The Good Shepherd Versus Bad Shepherding

REVISED from April 21, 2018

The ancient Hebrew Scriptures (our “Old Testament”) provide rich symbols for the Reign of God over His people:  God is “the King,” in the sense of the rightful ruler by whom all human rulers are measured, and found wanting; God is “the Holy One of Israel,” the true standard, fulfillment, and joy of His people, who liberates from evil and sin; and God is the Good Shepherd, who guides and nourishes His people, even as He punishes and destroys those who betray and mislead His people.  In chapter 10 of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus applies the symbol of “the Good Shepherd” to Himself, as He works for God, under God, with God, and is in truth the embodiment of God in humanity:  “I AM the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for His sheep.”  Good shepherding is personally costly; otherwise, it is spurious. 

Any one who goes by the name of “pastor” or “shepherd,” working in Christ’s body, and particularly in the churches, must seek to “shepherd My people rightly,” seeking their spiritual well-being, and not “fleecing” them for money or for benefits, as the prophet Ezekiel strongly warns. What is it that keeps a pastor or shepherd from fulfilling God’s will and the divine assignment to “shepherd My people”?  A pastoral letters attributed to the Apostle Paul warns, “the love of money is the root of all evil.”  And we should add to that:  the love of power, the desire to dominate others, utterly betrays genuine pastoral ministry in the Church.  Examples of such betrayals can readily be found in the history of the various churches, and are usually not hard to find—even as “evil loves to hide,” and is often shamelessly covered up by those in high places.  To any priest or minister who has fleeced Christ’s people, rather than diligently sought to build them up in faith, hope, and love, the biblical warnings are strong.  In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus most sternly warns:  “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”  False shepherds, fake pastors, parents or teachers who betray their sacred trust, all stand warned by Jesus Christ Himself.  And this warning to those who work under Christ for the well-being of His people is an essential part of Christ as the Good Shepherd.  For the Good Shepherd shows most of us to have been less than good shepherds, and often as derelict of duties, fleecers, abusers, even destroyers of human beings. 

The Good Shepherd is the just Judge:  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (II Cor 5:10).   Because the Good Shepherd is the measure of humanity, each of us must ever examine himself or herself in light of Christ.  We must not presume that we will be let off lightly because we were “ordained,” or called “priest” while on earth—or granted the gift to be a parent or teacher.  On the contrary, Christ warns us:  “To whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48).  Woe to me if I have lead anyone in our parishes astray.  It will not go well with me in eternity if I have chosen ill-begotten gain and the lust to dominate others, or to use others for my benefit, rather than continually and faithfully seek the spiritual well-being of those entrusted to my care. 

Jesus as the Good Shepherd remains the model and the measure of the Church.  When we spend ourselves in lovingkindness for others, when we seek the genuine well-being of ourselves and of each other, when we speak the truth regardless of the cost to us personally, when we restrain ourselves from evil and do good, then Christ’s rule as Good Shepherd is effective in and through us.  But when we in the Church deceive people, and lie, and steal from parishioners, or cover up crimes, or neglect the spiritual welfare of those in our care because we are too much “in love with the world,” then we must know and understand with shocking clarity that the “day of the LORD will suddenly overtake us,” and we risk having Christ declare:  “Get away from me, you evil-doer, into the everlasting fire” (cf. Matthew 7:23).  Brothers and sisters, each of us stands warned.  And this warning is part of the role of “shepherding my people rightly.”  Despite churchianity, it is not all sweetness and flowers. 

May the all-good God have mercy on us, and help us genuinely to repent, change our ways, and seek the spiritual and human well-being of one another.  The Good Shepherd demands this action of us.

"What Would Life Be, If Christ Had Not Died For Us?"

Fortunately, we will not have to know what our life would be like if Christ had not died for us—because in fact he did die for us, and lives fully in the reality we call God.  But If we do not entrust ourselves lovingly to the crucified-Resurrected Christ, then the effects of his death for us are greatly diminished.  To the extent that we surrender to Christ and live his love faithfully, then his death for us has great effects.  What would our life be, if we did not live and die with Christ?  We would live empty lives, and perish into nothingness.  That unfortunately appears to be the fate of many in our society today; many have lost living faith in Christ.  “They are in love with the world,” and with themselves. 

