Transcription
The scripture readings of today are very encouraging for us who are called to be shepherds after the heart of Christ. It is not easy to be a shepherd, and much more difficult when we are called for the prophetic role as well. All shepherds are also prophets. And we all know very well that the call to be shepherds is not just directed to priests or religious, but to every one of us in our own capacity, in our own role, we are called to be shepherds of those entrusted to our care. As parents over your children, catechists over those studying under them. And in every area of life.
And so, it's important for us therefore to remember that we are called to be shepherds. But being a shepherd is not an easy task. As we read in today's first reading, the heart of a shepherd is always a wounded heart. It is a heart that has been rejected, betrayed, misunderstood, and taken for granted. That is what every shepherd, a true shepherd, goes through. So, if you are facing and experiencing, um, the difficulties and struggles of being a shepherd, you shouldn't be surprised at all, because that is part of our role.
That is why not everybody can be a good shepherd. We have many shepherds, as in today's first reading from Prophet Jeremiah, the shepherds of Israel, the kings, the prophets, I mean, false prophets, the priests, they were not feeding the sheep. They were feeding on the sheep. Instead of feeding the sheep, they were feeding on the sheep. So, a bad shepherd is one who feeds on himself, who makes use of people for his own interest, for his own glory, for his own success. That is not a shepherd, that is a bad shepherd. And in Israel, there are many of these shepherds. And these shepherds, of course, will cause division. The shepherds will break the hearts of the sheep under them. They will destroy them, and they make sure they were they are being used, and after use, disposed. That is how the world treats their sheep, their workers, their staff, those under them. Always making use of people for themselves.
And but if you are a true shepherd, then of course, when you want to do good, you will also be misunderstood. A good shepherd cannot seek to be popular. A good shepherd tries to do the right thing, the good thing for those under their care. But Jeremiah, as we said in today's first reading, he said, "Come back, destroy your children." It is the Lord who speaks. "Come back." The cry of a shepherd, the cry of a shepherd, a good shepherd wanting the children to return, wanting those under their care to be responsible, to grow in maturity in faith. But very often, these people turn against us. These people will not listen. These people will go their way. They want to follow their own desires, and they don't want to walk in the truth. They don't want to hear the truth as well. And so, that is why being shepherds is difficult. That's why those of us who are parents, you know, in great when you have to have your children are ingrates, that is the pain that King Lear spoke about, that that kind of ingrates from our children is like a serpent's tooth that bites you. That kind of pain that we go through. And that is true also for our priests, for our bishops as well. So, we are always speaking to people who don't hear, and they don't want to hear.
Yet, today we are told in the first reading that God, in spite of all this, God will continue to give shepherds after his own heart, and he shall feed you on knowledge and discretion. So, God intends to send good shepherds. And where are these good shepherds? All of you. All of you are called to be good shepherds. So, the the answer is not very far away. The answer is here. Each one of us, we are called to be that good shepherd. And to be that good shepherd is precisely what the Lord wants for his people. And that is why he will give shepherds after his own heart. And to be that good shepherd is to bring together the people of Israel, to bring back the love of God, and to help and to guide them.
So, being shepherds to bring them together is important. But, uh, how do we deal with struggles? Because when we face failures, when people do not listen to us, when we put so much of our time, our efforts, and all seems to be futile, to be in vain. Just like some of you parents, you try to guide your children, they're disobedient, they're playful, they just they are what we call they use the money for themselves, or sometimes especially send them for further studies. Now, that one you got no control. You give them a bank account, and they know they spend the money going for holidays, going for all kinds of all those unnecessary expenses, you know, join a club here, join this tour there, all these things. And the studies they don't do. And because this is not their money, it's not their hard-earned money, they can just spend and and use them for enjoyment. And these are the issues.
So, what do we do? So, I think before we get discouraged, the Lord today in the scripture reading tells us, if we must understand therefore, that when God brings us to change lives of people, uh, it is in measure, step by step. It is not immediately. God does not ask us to convert everyone. Yes, we are called to preach to everyone. We are called to minister to everyone. But who will be converted is not our task. That is why we are told again in today's first reading, the Lord told said, "I will take one from a town, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion." Not all, not all. Only some will respond. And some will, what we call, be the good ones who respond to your word. But regardless of whether they respond or not, our task is to continue to preach, continue to proclaim. That is what St. Paul tells Timothy, you know, to rebuke, to preach, to exhort in good times, in and out of season. Now, we just continue.
So, sometimes we are just like what we call the prophets, like John the Baptist preaching to the wind in the desert. Nobody is hearing. And so, sometimes we do view that way. We talk, talk, talk, talk. Nothing goes in. You tell your children, "One year in, one year out." "I'm talking to the walls." At least the walls can sound back. Got some sound back. You talk to the children, nothing comes out. So, that is the the reality. And so, this is where we are called to enter into the heart of Jesus. Because if you talk about rejection of being a prophet, Jesus was the one who was rejected many times over. Jesus, when he was preaching to the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the scribes, they were plotting to kill him. Jesus must have felt wounded. He wanted to save them. And he came for them, but instead of responding to his word, they were plotting to destroy him, to get rid of him, because he was not a welcomed teacher, welcomed rabbi.
