aus dem dunkel treten (step out of the darkness), Karin Haslinger, Galerie Kunsthaus Frenzel, Heroldstatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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When [Jesus] disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd…    Mark 6:34.

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I don’t know about you, but if invited to a peaceful distant place for a time of quiet reflection alone with my friends after overwhelming stress and response to the throngs of people eager to hear the Lord, to be unexpectedly greeted by a another vast crowd of people waiting for us, my first thoughts, may I be forgiven, would not have been even close to those of the Master’s, quoted above. Yet there they are, his heart was “moved with pity” for them. His reaction, of course, was absolutely right on target; mine would not have been. He was thinking of them; they had come a considerable distance on foot, must have been very tired, yet still eager simply to hear this man speak. My reaction would probably have been the opposite. And there’s the difference between me and the ideal. I have a long way to go! But I really do expect that Jesus’ reaction to me would be the same, moved with pity. Seeing in me all that could be but is not. Yet. He was being the true shepherd whose vocation was to tend to the flock, whenever, wherever necessary. Contrast that with today’s first reading where the opposite does, in fact, prevail. Sheep scattered, not cared for, misled. The opposite of what God expects of us. And I say “us” deliberately, for each of us, each in our unique way, is called to be a  shepherd, caring, guiding by example, demonstrating what it means to be Christian.

Jumping in at the deep end, may I remind you of a movie, released in 2015, called “Spotlight“? It tells the horrific true story of pedophile priests in Boston. The abuse had been going on for a long time, challenged only by ineffective “rehabilitation” programs trusted by bishops who almost always returned the abusive priests to other parishes, where the dismal cycle began again. If ever there was a case of shepherds failing in their duty, this must be it. For the first time in my life, I felt ashamed to be a priest at the height of these horrifying revelations; it was the total opposite of what a man of God should be. It was evil, brutal, bullying, shameful – and dozens of other awful descriptions of what these men had done. Today’s first Scripture passage could have been written with them in mind! The overwhelming majority of priests are not guilty of such behavior, but all of us suffered nevertheless. It was a catastrophic failure of all checks and balances within the church, and a total betrayal of trust. I remember thinking at the time of a story the great actor Alec Guinness, who was born into a Jewish background, described the beginning of his conversion to the Catholic Church. He was making a film about Father Brown, a drab and delightful Catholic priest invented by G. K. Chesterton. This humble, crime-solving cleric was one of Guinness’s most memorable characterizations. The film (“Father Brown” 1954) was partly shot in a remote French village. One evening Guinness, still in costume, was on his way back to his lodgings. A little boy, mistaking him for the real thing, grabbed his hand and trustingly accompanied the “priest.” That incident affected Guinness. “Continuing my walk,” he said, “I reflected that a Church that could inspire such confidence in a child, making priests, even when unknown, so easily approachable, could not be as scheming or as creepy as so often made out. I began to shake off my long-taught, long-absorbed prejudices.”

That fundamental trust, built up over centuries of great service, has been trashed, destroyed. We can only hope that those of us who now wander through these ruins will again begin to restore true shepherding, as demanded in today’s gospel, slowly rebuilding that which has been destroyed. They – we – I – have a long way to go. Additionally, bearing in mind we all are called to be shepherds, any time we have failed to respond as Jesus would, we have recourse to remedies. Reconciliation, the sacrament, is well named, enabling us to be linked once again to God, to God’s strength in the Eucharist, making amends when we must, eating crow if necessary, anything to get things right with our neighbor and God and ultimately, ourselves. 

Tough readings today, with heavy challenges and demands, all necessary. But there is always hope in a better world, a world where God forgives and helps, and a world where we can begin again, carefully and healthily, to laugh. We have an eternal God involved with us, guiding our footsteps, should we allow it, leading us to a much better world, ultimately to be shared with all the goodness there is. Where God points, then, we proceed.

“Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”

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THANK YOU.

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