Pastor's Letter 20240421 - 21 April 2024- Fourth Sunday of Easter

[Father Michael]

April 21^st, 2024

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Message from Father ^†Michael

Today’s Theme:  “Salvation in the Name of Jesus--our Good Shepherd”

Reflections on Today’s Scripture

The theme in all three Readings, today, is of the great love God has shown us—and in what He has done for us, as our Good Shepherd.

(Acts 4:8-12)  ^†Peter tells the Jewish leaders that Jesus is the one and only Savior.  He is cornerstone of the living Church and the healer of cripples.  He is spirit and power.  He is word and light.  He is the Lord in Whose name alone we find salvation.

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(John 3:1-2)  ^†John teaches that in His love for us, God has made us His children.  In the next life, we shall see Him as He is.  He is Father; He is Son; and He is brother to all who recognize and accept His love.  Those who call the one God, “Father,” must also accept and love one another as brothers and sisters.

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(John 10:1-18)  ^†Luke teachers that unlike the hireling, the Good Shepherd is ready to give His life for His sheep.  The God in Whom we believe has many names and faces.  He is the model Shepherd Who snatches strays from the jaws of sin by laying down His own life; He is also the Limb victorious, whose risen glory is a pledge of our own.  

~~~

A Sense of Vocation

Some years ago, the American journalist, Studs Terkel did a survey to find out how people felt about their work (“Working…” 1974.)  Armed with a tape recorder, he traveled the country interviewing people.  He found the overwhelming majority of people were unhappy with what they were doing.  For many, work begins when you don’t like what you do.

However, not liking one’s work is nothing new.  In earlier times, miners, railroad workers, laborers, cotton pickers and sweatshop employees didn’t like their work, either.  They toiled long hours in very poor conditions, and were poorly paid.  Nonetheless, even though people didn’t like their work, they didn’t dream of questioning it—content to have a job, that put “bread on the table” for their family.

Today, however, people aren’t so docile.  They demand more from their work than merely a wage.  They want their efforts to have meaning.  They demand fulfillment and refuse to be regarded as simply “cogs in the machine.”  

For most of us, one of our deepest desires is the need for recognition.  One workman told Terkel how he would like to see a skyscraper with a plaque bearing the names of all the workers who built it, not just those of the architect and the builder.  “Nobody knows who built the pyramids,” he said.  “They only know the names of the pharaohs.”  A cashier at a grocery store said she felt like she was “nothing.”  A garbage man saw himself as nothing more than a “horse, pulling a cart.”  

On the other hand, those who liked their work knew they were needed and useful.  A fireman told him he relished the chance to help people in need.  A pharmacist felt close to the people who came to her for their prescriptions.  Since a significant part of our lives involves our work, it becomes a blessing when it has meaning.  But, without meaning, or little meaning, it almost becomes a “curse.”  It has been said that one of our first problems in life is to find the work that we are “meant” to do.  (Terkel’s book leaves us pondering: “If people find their work to be empty, what do they find their lives to be?”  One wonders where this leaves all the unemployed and homeless people….)

The difference between being a Good Shepherd or a “hireling,” simply put, is the contrasting attitudes a person brings to their work.  Most people are hirelings, in the sense we do not work for ourselves.  But that doesn’t mean we have to have the mentality of a hireling.  Just because we are paid a fair wage for our work doesn’t mean we are like the hireling of which Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel.  We can still bring the attitude of the Good Shepherd to our labor.  First of all, we can “own” our work.  (During the years I was manager of Ben Bridge Jewelers, my success came from the attitude that it was MY company; MY store.)  Similarly, a Good Shepherd has his heart in his work too—because he considers it his calling.  As a Pastor, I have the same focus in my vocation.  

Much of Terkel’s book offers evidence that meaningful work gives a person dignity.  As Christians, we should see our labor as service to others. In doing so, we become Good Shepherds, as well—having left the ranks of hirelings.  We are members of a sacred band, who perform needful, albeit, sometimes irksome tasks in a spirit of service.  

Kahlil Gabran wrote: “All work is empty, save when done with love…such work is love made visible.”  This quite nicely frames the intention of today’s Scripture Readings.  In the Acts of the Apostles, ^†Luke shows how the early Christians went about their tasks in the spirit of our Blessed Lord, proclaiming Salvation in His Name.  Their devotion came in the midst of noteworthy consternation and persecution from the civil and religious authorities of their day.  Nonetheless, they persevered in their responsibilities, undaunted by the challenges, because they felt it was their “calling,” to do so.   

People who consider themselves to be like the Good Shepherd are very fortunate.  They have found a real treasure—not just work, but their true vocation in life.  When they put their hearts and minds into their work, they discover it affords them an outlet for their talents.  Although their work may occasionally appear difficult and routine, from their perspective, it is a labor of love.  Their lives may contain many difficulties and hardships, but deep down, they are content. But one must never equate a “happy” life with an “easy” one.  Sometimes, the more difficult a task we face, for the sake of love, the more it exalts us. 

Happy those who have found fulfillment in their work, no matter how humble!  They are saved from half-heartedness—from the tragedy of only half-living their lives.  Their work brings out their best.  It’s no exaggeration to say work becomes their path to salvation.* 

Jesus’ work consisted in being a Good Shepherd to His Father’s flock.  Like a good leader, He “knew His sheep and they knew Him.”  Without such a close relationship, leadership becomes oppressive.  Needless to say, we are not sheep.  As ^†John reminds us: “We are God’s children, and He wants us to have life everlasting.”  Jesus’ vocation was one that embodied the essence of the true calling of the Good Shepherd: He was willing to die to defend them—which He did…voluntarily.  He truly laid down His life for His sheep…. 

May God Richly Bless You!

* A related topic for us to consider is “caregiver burnout”—when family members are left to care for parents or spouses with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.  Burnout is not always the result of too much work.  More likely, it results from a sense of futility.  Evidence suggests people can work long hours so long as they feel their work is making a difference. Feeling their efforts are wasted can leave caregivers feeling weariness and exhaustion no matter how hard or long they work.  People experience this when their energy is sapped, and given “purposelessly.”  With real devotion, however, giving oneself to a task can absorb a person and yet be seen as a blessing.  

Today's Meditation Music:

Savior, Like a Shepherd, Lead Us.docx

To view a recording of today's Holy Mass, click here:

 

 

 

Edited April 21 by Father Michael