Father Ken’s Message:
Good morning and welcome to the Catholic Cathedral of Sapporo. Today is “Vocation Sunday.”
On this day we should all reconsider how we are living our vocation as Catholic believers.
To help you do this I have an icebreaker question. If you could be any animal besides a human being, what animal would you choose to be? I use this question with my students at a local Catholic College I teach to get my students attention. Typically, the students choose to be lions, tigers, bears, eagles, elephants…mostly powerful creatures. The answer to the question is important for us to grasp the important meaning of Jesus’ idea of him being the Good Shepherd and his dream that we be like sheep.
Did any of you choose to be a sheep? I suspect not many choose to be a sheep because the image of a sheep is kind of counter-cultural to our 21st Century values. I mean a sheep seems very vulnerable, weak, dependent, defenseless, maybe even dumb. But Jesus wants us to be sheep because they are characteristically gentle, patient, cooperative, meek, humble and they know they need protecting so they follow the leader, their shepherd. Jesus told his 12 disciples when he sent them out on their first solo mission: “Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16); and “If anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and give them your left cheek as well” (Matthew 5:39). Jesus asked his followers 2000 years ago and us today to be last instead of first, forgive others, serve others, pray for enemies, and love neighbors. Jesus gave such instructions to his early followers because these are the characteristics that reflect the character of God. Our vocation is to be “perfect” like our Father God in Heaven; this is our challenge this afternoon to come back to our true identity and remove our costumes as wolves and lions.
This metaphor of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and we as sheep is ever applicable in our human history. Since the incident in the Garden of Paradise we human beings have been victims of prey by the predator the devil. He and his followers are the wolves that Jesus is trying to protect us from through this timeless metaphor. In contrast to wolves, sheep are harmless animals. They do not have a way to defend themselves. Sheep do not hunt, but rather, they graze on grass. Sheep do not fight, they run from a fight. Jesus wants us to be like sheep and not like wolves. Jesus does not want us to respond to situations in life like wolves. When the world is violent, he wants us to be forgiving. When the world is dangerous, he wants us to be kind. When the world is anti-God, he wants us to be loyal to God through faith and prayer.
My friends, our calling as Catholics is to live differently than the world around us. Too often some of us Catholics behave like wolves no differently than other people in the world. We Christian Catholics act like wolves when we seek out a fight, or bite each other with nasty words of hateful ideas. Our way is the sheep-way. Jesus is asking us to follow him to not attack people like prey but to be gentle, kind, compassionate, prayerful, humble and full of love.
Today in our Catholic Church a vocational change is happening and all of us sheep like Jesus “the lamb of God,” are also being asked to be good shepherds to one another. The good shepherd takes responsibility for the sheep entrusted to his or her care. We new Catholic good shepherds are challenged to love those who have not given us a reason to care for them. As Catholics we love even without a reason to love one another because it is what our Father in Heaven would do in the same situation, love everyone, love always. We modern people are always looking for evidence to support our actions but the Jesus story as the Good Shepherd giving us his life for people, he never knew has no logic or reason to support his love for humankind expect that it is the right thing to do; our vocation is the same as our brother Jesus and our Father God that is to love the seemingly unlovable people in our lives.
Thank you very much my fellow sheep and good shepherds. Let us live like Jesus and Father God in love.
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