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There was a much read news story this week about a firebrand priest in Wisconsin formally suspended from public ministry for using divisive language in his sermons and news interviews.
This controversial priest “flouted COVID-19 protocols at the height of the
pandemic, derided liberals as ‘left-wing fascist Nazis’ and warned that Catholics who support the Democratic Party
could ‘face the fires of hell.’"
“According to a new decree issued by (his
Bishop), (the priest) is only allowed to celebrate Mass in private and is
barred from preaching. He has also been instructed to take a 30-day spiritual
retreat to ‘give him the possibility to spiritually heal and recharge and
address the issues that caused the issuance of this decree.’”
Today’s Gospel message is an ancient story about leadership. It has a warning for all
followers of the Good Shepherd about how we are to conduct ourselves in the
mission of Christ.
The Mission of the Twelve is complete. The apostles
are eager to tell Jesus about their many experiences driving out demons,
healing the sick and proclaiming the good news. After hearing their stories,
Jesus attempts to take them all to a private place to rest and reflect.
But the crowds start following them. Jesus and his disciples cannot get a moment’s rest as they attempt to retreat to a deserted location with Jesus.
Notice here that Jesus does not get angry at the
crowds. Quite the opposite. He is moved with pity for them. He surrenders to
their needs and begins to teach them.
No doubt this causes some consternation with the Twelve.
“Doesn’t he care about us?”
Don’t we all feel this way sometimes when our
needs are not the focus of others?
These feelings are what it means to be human.
Today’s Gospel message calls us to change our perspective when whenever we experience these feelings: to become “other” focus and not be “me” focused. To learn to serve the needs others, and not our own.
When we do this, something happens to us. We are
transformed by the love of Christ and we see the world through the eyes of
Christ.
But at the same time, we all need to learn to say
“no” and discern what we have the energy to do in ministry or where the Spirit
is calling us to spend our time and talents. This is where a healthy prayer
life can be most beneficial.
From his book “Come Follow Me,” our Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg shared this insight into today’s reading:
“This gift of rest is not primarily to alleviate exhaustion but to
foster a contemplative appreciation for having shared in God’s creative and
redemptive work. This spiritual rest is meant to foster and deepen our intimate
relationship with the Lord so that our efforts of ministry are not just ‘working
for God’ but a ‘participation in God’s work’. There is a big difference between
those two approaches to ministry. It is the experience of regular spiritual
rest and appreciative contemplation with God that allows us to know the mind of
Christ and to do God’s will with eagerness, generosity, and freedom. Jesus
wanted the twelve apostles to have this experience of spiritual rest so they
could better understand how their efforts participated in God’s divine will for
the world.”
The Twelve are now called apostles. The word
apostle means someone who is “sent out.”
We, too, can go from being simple disciples to
apostles of Christ when we are sent out to do his ministry. But when do this
our words and our actions must reflect the Good Shepherd or our efforts will only scatter
the sheep.
Our first reading is a beautiful passage from the Prophet Jeremiah. It foreshadows the coming of the Good Shepherd.
This language spoke deeply into the psyche of the
people Israel. From the Old Testament, they heard God is the one who shepherds
the people.
“Shepherds had four primary responsibilities: to gather the sheep,
to guide the sheep, to protect the sheep, and to care for the sheep. Jesus
presents Himself in this passage as the shepherd who fulfills all of these
roles.”
As our Good Shepherd, Jesus commissions us to do his mission to
draw people closer to God.
Do we draw people closer to God by our words and actions?
“One day we will have to give an account to
Jesus, our one and only Lord, as to how we see and treat those masses that are
slowly leaving the church, perhaps because they do not hear the good news being
spread among us, and because our speeches, official communications, and
declarations have become meaningless for them.
Ordinary good people are
disappointed because they do not see in us the compassion of Jesus. Some are
believers who do not know to whom to go or how to meet a more human God than
the one they perceive in our behavior, while others are Christians who are
silent because what they have to say will not be listened to by anyone of
importance in the church.
Some day the face of this
church will change. It will learn to behave more compassionately. It will
forget its own sermons and will get down to listening to the suffering of the
people. Jesus has the power to change our hearts and to renew our communities.[5]
This is what Pope Francis is
calling us to be as missionary disciples. Not fomenters of division, but missionaries
of peace.
[1] https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/wisconsin-bishop-restricts-ministry-firebrand-priest-fr-james-altman
[2] https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/wisconsin-bishop-restricts-ministry-firebrand-priest-fr-james-altman
[3] Mueggenborg, Daniel (2017). Come Follow Me: Discipleship Reflections on the Sunday Gospel Readings for Liturgical Year B
[4] Mueggenborg, Daniel (2017). Come Follow Me: Discipleship Reflections on the Sunday Gospel Readings for Liturgical Year B
[5] Pagola, J. A. (2011). Following in the Footsteps of Jesus: Meditations on the Gospels for Year B. (R. Luciani, Ed., V. de Souza, Trans.) (p. 106). Miami, FL: Convivium Press.
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