“In the world you have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16).  All of the suffering, sin, evil that one experiences in life in the world cannot undo the victory that Christ gained for each and for all.  “Sin has no more dominion over us” (Rom 8).  “Death is swallowed up in life” (I Cor 15).  The reign of evil is intensely portrayed in the narratives of Jesus’ passion; Christ suffers horrible ravishes of evil done by his fellow human beings.  To those who seize Jesus to deliver him over to Pilate for death, he declares, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Lk 22).  To us still undergoing the trials of life, Christ says, “Take heart, for I have overcome the world,” and all means everything that evil can do to destroy you eternally.  We die in the body, we live in the Spirit. 

 The Resurrection of Christ is not some external event that happened in time.  Jesus’ suffering and death were indeed in time.  What we know of the Resurrection is not some temporal or external event at all, but what was experienced out of time by certain chosen men and women.  On this point, the Apostle Paul is clear and concise:  “God revealed His Son in me.”  This experience, and others like it in Peter, John, Mary Magdalen, is short-handedly called “the Resurrection of Christ.”  How it happened, or even what happened, or when in measured time, no one knows. What we believe and know is grounded firmly on the apostolic witness of those who experienced Christ alive and as fully one with God after he had been tortured to death.  “Christ is truly arisen, and has appeared to Simon” (Lk 24)  That is what makes an apostle:  one who experienced the Risen Christ in his psyche (consciousness) and who was then sent out to proclaim the Risen One from his or her own experience.  And that is why we call the Church “apostolic.”  Our faith in Christ alive and as fully one with God is grounded firmly and until death on the experience of the Resurrected which the apostles were privileged to have.  “As of one untimely born, Christ appeared also to me,” the Apostle Paul insists to the wavering Christians in Corinth (I Cor 15). 

“Because I live, you also live,” declares Jesus in St. John’s Gospel.  The living Christ inbreathes his life, power, divinity into the heart, mind, soul of the believer.  To have faith in Christ is to open oneself up to the presence of the same God, the unknown One whom Jesus called “the Father,” and to carry that presence into the world through one’s prayer, thoughts, actions, self-giving love unto death.  And then one is sure of this:  “Death is swallowed up in life.” 

Blessed Easter to each and to all, for “Now is Christ Risen from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  Christ is the revelation of the unknown God.  

Holy Week: The Best The Church Has To Offer

We have been proud of our parishioners at St. Mark’s, St. Mary’s, and Holy Trinity for their high rate and quality of attendance at our Holy Week liturgies in the past six years.  Fortunately, most of our people seem to understand that Holy Week, if properly and prayerfully celebrated, is the best that the Catholic Church has to offer the faithful.  Whereas every Mass centers on the death and Resurrection of Christ, and the presence of God in the faithful by the Holy Spirit, it is during the liturgies of Holy Week that the mystery of Christ is carefully and quite fully presented, from the reading of the entire Passion narrative on Passion (Palm) Sunday, through the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the remembering of the death of Jesus for all of us on Good Friday, and then the announcement of the Resurrection of Christ at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night.  Easter Masses conclude the celebration, and continue for weeks.  For the faithful who attend, they hear the entire Passion narrative from Matthew, Mark, or Luke, and then on Good Friday, the Passion according to St. John.  We listen, we think about what we are hearing, and we give thanks to God for what He has done for us in union with Christ Jesus.  That is the core of Holy Week. 

On Passion / Palm Sunday we attentively listen to the Passion of Christ, this year, according to St. Mark.  The drama of God acting for us in Christ, and humanity suffering in and with Jesus, is told by the Jewish Christian, Mark. The conniving, power-loving rulers of this world have their day, and deliver Jesus over to have the flesh torn off his body (scourging), and then spikes driven through his wrists and feet, until he bleeds to death or suffocates. We see the invisible God in the humanity of Jesus must witness how our Lord is tortured, and how much he bears willingly for each of us and for all. The story is agonizing for those who love Christ—and it is liberating for the faithful. Jesus offers himself on behalf of all—not just “for many”—even for his torturers, and for the Romans and religious leaders who conspired to have him brutally murdered.  For you.  For us. 

Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, allows us to hear and to see acted out Christ’s own interpretation of his suffering and death.  By the Eucharistic meal and by the Lord washing his disciples’ feet, we see God giving himself to us in Christ. We see what true faithfulness looks like:  not ideologically loaded teaching, not digressions on social problems, but direct speech to your heart: “This is my body, broken for you.” Here Christ interprets for us what he achieves on the cross: he brings us into the covenant God made with the Chosen People through Moses, now deepened and broadened as every human being is included in Christ’s will to give his life for all. On Good Friday no Mass is celebrated in honor of the death of Jesus. Instead, we listen to the reading of St. John’s Passion, we show our gratitude for Christ as we venerate the cross, and we receive the sign and instrument of Christ’s all-inclusive, eternal covenant through holy communion. 

The Easter Vigil is truly the climax of the Church year, the single most significant celebration in the Catholic Church.  We begin in darkness outside, reminding us of the spiritual darkness in the human soul without the light of Christ.  The Easter candle is lit, Jesus is proclaimed as “Christ our Light,” and the faithful process into the church to proclaim the Resurrection of Christ from the dead.  For us.  For all.  Adult converts are received into the Church on this night.  We renew our vows to be faithful to Christ unto death, and receive His promise for each of us to share eternally in His love and life.  What more, or what better, could be offered to us in life?  “Apart from You I want nothing at all; God is my hope and my joy.” 

The Easter celebration continues on Sunday, then through the entire Easter season, and indeed, on every Sunday of the year.  “Christ is Risen from the dead. Alleluia, Alleluia.” That means, “Praise the LORD!”  “O give thanks to the LORD for He is good; for his mercy endures forever.” For you.  For me.  For all.

Our common reading assignment for this Holy Week will be to read slowly, in quiet at home, the Passion narrative in the Gospel of St. John, chapters 18:1-20:31, which includes a brief account of resurrection experiences.  For as we hear at the Easter Vigil, “if Christ had not been raised, what good would life be?” 

Drawn To The Light?

 “For God so loved the world that He gave…”  How often are these words quoted?  Even at football games, banners with “John 3:14” appear in the stadium.  Popular preachers often fall back on these familiar words to communicate to the faithful when they do not know what else to say.  What is often used and over-used is rarely heard any more.  Minds are numbed by mindless repetition, thinking stops, and one may just wallow in the warmth of the familiar—perhaps like a sow in mud.  Others become bored or even antagonistic at the staleness of preachers who fall back on clichés and over-worked quotations—as if they no longer can think for themselves, but parrot supposedly comforting words.  Parrots become tedious in their repetitions, eh?

Long have we noticed that virtually never does anyone quoting John 3:14 continue with the rest of the passage, even though what follows develops what has been said, and grounds the words in real human experience.  Consider how St. John continues:  “… Whoever does not believe in Christ has already been condemned.”  Now we are getting closer to the evangelist’s intention, and now the words are sounding more true to us—who live in a “culture of death” that considers human life so cheap and expendable that we load ourselves up on drugs, and even kill pre-born infants for the sake of “convenience,” or to assert “a right to choose” to kill, if one so wishes.  What gods we make ourselves.

That St. John had in mind spiritual and moral corruption such as we experience daily, consider his words that follow immediately after “God so loved the world….”  “Now is the Judgment:  the Light came into the world, but human beings preferred darkness to light, because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come into the light, so that his deeds might not be exposed.”  Those who quote John 3:16 so glibly seem blind to these words, which are among the most acute analyses of good and evil we find in the entire New Testament.  Those who do evil hate the light, they resist the truth of God, they prefer their evil deeds to the hard work of personal conversion and actually doing good.  How many Americans want to be told that we have dabbled in evil by ignoring God, by removing the awareness of God from schools, by allowing and even promoting the killing of infants in the womb, by destroying our minds and bodies by drug and alcohol abuse, by distorting minds by hardened and poisonous ideologies?  Resistance to the light of God and God’s truth is far more common in our midst, in our communities, in our society than virtually anyone admits.  In the words of Jesus to his own people:  “How often I would have gathered you up, as a mother hen gathers her chicks, and yet you refused.” 

