We're all called to be shepherds in one way or another

We’re all called to be shepherds in one way or another

As Ezekiel was sent to speak to the shepherds of Israel for not feeding the sheep of his flock, so each of us might have to answer why we did not do the same.    Of course the disapproval God had for his shepherds fell very heavily on the priests who were given authority over their flocks and almost all of them collectively lived off of the sheep who were starving for attention and leadership to live their lives as all sheep must endure.  

How easy it can become for us to say “I am not the chief shepherd in my church, so I cannot be criticized for an absence to the rest of us.”  Not so fast says the Lord.  If we never heard about our ministry to reach out to our neighbors then ignoring their plight would be no sin.  However, we are baptized and have received the Sacraments of the Church must have some indication that there is more to a faith we should have acquired that somehow says, “You are now a brother or sister to the Lord Jesus and must acknowledge that you have a mandate to find and lift a brother or sister out of the doldrums of anxiety and depression.”

The words given to Ezekiel as a warning from God were not to be taken lightly.  “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves!  Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?  You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured.  You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured.  You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally.  So they were scattered, and became food for all the wild beasts.  My sheep were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; my sheep were scattered over the whole earth, with no one to look after them or to search for them.”  (Ez 34: 2a - 6).  This taken from the Office of Readings for Monday of the 25th week in Ordinary Time.

What has become synonymous is the fact that how many centuries later these same words from the Lord are pertinent for today.  We who sit in the pews have some responsibility to each other and cannot say as above, “I am not the shepherd so don’t accuse me of the same reluctance.”  

“What did you do for your neighbor who was in dire need and refused to help them?” The very question that Christ will ask all of us at our judgment.  None of us may assume that we are free by ignoring a helpless human brother or sister as in the Good Shepherd story from Luke’s Gospel.  Who is my neighbor?  Jesus answered the lawyer and said go and do the same.   (Lk 10: 29 - 37).  

We can never ignore the problems of the weak among us or close our eyes thanking God we are not in the same condition.  When the Lord sent shepherds to help the poor perhaps you or I are among those with the title Shepherd in a way we might not recognize; but we are sent as well to the sheep of Christ.

Ralph B. Hathaway