When you're weary, feeling small; when tears are in your eyes I will dry them all. I'm on your side when times get rough and friends just can't be found. Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down!! These are lyrics from one of the many great hits of Simon & Garfunkel. No matter what, no matter how tough, there is someone who will, like that bridge, lay me down. These lyrics are reassuring us that no matter how bad or desperate the situation may be, there is someone who lays down their life for us, to give us love, to give us encouragement, to give us hope.
On this beautiful Sunday, we have two such examples, the Good Shepherd and Mom!
For me, as a young boy growing up poor and without a dad, I had my own good shepherd, a Catholic Priest, Father Hannigan my next-door neighbor who guided me in all I needed to know about the faith, kindness and all things baseball! He would be the man who instructed my fiancée in the faith, witness our marriage and baptize my first born. Growing up in a fatherless family I had three moms; my momma, my aunt and my grandma. Can I tell you about my grandma! She was larger than life in generosity and love, but she was tough, firm. She too raised me to love my faith and to overcome obstacles, even being a young man from a tough neighborhood without a dad. She could, in the same day, give the greatest hugs ever, and chase you around the yard with a switch. Darn, she was fast!
Both Fr. Hannigan and my grandma were examples of good shepherds, the kind that would lay down their lives for others!
As people of faith, we are called to follow the Good Shepherd, and like Him, if necessary, lay down our lives too!
Yes, today is Mother's Day. We wish a beautiful and joy filled Mother's Day to all moms. Mother's Day, this year, coincides with the 4th Sunday of Easter, known as both Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocation Sunday. The reading from John's Gospel, chapter 10, surely explains why we call this Good Shepherd Sunday as Jesus tells us He is the Good Shepherd and the gate of the sheepfold. Jesus tells us that He is the source of both our nourishment and our care. He guides his sheep in green pastures and he protects them at night, bringing the sheep to a corral or side of a mountain for protection. When the Good Shepherd does this, the gate, is left open and the Good Shepherd himself lays down across the opening, keeping thieves and wolves out, and keeping the faithful sheep in. Like a bridge over troubled waters, the Good Shepherd lays himself down. By the way, many shepherds would often share such places of protection by night. When it was time to move on the next day, the voice of each shepherd would be followed only by his sheep. When the Good Shepherd called, His sheep followed. When the Good Shepherd calls us to follow Him today, now, do we hear and respond to His voice?
How beautiful that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and how beautiful that He leaves us a Mother, His Church and leaders, other shepherds, to help us follow Him. We remember on this day, particularly, our Holy Father Francis, our Archbishop Gregory and our Pastor, Fr. Rodney, along with Fr. Dean. By the way the word pastor is from the Latin meaning shepherd. Men like our Pope, Bishop, Pastor, Priests and Deacons, religious brothers just don't happen. And the same is true for young women called to live a consecrated religious life. No, they respond to a specific vocational call. Often times, that vocational call is identified by others, in many cases by moms. Now I could talk about all types of vocations, because not all of us are called to a religious or consecrated life. Married life is a vocation, being mom & dad is a vocation, and living a chaste single life is a vocation too. But on this Good Shepherd Sunday, this Vocation Sunday, I want to encourage all of us to pray and support efforts for more vocations to the Priesthood. Specifically today, I ask that we storm heaven for that young man or two, sitting in these pews, in these early years of the history of this great parish, who is called to be a Priest. Pray for Priestly vocations from Most Holy Trinity Parish. Pray our vocation prayer at home, and as a family, consider hosting our Vocations Chalice in your home for a week.
In the week ahead, can we commit to rereading this Gospel once, individually or as a family, for that next young man who will come forward and offer to lay down his life for Christ and for you and me. When I do so, I will be remembering my old friend and neighbor, my Good Shepherd, Father Hannigan.
And this week, as a family, can we offer a Hail Mary or even a Rosary, as a Spiritual Bouquet, for the gift of the vocation of Motherhood. When I do so, I will be remembering my grandma!
And as we pray for these wonderful examples of those who will lay down their lives for us, may we be for others that bridge over troubled waters!
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