Wallowing in our wicked ways, or are we drawn to the light? The evangelist John continues: “Whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be clearly seen as done in God.”  If and when we Americans really learn to do good, and reject our evil ways, then we will “come to the light” of God, and then and only then can we be “a shining city on the hill.”  There is nothing shining about evil, self-deception, or self-destruction.  Goodness and mercy; deeds of justice; protecting human life from the moment of conception to natural death; nourishing our youth with truth, rather than poisoning their minds with mindless pop culture and rigid ideological non-thinking—these are deeds that will shine forth, and show that we are indeed drawn to the Light of God, and coming clean in His eternal presence, faithfully doing His will, and not our own.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son….”  And now you know the rest of the story.

Lent: Time For Renewal Through Spiritual Reading

Lent begins. The Church observes Lent as a time for spiritual renewal.  What does that mean?  Spiritual renewal means that you and I recommit ourselves to seeking God, to obeying God, to doing His will lovingly in our service of one another.  The traditional three foremost means for spiritual renewal during Lent are prayer, fasting, and giving of charity to the needy.  On fasting you either know and understand by now, or choose not to take it seriously.  Almsgiving or charity to neighbor includes not only financial contributions, but looking for ways to help the needy, and offering acts of kindness to all—especially towards those whom we naturally may not like.  They are our brothers and sisters, too.

On prayer, practices include attentively sharing in the Eucharist (Mass); listening to God and speaking heart to heart; praying various devotions (such as the rosary or the stations of the cross); sitting still in the presence of God; and spiritual reading.  This Lent, I have chosen to emphasize the importance of spiritual reading (lectio divina, divine reading) in the everyday lives of the faithful.  Why do spiritual reading?  To nourish your mind; to increase your appreciation for the truth, goodness, and beauty of God; to move you to love God more as the Beginning and End of all things; to increase your faith in God as your Lord and Savior; and to help you to know more truly and to walk more faithfully on the path of life. 

What should you read this Lent to nourish you in God?  First, I am asking all parishioners to read selected chapters from the book of Exodus, the work that for many centuries has been the foremost book for spiritual reading in the Church during Lent.  To these I add some chapters from Deuteronomy.  And with each week I add one or several short Psalms for your prayerful reading.  Remember that the Psalms are the foremost prayerbook of Israel, and of the Church.  Be attentive!  Here are your assigned readings for the 6 weeks of Lent:

            Week 1:  Exodus chapters 1-5; Psalm 90

            Week 2:  Exodus chapters 6-13; Psalm 1

            Week 3:  Exodus chapters 14-20; Psalms 113-115

            Week 4:  Exodus chapters 21-24; and Exodus 32-34; Psalm 136.

            Week 5:  Deuteronomy chapters 4-7; Psalm 105

            Week 6:  Deuteronomy chapters 8-11; Psalm 106

            In addition, for those attending our adult faith class that meets Sundays at Holy Trinity, Centerville, immediately after Mass (and includes a pot-luck meal), I request that each of us choose an additional book to read closely during Lent.  Some recommendations would include:  the Confessions of St.Augustine; the Proslogion of St. Anselm; Introduction to the DevoutLife by St. Francis de Sales; the Story of a Soul by St. Thérèse of Lisieux (St. Theresa, the “Little Flower”).  Each of these 4 books is a masterpiece of the human spirit, each written by a faithful, loving, gifted Catholic saint.  Or, you may find another book which interests you and turns your thoughts and attention towards God.  That is the point of spiritual reading:  to immerse oneself more fully in the Presence of the living God.

                       May this Lent be a season of grace for you.  Make good the gift.

