16TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

OUR TURN TO BE SHEPHERDS

I was surprised at what I observed in a college dorm on a Sunday morning some years ago.  The students lazily woke up to take their breakfast but after that, slowly they prepared themselves for church. Most of the students went to the ecumenical worship in a rented mall area organized by the Campus Crusade for Christ. There were preaching, singing, band music, testimony and personal prayer. Each one brought his or her own Bible. Even the Catholic students worshipped there with their classmates and friends.

Sheep without a shepherd, sheep hungry for direction.  This is what Jesus saw when he looked at the multitude of people (Mk 6: 30-34). Today this is very obvious in our lives. People hunger and thirst for direction, for guidance, for inspiration. And they are willing to go where they see that these are being offered to them.

What is our church doing to bring people to the Lord? Are we just waiting for them to come? Are we boring them to death with dry celebrations and stale preaching? Are we raining down condemnations from the pulpit against the lifestyle of the people? This is not what Jesus the good sheperd did. This is not what we are called to do. No wonder we are losing our faithful to other groups of Christians who want to care for them.

The gospel says that Jesus has compassion – not condemnation – for the people. And that he stayed with – not waited for - them to teach them at length. His love for them drove him to be present to his flock.

Yes we have very few priests, and they are tired due to overwork. Some may be simply tired for posting selfies on FB (hehe)!  That is why we need to pray for more good and holy priests, sisters, missionaries and lay leaders.

But we must also know that though we, the majority of Catholics are simple Christians, we are the shepherds of our families and friends. Let us challenge ourselves to be like Jesus in leading to the right path the people around us – by our silent witness of faith, by our encouraging words, by our acts of love, by our invitation to worship the Lord at Mass and outside of it. May the Lord use us to be shepherds of others not through words but through actions. Amen.