20190512
FISHERS
OF MEN AND SHEPHERDS OF SHEEP
12 MAY, 2019,
Sunday, 4th Week of Easter
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Acts 13:14,43-52 ©
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'We must turn to the pagans'
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Paul and Barnabas carried on from Perga
till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the
Sabbath and took their seats.
When
the meeting broke up many Jews and devout converts joined Paul and Barnabas,
and in their talks with them Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful to
the grace God had given them.
The
next sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of God. When they
saw the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and
contradicted everything Paul said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. ‘We
had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it,
since you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life, we must turn to the
pagans. For this is what the Lord commanded us to do when he said:
I have made you a light for the nations,
so that my salvation may reach the ends of
the earth.’
It made the pagans very happy to hear this
and they thanked the Lord for his message; all who were destined for eternal
life became believers. Thus the word of the Lord spread through the whole
countryside.
But
the Jews worked upon some of the devout women of the upper classes and the
leading men of the city and persuaded them to turn against Paul and Barnabas
and expel them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in
defiance and went off to Iconium; but the disciples were filled with joy and
the Holy Spirit.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 99(100):1-3,5 ©
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We are his people, the
sheep of his flock.
or
Alleluia!
Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the
earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for
joy.
We are his people, the
sheep of his flock.
or
Alleluia!
Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep
of his flock.
We are his people, the
sheep of his flock.
or
Alleluia!
Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to
age.
We are his people, the
sheep of his flock.
or
Alleluia!
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Second reading
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Apocalypse 7:9,14-17 ©
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The Lamb will be their shepherd and will
lead them to springs of living water
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I, John, saw a huge number, impossible to
count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were
standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white
robes and holding palms in their hands. One of the elders said, ‘These are the
people who have been through the great persecution, and because they have
washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb, they now stand in
front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One
who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will never hunger
or thirst again; neither the sun nor scorching wind will ever plague them,
because the Lamb who is at the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them
to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.’
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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 10:27-30 ©
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I know my sheep and they follow me
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Jesus said:
‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my
voice;
I know them and they follow me.
I give them eternal life;
they will never be lost
and no one will ever steal them from me.
The Father who gave them to me is greater
than anyone,
and no one can steal from the Father.
The Father and I are one.’
FISHERS OF MEN
AND SHEPHERDS OF SHEEP
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 13:14.43-52; Ps 100:1-3,5; Rev 7:9.14-17; Jn 10:27-30]
In last Sunday’s gospel,
Peter was asked to look after and feed the lambs and sheep. He was called to tend to the flock of God,
the newly baptized, the lambs, young and innocent; and those growing and
maturing in faith. This was the mission entrusted to St Peter by our
Lord. That was why he remained in Jerusalem to tend to the Church before
finally ending up as the bishop of Rome. He did not go to the ends of the
world to preach the Good News. His task was that of a pastor to the flock
of Christ. In his letter to the elders, he advised them thus, “Now as an
elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who
shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend
the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under
compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it not for sordid gain but
eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the
flock.” (1 Pt 5:1-3)
There is no doubt that
we need shepherds to look after and feed the lambs and sheep. This is probably the real weakness of our
Church. Firstly, we do not take ongoing discipleship seriously. Most
of us think that we can grow in our faith simply by coming for mass on
Sundays. Most of us do not continue with our formation after baptism by signing
up for courses, seminars and retreats to update our faith. Worse still,
many do not belong to any Church ministry, and even if they do, they do not
have a small community of like-minded faith believers to share their faith
within a prayerful gathering. This explains why many eventually drop out
of the Church, become Sunday Catholics, then nominal Catholics and then lapsed
Catholics. Some, influenced by other faiths, even become hostile towards
the Catholic Faith because of misinformed teaching.
Of course, the other
issue is that we do not have enough teachers of faith, whether priests,
religious or lay teachers to form our people in faith, doctrines, morals and
spiritual life. We
are too heavily dependent on the limited number of priests in our parishes;
most of whom are in their late 50’s and above; and with two active priests in a
parish of 6000, many priests are unable to find time to give formation to all
the ministry members, much less to the faithful of the parish. We have a
lot of goodwill, but when it comes to knowledge of scriptures and doctrines, we
are rather weak. Perhaps this explains why we feel more comfortable being
involved in social and humanitarian work rather than sharing our faith, the
Word of God and our spiritual journey. That is why our sheep are prone to
be poached by other Christian denominations as many of them are half-baked in
their faith and shallow in their spiritual life, and encounter with the Lord.