On Vocation: A Teacher, a Benedictine Monk, and a Catholic Priest

In writing these brief meditation-memos, I have usually avoided including much personal material, although I use some of my life-experiences to illustrate more general points in homilies.  On this occasion I reverse the process:  discussion of my vocations may be too difficult for some to hear in homilies, so I sketch it out here, rather than in a homily.  My purpose is to explain to parishioners something few apparently understand, because of lack of experience with Benedictines monks (men and women):  the nature of the monastic vocation is strongly different from the call to be a priest in the Church.  If this memo fails to clarify my vocational situation for you, let me know and I shall write a longer version and post it on our website. 

We all have multiple vocations from God, not just one.  To focus on a single vocation is naive and misleading.  Our foremost and common vocation is to become what we have been created to be:  happy, virtuous, fulfilled, engaged human beings, who find our ultimate completion in God alone.  Furthermore, some have a calling as men, some as women.  Most human beings find considerable personal fulfillment in being married and raising loving children.  Furthermore, our natural abilities and interests point to having other vocations.  In my case, I have long been interested in learning and in teaching; in music, photography, literature; in philosophy and in spiritual life.  We also share the vocation to be men and women in Christ Jesus, and to live out this calling as faithful Catholics. 

I have two additional vocations which have been highly significant in my life:  I have been called by Christ and by a Benedictine community to live as a monk until death; and my abbot chose me to serve, at least at times, as a priest for the community, and in the larger church.  Repeatedly I have learned that even life-time Catholics do not understand the monastic vocation; many consider it invalid, escapist, or inhuman.  The essence of the Benedictine monastic calling is to seek God in community.  We take three vows:  obedience to the Rule of St. Benedict and to our abbot; stability of life as a monk until death; and a life of ongoing conversion to Christ.  To seek God means that one truly trusts and acts as though “my happiness is in You alone.”  Monks forsake marriage, family life, property.  The vocation of priests is to serve parish families, helping to lead people to God.  Priests keep their earthly families, are attached to place, may inherit and own property.  In brief, whereas monks are called to seek God in prayer and study, Catholic priests are called to active ministry.  They are very different and even conflicting vocations.  Every monk who is a priest knows well the conflict, and seeks to find the right balance in his life.

Let me be practical.  I entered St. Anselm’s Abbey in 1982 to seek God.  With chaplains needed for the Gulf War, I entered the Navy in 1991, and since then, have been a fully-engaged parish priest.  My life as a Benedictine monk was not negated, but was at least partially suspended.  Active ministry has left much less time for study and contemplation. As I approach retirement from active ministry, my monastic vocation returns to the fore.  My abbot has chosen to restore my status as an active member of our monastery.  As such, I am obligated to spend generous hours in prayer, study, and meditation every day, as well as do some manual work.  Most of the monks of our monastery share in some pastoral ministry, including writing, teaching, preaching, care of the sick, and so on.

When I retire on 1 July, I will no longer be a parish priest, nor am I a diocesan priest. I return to full-time status as a Benedictine monk.  I may on occasion preach in public, or offer a Mass, but my main form of teaching and preaching will take the form of writing.  To write, I must meditate and study.  To these ends, I will considerably reduce my social life, as Benedictine monks live a life of relative seclusion from the world, from business, from socializing.  I am not leaving the planet, but please understand if I decline opportunities to socialize or to minister in public.  Please understand:  I am not a diocesan priest, but a man who vowed himself to seek God in prayer, study, and contemplation.  This vocation requires large amounts of time in solitude.  With the help of God, I will live out my Benedictine vocation until death.

"The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand"

From St. Mark’s Gospel appointed to be read this Sunday, we hear the following summary statement:  “After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God.  `This is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel.’” 

