May 8, 2022
4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
Acts 13: 14, 43-52 / Psalm 100: 1-3, 5 / Revelation 7: 9, 14-17 / John 10: 27 – 30 ////
JESUS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD:
PORTRAIT OF A GOOD POLITICIAN
Word: This Sunday is traditionally known as the Good Shepherd Sunday. It is also proclaimed as World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It is pity that “vocation” in this context is often limited to only mean the vocation to the priesthood and religious life. This leads “to an impoverished understanding of one of the loveliest gospels of the whole year”, according to author, Fr. Flor McCarthy, SDB. It is suggested that we must extend its meaning to include the vocation of all Christians to be loving and caring people. Every Christian is called to love.
“This Sunday, then, should be the feast of all those who care for others”, Fr. McCarthy writes. “It should be a day when we encourage and support all those who in their lives and dealings with other people are trying to imitate the Good Shepherd, and when we try to prod the consciences of the hirelings.” Among these are all those who are seeking elected public offices – our brothers and sisters in partisan politics. The victorious among them shall be our political shepherds in the various levels of public governance into the next three to six years.
In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks of two kinds of shepherds: first, those who know their sheep and care for them; and second, those who do not know them and do not care for them. The first he calls “good”; the second he refers as “hirelings”. Of himself, Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
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Realities: What better description of Christianity could there be than this one from a Sikh of India?
There was once a man who owned several hundred sheep. His servants used to take these sheep out for feeding, and each evening as they brought them back, they would find two or three sheep missing. The owner asked the servants to go and look for them, but they were afraid of wild beasts and would not dare to go.
The owner loved those sheep and wanted to save them. So he said to himself: “If I myself go out in search of those sheep, they will not recognize me; they have never seen me before. They would recognize my servants, but the servants won’t go. So the only thing I can do is become one of them.”
So he got inside a sheepskin and went out. Thinking he was a sheep like themselves, they readily followed him. He brought them back and sat with them and fed them. When he had saved all the sheep and brought them home, then he took off his sheepskin.
He was not sheep, but man. He became a sheep in order to save those lost sheep. So God is not man. He became man in order to save men. (Sadhu Sundar Singh, WOULDN’T THIS BE CHRIST!)
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Realities: Few days to go and the whole Filipino nation shall go to the polls. As the campaign period goes in progress, the intensity of the political campaign is put into high gear. Alliances and tactics have been set. Political propaganda of various sizes are posted everywhere. Caucuses and rallies are organized. Speeches are delivered. Promises are made.
Politicians are on the go. All of them are expecting themselves to win. All of them are offering themselves to the haring lungsod isip maayong magbalantay sa pangagamhanan o katawhan kon hatagan og kahigayonan.
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Direction: O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much think of my selfish motives when I vote. Instill in me a deep sense of communal solidarity in my critical choice of candidates. That would rise above the traditional politics of PAY-OFF, PERSONALITY and PATRONAGE. Enlighten me to elect worthy men and women that embody the true spirit of public service in their moral consciousness. Amen.