They sleep so soundly because of the ingenuity of the shepherd boy, who, in an attempt to keep the sheep together, has constructed an enclosure by rolling big rocks in a circle, with a four foot opening at one end. He learned this trick from his big brother, who used to be the shepherd boy and he learned it from his father. Shepherds have been passing down this trick for keeping sheep together since the time of Jesus.
Which is why Jesus talks about it so much: the rocks which make up the walls and the opening, which he calls the sheep-gate.
Of course it is not, properly speaking, a gate at all. It’s just a bunch of rocks, and the shepherd boy himself serves as the sheep-gate. Once all the sheep are inside, he lays down across the opening his head on one rock and his feet on the other. That way, if a sheep tries to escape, he would have to walk over the shepherd boy and wake him up. And if a wolf tries to get in, it is over the body of the shepherd.
And that’s why, just a few weeks before Bishop McManus will ordain four of our brothers as priests, the Church gives us this passage to reflect on. For that shepherd boy is providing an example for every priest of what he’s being ordained for. Like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, he is called to, quite literally, lay down his life for the sheep.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the great High Priest who is the model for every Shepherd’s heart, quite literally, laid down his life upon the Altar of the Cross for love of the Flock.
And when we go to or watch the stream of the ordinations in just a few weeks, we will hear these men promise to do just that.
First, they promise obedience and respect. Like the young shepherd who lays down to become a sheep-gate, those to be ordained will kneel before the Bishop and place their hands in his. He will look them right in the eye and ask each one whether he is willing to promise obedience and respect, not just to him, but to his unknown successors as well.
Will you go, not where you choose, but where the Church will send you? Will you preach not yourself or your own bright ideas, but Christ Jesus, in season and out, whether they acclaim or deride you.
Will you celebrate the sacraments faithfully, not even praying in your own words, but with the ancient words and rites the Church has passed down to you? Will you forgive sins and anoint the sick (often at two o’Clock in the morning), not in your own name, but in the name of Christ, the High Priest, showing his gentleness and compassion?
Will you pray for the flock God places in your care, in the middle of the night and in the noonday sun, in public and in the quiet of your room? Will you, in the words of the Ordination rite “beg God’s mercy upon the people entrusted to your care by observing the command to pray without ceasing?”
Will you offer the perfect sacrifice of Christ upon the altar, and join to it your life and the lives of those you shepherd? Will you be the good shepherd, laying down your life lest the sheep stray or the wolf get in the door?
And through the many years, the man, the very human man who raises a Chalice in perfect sacrifice for all the days to come, will imperfectly answer each of those questions. Some days he will lay down his life with the fervor of a young martyr, and on others he may seek his own advantage. Some days he will be the very compassion of Christ and on others irascible and narcissistic. For the shepherds God chooses for you are not saints or demigods, but, as Saint Paul reminds us, “men chosen from among men,” each given the inestimable joy of serving as the fragile vessel through which Christ continues to act in his Church.
For while the priest may pour the water, it is Christ who baptizes. And while the priest may give the penance, it is Christ who forgives sins. While the priest may make the sign of the cross, it is Christ who blesses, the priest holding the host in his hands, but Christ who gives us his flesh as food for the journey
I love this time of year, beginning with the Renewal of Priestly Promises at the Chrism Mass and soon to include Ordinations to the Diaconate and Priesthood. For in between, God gives each Priest the chance to reflect on what he’s called to be, and what he may have become.
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Just yesterday I received a box from Tally’s Church Supply. It’s my gift to one of the ordinands in the form of an old chalice, re-plated in gold for his First Mass. The chalice was first raised at an Altar back in the 1950’s by a newly ordained priest, the Chrism still fresh on his hands. But through the years, as the aging Priest moved from assignment to assignment, the patina discolored and the chalice picked up its share of nicks and scratches.
Now the chalice is fresh and new, ready to be raised again by young and newly anointed hands in offering the great Sacrifice of Praise which is the center of our lives, as we pray that God give to this good new Priest the spirit of the parson of whom Chaucer wrote so many years ago:
“Christe’s lore and his apostles twelve he taught,
but first he followed it himself.”
