Don't Leave Your Staff at the Door.

World Day of Prayer for Vocations
John 10:11-18

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

I have a confession to make: There are many times when I go to Mass and behave like a hired hand rather than a shepherd. I don’t think I’m alone in this. In fact, I know I’m not alone in this.

The whole image of the Good Shepherd is very comforting to us but in this scripture Jesus wasn’t actually speaking to his followers. He was speaking to the priests, scribes and Pharisees who were challenging him about healing a blind man. Yes, he was saying that he is the shepherd of his people but he was also identifying himself as the God of Israel who, in Ezekiel 34, spoke of himself as the True Shepherd of his people. In Ezekiel, God was immensely angry with the leaders who were leading his people astray, abusing them, being careless of their wellbeing and abandoning them to great dangers. Jesus, in portraying himself as the Good Shepherd, was making a statement to those listening that he was God and he was very clear that he was not happy with the spiritual leadership of the day. Compassion, mercy and caring for the people was not the first priority of many of those entrusted with the welfare of God’s people. Power, riches, political advantage, image protection and the letter of the law were of far more concern to many of the leaders than the spiritual well being of the people.

In Jesus’ time, a shepherd was with his sheep 24/7. He looked after the wounded and searched for the lost. He would never let a sheep wander off on its own to fend for itself. If a small lamb couldn’t keep up he would carry it on his shoulders. He led his flock to pastures that he had already scoped out to make sure it was safe and there were no noxious plants or dangerous predators. He led the sheep to pools of still water because sheep will not drink from running water. He was intimately aware of every sheep in his flock and knew the needs of each one.  

When the Holy Spirit anointed the disciples on Pentecost, there was a huge shift in the common perception of a spiritual community. There were no longer a few designated shepherds controlling a large flock of hapless sheep. In the new Church, all were sheep – and all were shepherds. Yes, the early church had appointed leaders but those leaders were no longer the priestly elite with everyone else falling into the category of sheep just waiting to be told what to do. People were joyfully alive to their own anointing. People cared for one another spiritually, physically, emotionally and materially. This was a church where everyone was called to be priestly shepherds and those early Christians took their new role very seriously.

To say that modern churches do not fulfill a mandate to shepherd the poor of this world would be completely untrue. There are so many amazing organizations and initiatives that seek to shepherd those who are suffering or needy or hungry as well as wonderful people who have hearts for the sick, the lonely, the homeless and all sorts of others in need. But there is one place where we all tend to abandon our shepherding roles: the Mass.

Vatican II called the Eucharist “the source and summit of the Christian life and the center of the Christian community.”  Yet, how often do you go to Mass and leave as soon as possible? How often do you go up to someone you have never talked to before to introduce yourself and initiate a conversation? How often do you immediately seek out the people you know and are familiar with and chat only with them? Are you aware of the people who arrive alone and leave alone with no one ever greeting them and conversing with them? Do you ever offer to pray with or for someone you don’t know well who is struggling with loss or illness?  How many times do you express gratitude or appreciation to a reader, a musician, a Eucharistic minister, an usher or an altar server? When you give the sign of peace, do you look people in the eye or are your eyes looking for the next person you have to shake hands with?

If we can’t be true shepherds to one another at Mass there is a huge chunk missing in our priestly ministry. Mass is not a time for all the sheep to be herded into a walled enclosure so they can each spend private, one on one time with the Shepherd. It is the source, summit and center of the Christian life and community. A Christian’s vocation is one of being a priest and a shepherd – it doesn’t matter if this plays out in marriage, the ministerial priesthood, the single life or in the Religious life.  Our call is to shepherd one another. We are all pastors and the Mass is where all our priestly activities should culminate in a community gathered with each other in mutual love and awareness at the table of the Lord. If we go to Mass with the intention of just minding our own business, attending to our own spiritual communications with Jesus, saying hello to a few people we know and then heading home, we have abdicated from our royal priesthood and our community is much poorer for it.

If Mass is the summit of Christian life then that means it should be an inspiring epitome – a shining example – of the Christian life. Of all the things we do as Christians in our daily lives, the Mass should be the one place where we consistently go to act with the full intention of being True Shepherds. That’s what Liturgy means: “The work of the people” or “The work of the Shepherds.”

The next time you go to Mass, take a look around. Look at all the people: the young, the old, the irritating, the good friends and the relative strangers. Look at the faces: the stony, the prayerful, the sad, the contented and the distracted. Look at them and think, “These are my people. These are my flock. This whole church is my pastoral field.” If everyone approached the Mass this way, the life of our Masses would cease to hinge on the ministerial priest up front and on whether he is a dynamic, wonderful priest who gives great homilies or is a cantankerous old soul just putting in time. The life of our Masses and parishes would hinge on what they were meant to hinge on: the people of God coming together as anointed shepherds to be united with the Good Shepherd, loving Christ and one another.

Once again, I admit it. I often go to Mass and abdicate my vocation as a priestly shepherd. I go as a hired hand. It’s a choice I make. The church suffers because of it…

…and so do I.