This statement by the evangelist includes a most simple, clear, complete presentation of the basic gospel of Christ.  Note at the outset that St. Mark has Jesus’ ministry begin only after John the Baptizer was arrested.  It was the kairos, the critical and opportune time for Jesus to act.  He acts by preaching the gospel.  St. Mark assures us that Jesus begin his ministry in his home territory of Galilee, where he would no doubt have relatives and friends, and where he “knows the territory.”   Also note that the phrase “proclaiming the gospel of God” is not usual; it occurs here and once in the wirings of the Apostle Paul (Romans 15:16), but otherwise, is not found in the New Testament.  The phrase usually found is “the gospel of Christ,” meaning not what Jesus taught, but rather the story of what God has done for all of humankind in Jesus Christ, and especially through the Incarnation, death, and Resurrection of Christ.  “The Gospel of God” brings out the origin of this good news for humankind:  it comes from the unknown God, and has as its purpose the plan to bring all of humankind into a full and eternal union with God.  Ultimately, the gospel is about God, although as we can see in the New Testament, no writer presumes to speak directly on who or what God is.  Symbolic language is employed, and actions, to display the character of the God of the gospel.  As an example of symbolic language, call to mind the Parable of the Prodigal Son, in which the evangelist Luke portrays God as the all-loving, merciful Father, who never gives up on either of his sons.  As an example of symbolic action displaying the character of God, the outstanding case by far is the suffering and death of Jesus out of love for his fellow human beings, to bring us to God.  In his suffering and death, fulfilled in the Resurrection, Christ demonstrates at once the infinite and unfailing love of God with mercy and patience for us sinners, and the power of God’s Life over sin and even death itself.  In the gospel, God triumphs in human beings. 

Next we briefly consider the content of Jesus’ initial proclamation, worth our time, for it contains a complete gospel in miniature:  “This is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  If understood properly, that is sufficient to communicate the message of Jesus Christ.  Nothing elaborate, no gnostic speculation on God, no rigid “do’s and don’ts,” no ideological nonsense.  Just KISS:  “Keep it simple, stupid.”  What follows is not, I hope, simplistic, but simple clear, true, and to the point. 

 “This is the time of fulfillment” is literally, from the Greek, “The Kairos is fulfilled.”  Kairos means the critical time, the time for decision and action.  “NOW is the right Moment!”  The Apostle Paul refers to the same insight frequently:  “But NOW is Christ risen…”  By genuine, simple faith, one lives NOW, in the now, in this precise moment God gives you.  God is not in the past, or in some imagined future.  Rather, God is always now and only now—the eternal Now.  And the Now of God is the moment for human beings to be attentive, to make critical choices, to act on them.  In other terms:  the law and the prophets—including John the Baptizer—were all preparation.  NOW God is acting in the most decisive, complete way in and through Jesus.

 “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”  Indeed it is, for “Jesus is himself the Kingdom,” as the early church Father Origen wrote.  In the person, deeds, and words of Jesus Christ, God is fully present, acting, accomplishing His will for each and for all.  God’s Kingdom is not some earthly ordering of affairs, not a place to go, not a political or imagined “kingdom” at all—and not the institutional Church, either.  Rather, God’s Kingdom is God’s Presence in Christ, which is liberating, forgiving, healing, triumphing over evil, and above all, “reconciling the world to Himself.”  In the Kingdom, God and man are made one here and now, and forever.  God’s Kingdom is light, love, joy, and peace, for all who enter.  Want to see the Kingdom?  See, love, obey Christ.  And how does one enter the Kingdom?”

“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  “Repent” translates the Greek word metanoeite, which literally means, “change your mind, your heart,” or in plain language, “get a new attitude.”  But even better:  the Greek for “repent” translates the Hebrew word meaning “Turn around!”  It is that simple and direct.  “Stop going in the direction you are heading, turn back towards God, and enter the Kingdom of his Presence, for it is all good, true, beautiful.”  “Believe in the gospel” does not mean “believe the wirings of a book,” but far more simply and profoundly:  “Trust this message of life, true life!”  This means, in effect, “rejoice and be glad,” “enter into God with rejoicing,” and “cast all your cares on God, who cares for you” (I Peter).  This message is not negative at all, and should not be cheapened into such a message as “Give up candy and sex, and you will enter the kingdom of God,” or any such thing.  The words of Jesus are completely positive, uplifting, life-affirming.  Christ is utterly convinced that God is all good, and so entering into His Presence brings one happiness, fulfillment, peace, energy, and a joy that nothing in the world could destroy.  “Rejoice, dear friends, for God’s love and life are NOW.”