Holy Spirit just as much as we have?”
Unlike
the apostles, we are no longer sensitive to the Holy Spirit, so much so, we no
longer hear the intimate voice of Jesus speaking to us. We have lost the
Spirit of discernment because we cannot distinguish the voice of the master
from the voice of the world, and the voice of the Holy Spirit from our own
human spirit. This explains why we are often lacking in wisdom in leading
our people. Instead of boosting their faith, we weaken their faith by
indirectly leading them away from God. Instead of promoting the values of
the gospel and the Church, we begin to think and act like the rest of the
secular world.
We must
encourage prayers, devotions, conversion experience, love for the Eucharist and
frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Why? Because this
is the way in which the Holy Spirit is given to us; especially in and through
the sacraments, besides praise and worship, as in the case of Cornelius.
Yes, the Holy Spirit is given to all freely, but we must make use of the means
available to us. As Acts told us, the Holy Spirit was given through the
preaching of Peter. This was completed with the Sacrament of Baptism, when they
were incorporated into the Body of Christ.
The
Late Pope John Paul II once told the ordinands, “Each one of you will become a
good shepherd with Jesus’ help, ready even to give your life for him if it is
necessary.” But, “to be worthy ministers you will have to unceasingly
nourish yourselves by the Eucharist, the source and summit of Christian life …
Draw near to the altar, your daily school of sanctity, of communion with Jesus,
the way of entering into his sentiments; draw near to the altar to renew the
sacrifice of the cross, you will discover the richness and tenderness of the
divine master’s love more and more … He is the one who is calling you today to
a more intimate friendship with him … If you will listen to him with docility,
if you will follow him faithfully, you will learn how to translate his love and
passion for the salvation of souls into everyday life.” Furthermore, the
Holy Father assured them, that they will have “the certainty that Christ will
not abandon you and that no obstacle can stand in the way of his universal
design of salvation be for you a reason for constant consolation – even on the
difficult days – and indestructible hope.”
When
leaders lack holiness, the people too cannot grow in holiness. At the
root of it all, we ourselves need conversion, which we are not fully aware
of. Because of a tepid prayer life, we do not realize our sinfulness and
the need for a real conversion of heart. I truly believe that when we put
our prayer life in order, everything will be put right. We need to
intensify our prayer life and our relationship with the Lord. Put Him
first in our life, and the rest will follow.
Let us
therefore be faithful to the grace we have received. Listen to His voice
daily through the Word of God, and especially when we adore Him before the
Eucharist. It is necessary to be empowered in the ministry by the Holy
Spirit, who gives us the qualification we need to be His servants. He
will speak in and through us, from our heart, a heart that has become one with
Jesus. If Jesus is truly the Good Shepherd after His Father, it is
because, as He said in the gospel, “the Father and I are one”.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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