Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday and when I think about what that means along with this reading I think about the time I spent in Guatemala. I was down there learning Spanish, back early in my seminary formation, and there was this lake that I got to go to a couple times. It’s a beautiful lake.  It’s like a mile deep and it’s surrounded by 3 volcanoes and it’s called Lake Atitlan. 

But there’s a church there, a little parish called Santiago Atitlan, that had a pastor from Oklahoma, Fr. Stanley Rother. He was there in the ‘70s and early ‘80s.  He learned how to speak their language and he was very well loved by the people.

Then in January 1981, the political climate started to get really bad down there and it was discovered that Fr. Stanley Rother’s name was on a short list of people to be killed so he was called home by his diocese. 

They wanted to protect him of course, but he was torn because he wanted to protect his flock. He was obedient and came home to Oklahoma. 

While he was home he was like, “this is just not right. I feel like I’ve abandoned my sheep, my people of my flock.” So after a few months he decided that he had to go back to the people of Guatemala and be with them and lead them. A good shepherd can’t run away from danger.

So he goes back in time for Easter and sure enough, he’s not there more than a few months before he gets killed, at the end of July.  He knew what he was going back to, but he felt the need to go back and be there for his people, and he is now a Saint for being Martyred, one of ten priests murdered in Guatemala that year.

That’s just such a powerful witness to me, and it should be for all of us. When we love our community, and when we are called to lead people in any way, then we become shepherds ourselves, called to shepherd in those ways that we need to, all out of love for Jesus Christ. 

Our Gospel talked about how a hired man who is not a shepherd will run at the first sign of trouble, when the wolf comes. Jesus undoubtedly felt like shepherds in charge at that time, the Pharisees, were like hired men who really didn’t care about the people they were supposed to be leading, they just cared about their own lives and saving themselves.

But Jesus is different, He is the Good Shepherd and He became man to save us and give us a model of what it means to be a true shepherd, to truly love the flock entrusted to them.

Christ loved us so much that he laid down his life for us. He was cruelly tortured, crucified, and died for us. And then he rose from the dead for us! All for the forgiveness of our sins. This is why we make the sacrifices that we make as priests because we know the love of Jesus Christ and we want to make it known to all people, but especially to our own flocks, our own families. 

Parents should be able to relate to this, I mean this is why you parents make the sacrifices you make for your kids! You know God’s unconditional love for you and want to make it known to them. So you keep leading them. You can’t run away from them, from your family. 

When we love somebody, when we love our people, we can’t run away. We have to stay there. We have to be there to do the difficult things. 

That’s what Jesus did for us. He was the Good Shepherd in that way. He loved us so much that He was there for us, in His concern for us and our salvation, protecting us from the wolf, the evil one, He did the difficult thing in love for us.  His paschal sacrifice was to save us and protect us because He loves us so much.

And Jesus as our Good Shepherd doesn’t just save us and protect us, He also feeds us. He nourishes us with His word, through His teaching He reveals truth to us.  

And then He nourishes us with the Bread of Life, His own body and blood. He gives us food for the journey to heal us and strengthen us so we can become more like Him, to be better Shepherds of our flocks, whatever size or type of flocks that is, from our family, to school classrooms, to office groups, to whole congregations, the Good Shepherd is our model of love which is willing to sacrifice our lives for the good of the flock.

So today I just encourage you to be thankful for the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and what He’s done for us, how He laid down His life for love of us and the forgiveness of our sins. 

But also I encourage you to be thankful for the other shepherds in your life, those pastors that have been influential, those parent figures that have been there for us, those teachers and bosses and all sorts of different people who have shown their love for us and continue to do so out of their great love for Jesus Christ. 

Give thanks for their protection and nourishment, and pray for the grace to be good shepherds yourselves to the flocks you are called to lead.