Word of the Week

4th Sunday in Easter

Shepherd: Poimen (Gk.): meaning “a herdsmen, esp. a shepherd” or “pastor”. It can be used as a metaphor for a presiding officer, manager, or director of an assembly. The term pastor comes from a Latin word meaning, “shepherd” or “to tend, pasture, feed, keep, guard.”

The Pastor has “the ministry of shepherding the faithful in the name of Christ. The Pope and bishops receive the pastoral office which they are to exercise with Christ the Good Shepherd as their model; they share their pastoral ministry with priests, to whom they give responsibility over a portion of the flock as pastors of parishes” (CCC Glossary, 892).

The above term for shepherd can be found 18 times in the New Testament, highlighted by John’s discourse on Jesus as the Good Shepherd (Jn.10:1-21). John Builds upon, along with all other NT authors (cf. Mt.9:36, 25:32, 26:31; Mk.6:34, 14:27; Lk.2:8-20; Eph.4:11; Heb.13:20; 1 Pet.2:25), the rich meaning of the shepherd to portray Christ as the Head of the church and overseer of the kingdom of God in the Catholic Church. So what is this meaning of the shepherd? The tasks of the Near Eastern shepherd (how it would have been understood in biblical times) was to watch for enemies trying to attack the sheep and to defend the sheep from attackers; to heal the wounded and sick sheep; to find and save lost or trapped sheep. Essentially, it was to love them by sharing in their very lives and in turn earning their trust.

God exercises his title as the Divine shepherd (Ps.23:1; Is.40:11) through earthly shepherds. Consider, Abel, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, and the prophet Amos, all shepherds who understood the practical task of presiding over sheep. Joshua and David were most notable shepherds in that Scripture portrays them, in principle, as figures who shepherd God’s people (Num.27:16-18; 2 Sam 5:2) (Hahn and Minch, 37). These shepherds, who acted as guardians and overseers, prepared us for the one who was to be the chief shepherd prophesied by Ezekiel concerning the last days (Ezek.34:11-24), Jesus Christ. Christ’s sheepfold becomes universal in and through his blood that gushed forth from his side on the cross (Heb.13:20).

Good Shepherd Sunday directs our attention to not only Christ as the Good Shepherd, but also to the bishops and priests who share in the business of shepherding Christ’s “family farm” (cf.Jn.21:15-17). We need to be praying for our shepherds! Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer intention for the month of May is to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood with a special awareness to the family acting as the domestic seminary for the Church. On this note, I would like to encourage everyone to offer up the prayer request of the Holy Father and to continue to pray for all ordained priests that they may be guardians of the Deposit of Faith.

By way of postscript, I would like to address a recent phenomenon that has been occurring between the shepherd and his sheep, specifically as it relates to the pastors role as father. For one reason or another, lay faithful are forgetting to call priests “father”, replacing it with their first name. Just as we would never call our biological father by his first name, so we ought to be reminded that it is inappropriate to call a priest by his first name without the use of father. Fatherhood is an existential reality that exists because of the reality of the relationship that exists. Consequently, this tendency not to call the priest “father” typically is a result of the priest relating to his flock as friend and not father. Furthermore, this ought to be incentive to remind our priests (by calling them father) that his role is defined by their capacity to ‘tend, pastor, keep, feed, guard’ his flock as father…not friend. Essentially, two become friends when there is a mutual appreciation for the vocation that God has entrusted to him or her. Friendship receives its authentication out of the appreciation of the office that God has entrusted to an individual. So let us honor one another with the titles that are due to us and remember that in doing so we honor God.

“The good Shepherd... is seeking after you. If you give yourself to Him, He will not hold back. He, in His love, will not disdain even to carry you on His own shoulders, rejoicing that He has found His sheep which was lost.”

--St. Basil of Caesaria
Primary Texts Consulted

Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.

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