And also, not just only the, what we call, the religious leaders rejected him, then the crowd that he preached, the superficial crowd, you know, very superficial crowd. Oh, they were following him here, there. They just want to be part of the crowd, happy to be identified with Jesus. But when Jesus got into trouble, they say, "Crucify him. Crucify him." When Jesus cannot supply what they want, so they follow Jesus for all the wrong reasons, you know, they want popularity. Maybe they hope Jesus will make some miracles, provide more bread and more fish or whatever it is, yeah, for them. So, it is all about themselves. It's not about Jesus. And it's a crowd that is very superficial. Same like us, I tell you, in our churches, honestly, you ask yourself, "How many people really go to church every Sunday? I want to love Jesus more. I want to be a good disciple of the Lord. I want to know him. I want to be a good witness of Jesus. I want to grow in holiness." How many? We ask all the good things, and we go there, and if Jesus don't give, don't give, I, yeah, in there, waste time, don't go. So, it's like that. So, people go to the church mostly not because they really love Jesus, not because they want, they go there actually just to get things. They hope that Jesus will, you know, give them whatever they ask for, and all for the wrong motives.
Even our church members who serve in the church sometimes, I'm not too sure that they serve Jesus or serve the community or serve their own interest. They go to the church, you know, they are involved in ministry, but sometimes I wonder, these are really ministries really at the service of the people, to help the church, to help the people, or is about themselves, you know, who they are, and might recognize, you know, and they they want to be somebody in the church, you know, they want to be the kingmakers. This one, oh, very close to the parish priest. He has control over the parish priest. Now he tells the parish priest what to do. That's why so and so forth. All these things, you know. So, you just ask, even how many people who are active in ministry are really serving with humility, genuine service? Not too sure. Not too sure. So, as I say, people follow Jesus for different motives. But that is the reality of life.
So, that is why today the the parable of the sower is very important. The parable of the sower tells us there are different levels. Try to understand. So, don't blame yourself. Don't blame that perhaps you're not doing the right thing. Sometimes parents always tell me, you know, "Oh, you know, I remember back mother, you know, my son don't go to church." But you're going, isn't it? Yeah, but my son don't go. Then it's not your fault. If you don't go and your son don't go out, maybe I complete, yeah. So, what can we do? I mean, you try to live your life, you try to do the right thing, but sometimes they don't respond. So, don't take it personally. Jesus never took it personally. It's because of the ground, the fertile soil.
So, some seeds are fallen precisely on the, what we call, on the thorns, on the, uh, on the thorns, and so on the edge of the path. And so, these people, they imagine they are not interested. They come to church, as I say, not to hear the word of God. They come to church, actually their mind is somewhere else, you know, their mind is somewhere else. They come to church to criticize the homily, criticize the priest, criticize the ministry members. "One this one, and one this one. I can do better. I can do better." Can you serve? No, I cannot serve, but I can do better. I mean, they can tell you all these kind of things. So, they make a lot of noise, but they are not interested. They are intellectually proud, you know, full of criticism, negative to everything people do. They think they know everything. So, these people on the edge of the path, it's not for them. They come to church, it's a maybe just a spare time, you know, it's not really. They don't absorb anything. They can't. They're not going to listen to the word of God. Yes, just there. And most of the time when you are preaching on the, everything, the Catholic news, or maybe they go through their mobile phone messages. They're not there.
Then there are some people, you know, the soil is a rocky war. You go for sea, I'll go for retreat. Wow, very, very high, but they don't follow up. They don't have a community. They just on their own. Of course, they will lose the favor. Well, they never grow up. They, they can't never continue your prayer life. They have no discipline. They are just all sometimes very active in church. Well, very high, you know, go here, go there, very high, huh? But it's all emotional. It's an emotional thing. It's not a real thing. There's no commitment. There is no continuity. It's not a serious thing. It's just feeling good. Feeling good. If I don't feel good, I resign. So, no, you have to feel good. Wow, this one, oh, this is what we call ministry. Wow, a lot of activities. I feel good. I join. Don't feel good, never mind. That's why when you don't feel good, you actually do something for the ministry. You should be building it up, not leave abandoned. That's the whole trouble of Catholics. When the group is not working well, they abandon the group. The whole, the whole group collapses because you only want to be identified with the popular ones, huh? The good ones. But precisely if the group is not doing well, then you all the more. If you really have the faith, you can do it.
And there are some, of course, fallen on what we call on thorns. A lot of interest, overthinking, and in the church also thinking of the worldly affairs, all these other things, how to become rich, etc. So, they are all thinking of these things. So, the thorns are distraction. The world will destroy them. And there are some who sit will fall will fall on good ground. Yeah, that's the point. So, which means to say, so, when we preach the gospel, it's not the parable of the sower. The seed will just flow. But at the end of the day, there is a guarantee. Jesus is saying, victory is certain. Some will take longer time. Some will have to leave the church, like your young people. So, so parents are very nervous. "Oh, my father, father, my son don't go to church." It's okay. They will come back. So, we be patient because at the end of the day, our task is just to sow the seed, trusting God, because at the end of the day, there is God's grace, there is human cooperation. So, at the end of the day, we just have to surrender to the Lord. Just do your best as a shepherd, as a prophet, and then leave the rest to God. I mean, it's not your responsibility, cuz conversion will take time and will come in different ways, not necessarily through you. It's just like today, our faith is here because of our forefathers. They planted the seed 20, 40, 50 years ago. We are reaping the harvest today. So, what you say might not affect your children now, but maybe 30, 40 years time, uh, when they are getting older, they say, "Ah, yeah, remember mommy told me that I better come back to God, you know." So, what we say might not change people now, but later on. So, we trust in God that God will eventually bring about real conversions of heart.