We Are Sheep

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed ... that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Rom 12:2

“The Good Shepherd ought to be the model and ‘form’ of the bishop’s pastoral office.” (CCC 896)

This past Sunday was “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The fourth Sunday of Easter always has readings from chapter 10 of the gospel of John, the Good Shepherd discourse. This reminded me of many years ago when my brother-in-law, a non-denominational minister, was visiting with his family. The kids were all wearing shirts with a sheep logo, and they were singing a song titled “We Are Sheep.” At first I didn’t know what to make of it, but then I listened to the words and realized they were talking about all people and Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

And while Jesus is the Good Shepherd he also left us other shepherds to gather us, protect us, and lead us to him after his ascension. Like the people in Jesus’s time, “we are sheep without a shepherd” and so Jesus commissioned his apostles their successors to tend and feed the flock under the lead of St. Peter. “Jesus said to Simon Peter, ... Feed my lambs ... Tend my sheep ... Feed my sheep.” (Jn 21 15-17)

The “Good Shepherd” discourse of Jesus in the Gospel of St. John has a precursor in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ch. 34). In John Jesus says that, unlike the hireling, the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The Good Shepherd protects his sheep from the wolves, unlike the hireling who, not caring for the sheep, runs away. In Matthew, Jesus talks about leaving the 99 in the flock to go after the one sheep who went astray. The Good Shepherd cares for his flock and seeks to keep them together, tend them, and go after even one sheep that gets lost. In Ezekiel, God rebukes the leaders of Israel, the shepherds who were supposed to care for their flock but instead tended only to themselves, growing fat on what should have benefited all. They did not seek and bring back the strays, they did not tend the ill and injured, they did not strengthen them, “So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd ... but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep.” (Eze 34:8)

Many want to paint Jesus almost as a gentler, milder personage who is all forgiving, warm, protecting, and compassionate to a fault. While Jesus is all of those things, he is not averse to creating turmoil. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” He always admonished sinners to sin no more. He demands repentance for his forgiveness. “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 7:21) “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Mt 4:17)

Last fall The Wanderer newspaper addressed the question about why so many of the gospel readings at mass often left out key lessons, such as the angels throwing evildoers and those who cause others to sin into the fires of hell in the parable of the weeds and wheat. Part of the answer speculated, “Omitting these verses allows some preachers to talk only about ‘nice’ Jesus, who makes few demands on His followers, and not about ‘naughty’ Jesus who says that failure to keep His commandments will lead to fire and damnation.” (The Wanderer, August 24, 2023, “Catholic Replies.”) We even see this in many of the actions and statements of Pope Francis, such as his welcome to World Youth Day 2023 attendees, saying “we as the Church are the community of those who are called; we are not the community of the best, no, we are all sinners, but we are called as we are.” At the same time he omitted the rest of the message of Jesus, that of repentance and conversion.

Polling results help to point out the symptoms. Pew research notes that “Catholics are more likely to say abortion medication should be legal than illegal in their state (46% vs. 26%).” Pew also notes that more than half of Catholics say abortion should be legal in most or all cases. This is a grave indictment against the bishops in the United States. In general, they are obviously failing in their role as good shepherds. The Catechism (1755) talks about concrete acts that are always wrong to choose because of their evil nature. And in later paragraphs, beginning at 2270, the catechism specifically states, “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.” Yet, a significant number of Catholics, as shown above, are opposed to this teaching, including many in government. How many of these bishops are truly ready to lay down their lives for Jesus as He did for us? Or as is happening in other parts of the world, like Nicaragua and Nigeria?

These “cafeteria Catholics” do so with impunity, trying to twist the words of the Catechism to suit their warped positions, and the bishops, who are supposed to be the shepherds, take no action. And when one does, as Archbishop Cordileone did in the case of Nancy Pelosi, only a small number of other bishops supported him, and he was even criticized by the Vatican for not being “pastoral.” It’s no wonder that so many of today’s Catholics are accepting of this intrinsic evil – it doesn’t get the emphasis it deserves from the bishops and so they don’t see it as important.

And so many Catholics, led by the bishops, are barreling down the wide, easy path unaware of the dire consequences awaiting them if they, misguided though they be, continue down that road. “To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell’.” (CCC 1033) When was the last time you heard a homily about the Four Last Things? Many Catholics (and probably most other Christians) probably couldn’t even tell you what the four last things are: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.

In the September 2023 issue of Oremus Press, Raymond de Souza notes “It seems that modernist clergy – cardinals, bishops, priests – involved in the so-called Synod on Synodalityneed to learn the Catholic catechism again – if they ever did! as they keep on parroting the old Protestant slogans against the Catholic Church.” I have often asked this myself when I see them favoring or enabling moral issues that are clearly in violation of Catholic teaching without rebuke or pushback. We are told to be pastoral and welcoming of all as Jesus did. However, this omits the main message of Jesus, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) Admonishing the sinner is one of the spiritual works of mercy (CCC 2447). How can it be pastoral to allow the people of God, whom we are called to love, to persist in their sin?

Many of these prelates profess their faith or tout their position within the church, providing sermons and homilies advocating their version of the faith. Take for example the leaders of the Catholic Church in Germany and their advocacy for the “Synodal Path” which pushes for ideas and doctrines contrary to what the Church’s Magisterium has consistently taught for 2000 years. They are modern day pharisees. Jesus dealt with such pharisees in the gospel of John, “‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.’  Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and they said to him, ‘Are we also blind?’  Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘we see,’ your guilt remains.’”  John 9:39-41

The sheep are scattered. It’s time for the shepherds to answer the calling they supposedly had when they entered the priesthood. “... but the compassion of the Lord is for all living beings. He rebukes and trains and teaches them and turns them back as a shepherd his flock.” (Sirach 18:12) St. Paul’s instructions to Timothy on being a bishop includes the necessity to rebuke those who persist in sin as a lesson to all. (1 Tim 5:20) And St. Augustine is very firm on rebuke: Rebuke causes useful pain such “that you may seek the Physician [God]; for it is not profit unless it makes a man repent of his sin.” St. Augustine, On Rebuke and Grace