Now About Your Pastor….

I hope everyone who reads this blog has as good a pastor as we have at Our Lady’s Maronite Catholic Church in Austin, TX. Msgr. Don Sawyer is as good an example of a pastor as I’ve seen in my 57 years of life.

But the purpose of my blog today is not to heap praise on my pastor but to ask the readers – what have you done for your pastor lately? I think too often we see our pastors as men to go to with problems, asking them for guidance and encouragement. We also bring them problems. This can be things as large as a church budget or a parish-wide function, or as small as a complaint about something or someone.

When was the last time you stopped and told your pastor how much you appreciate him and his sacrifices? That you got something out of his sermon and that it made you think more deeply about God and your faith? When was the last time you stopped him and thanked him for his vocation?

A pastor is a shepherd. When a sheep starts to graze away from the pack, the shepherd’s job is to go after that sheep and gently guide it back. So if your pastor, in fulfilling his role as a shepherd, corrects you for something….do you get angry? Or do you consider his words and think about them?

If your pastor makes a mistake or shows a little temper about something, do you offer to help him, or do you withdraw from him and leave him be until he “cools down”? Do you whisper about him and complain about something he did or did not do to friends? To non-Catholics?

Pastors are human beings. They make mistakes. They sin. But they also by their commitment place others ahead of themselves. They deserve our support, our respect…and in this culture, God forbid that someone might say this…our obedience.

Pray for your pastor.