Indeed, in the gospel,
the Lord said, “The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and
they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no
one will ever steal them from me.” If we do not listen to the voice of Jesus
through personal study of the Word of God or through bible sharing; or attend
courses and retreats, how could we ever be formed by Him? We say we are
too busy to listen to the Lord, whether in prayer or in study, but strangely,
we have time to listen to the world. We have our Facebook, Instagram and
social media. We have time to listen and read fake news, half-truths, but
no time to read up on our faith and beliefs. If our Catholics are
confused and lost, it is simply because, as the Lord said, they do not listen
to His voice. So we should not be surprised that the greatest traitors
and detractors of the Church are not from outside but from within – Catholics
who do not know much about their faith but feel they are qualified to criticize
their own Church beliefs and take sides with the world.
This, precisely, was the
same attitude of the Jews when St Paul preached to them. “When they saw
the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted
everything Paul said. Then
Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. ‘We had to proclaim the word of God to you
first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy
of eternal life, we must turn to the pagans.” It is ironical that
whilst many Catholics have given up on their faith because they lack formation
in their spiritual life and faith, many are looking and hungering to find God
in their lives. Those who desire God and take time to search for Him will
find Him. This was what the evangelist noted. “It made the pagans
very happy to hear this and they thanked the Lord for his message; all who were
destined for eternal life became believers. Thus, the word of the Lord spread
through the whole countryside.”
How, then, can we heed
the advice of St Paul to the Christian Jews? By remaining in fellowship
with one another! “When
the meeting broke up, many Jews and devout converts joined Paul and Barnabas
and in their talks with them, Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful
to the grace God had given them.” We need to belong to a Catholic
community, have a circle of friends to gather together to pray, share our faith
and testify to God’s work in our lives, and not just for gossiping, eating and
drinking. Unless we challenge each other in faith and share our
faith journey, it is difficult to grow and deepen our knowledge.
Secondly, we need to
evangelize. This was what St
Paul said, “For this is what the Lord commanded us to do when he said: I have
made you a light for the nations, so that my salvation may reach the ends of
the earth.” It is not enough simply to be Shepherds of our sheep and
lambs, but we must, like St Paul, be fishers of men. We must go out and
catch the fish beyond our boundaries. Our weakness is that we are too
parochial-minded sometimes. We build enclaves among our own little ministries,
are inward-looking and protective of our organizations instead of reaching out
to bring new members into the ministries and church. When we fail to
evangelize and be missionaries for Christ, our parish will stagnate,
organizations remain the same for years, and gradually, the parish will perish
because ministry members get older and die. That is why a maintenance
church cannot be maintained for long. Rejuvenation requires outreach, new
members and evangelical zeal so that no one becomes too complacent.
Indeed, as the
responsorial psalm reminds us, “Cry
out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with
gladness. Come before him, singing for joy. Know that he,
the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of
his flock. Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful
love.” We must claim all for Christ’s kingdom. The vision we have
for the Church of God is spelt out in St John’s vision. “After that I saw
a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe
and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the
Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands.” But we
can be dressed in white robes only when we have washed them clean with a living
faith in Christ.
Most of all, we must be
ready to suffer with and for Christ for the greater good of His Church and the
People of God.
Like St Peter and St Paul, we must be ready to lay down our lives for our sheep
and lambs just as Jesus did. For others to live fully, we need to die for
them. Indeed, our goal as pastors and missionaries is to give them life
abundantly, for that is what the Lord comes to give us all. “I give them
eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.”
Today, we celebrate Good
Shepherd Sunday. We need to bring together these two themes. St Peter was called to be a shepherd
of the sheep. St Paul was to become the fisher of men. As Christians, we
are called to be both shepherds of God’s sheep so that we all can become
fishers of men. As shepherds, we look after our sheep. This is the
ad intra dimension of the Church. As fishers of men, we must be
missionary-minded like St Paul who went out on His mission to the
Gentiles. If we were to do that, we must first be one with Jesus, just as
Jesus is one with His Father in mind and heart. Jesus said, “The
Father and I are one”. We need to pray for more priestly and religious
vocations. But we also need to pray for more lay leaders and missionaries
as well. But besides praying for more, we must also be ready to support
them morally and financially so that they can serve the Lord with total freedom
and commitment to His kingdom.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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