Thanking Our Shepherds

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On Sunday I attended Mass at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Park City. Fr. Bob Bussen presided. It was Good Shepherd Sunday and, as might be expected, his homily was about shepherds. To my surprise, however, he didn’t focus on Jesus or priests, but rather the laity who volunteer at the parish: the greeters, the person who prepares the bulletin, and others whose efforts often go unnoticed.

The daily life of most shepherds is probably quite boring, filled with everyday tasks such as moving the sheep to a new pasture, helping ewes give birth and caring for newborn lambs, Fr. Bussen said.

I suspect that these days it’s not often that shepherds have to face down wolves that come to scatter the sheep, and there’s only one recorded instance in history where they were visited by angels.

I suppose you could also bring up the three shepherd children who were visited by Our Lady at Fatima, but the argument still holds – such events are so rare that they are considered miracles when they occur.

While the lives of most shepherds are filled with mundane chores, that doesn’t mean we “sheep” could get by without them. Fr. Bussen mentioned some “shepherds” in his personal life: the woman who helps him keep his calendar, the man who fixes things around his house. He then invited those in the congregation to think about the shepherds in their own lives.

A similar theme was expressed by Fr. Martin Diaz, rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, in the note included in the weekly email. He pointed out that Bishop Oscar A. Solis is the diocese’s shepherd, but “Just like Jesus, Bishop Solis cannot be everywhere all the time. Like Jesus, Bishop Solis needs helpers.”

People usually think of priests, deacons and religious sisters as the bishop’s helpers, but like the bishop they can’t be everywhere all the time, Fr. Diaz said. However, the laity are everywhere all the time, he said. “Jesus chose the laity to be his presence in the world. For most Catholics their vocation is to be a layperson – not a priest, a deacon or a religious sister. The laity bring Jesus to the home, the workplace, the neighborhood, the mountains, the ski slope, the beach and everything in between,” he added.

After hearing Fr. Bussen’s homily, I did as he suggested and considered the shepherds in my life, of which there are many. I do try to express my gratitude on a regular basis, but his words were a reminder that I forget too often, and that there are other times when I simply take people for granted.   

Another thought I considered, reinforced by Fr. Diaz’s message, was how I act as a shepherd to others. Am I like the hired man in the Gospel reading, who runs away when the wolf comes? Do I work only for pay or recognition? Do I have concern for those in my care?

Fr. Diaz closed his message by suggesting that we offer support to anyone we know who may be hearing a call to the religious life, the diaconate or the priesthood. “You could well be the person God has chosen to be the one who takes a person thinking about it to acting upon it,” he wrote. I would add that each of us might want to consider offering encouragement to anyone who is in the role of a shepherd: an older child who helps a younger sibling with homework, any parent, spouses who are dealing with a partner who has medical issues, adult children caring for aging parents, anyone working in health care, first responders – the shepherds in our society includes almost everyone, and words of support or thanks can brighten their path as they accompany their charges.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.