This Sunday is called” Good shepherd Sunday” and we pray for vocations to the priesthood.

The word “priest” (meaning: elder) calls to mind sad or happy memories, depending on our experiences. Priest might be the objects of love or hatred. They can be idolized or despised.

In the gospel of last Sunday, when Jesus called Peter and put his love to the test, we read that He gave him the mandate to “feed” , and “not be fed”, “my”, and not “your sheep”. From here the word: “Pastor” or shepherd.

Priests are similar, yet different from other professionals: skills, training, self-discipline are mandatory tools for the trade, but they are not enough. They have to be able to love. They do not choose to become priests, but they are chosen, called.

When this happened in the heart of a man, there is confusion; many hefty questions arise: “What is wrong with me?” “Why I can not be like other boy?” “What will happen to me?” “What shall I do?” There is a man whom I believe God is calling who is barging with God. He has a salary of over $60,000 a year and he is considering giving a couple of years of his life as a lay voluntary in the missions. This is still not enough, as he well knows in the depths of his heart. The streak  of sadness that he is experiencing tells him that he has to give up everything.

Jesus says: “Leave everything behind”. “Why Lord? Everything?”

“Yes, everything so that you can receive back everything”.

“It is not you who chose me, no, it is I who chose you”, said Jesus.

At times there are boys who are so good that we mistake their goodness for vocation, and we are surprised when God seemingly does not choose them.

There are signs who point at a vocation and they are the same in all times and places, whether you are a Caucasian, Latino, Black or Asian. Cultures here do not matter, as it does it matter when people fall in love.

Love of God and neighbor is the unmistakable sign. We fall in love with somebody whom we do not see. We feel as if we were kissed with a kiss of fire. We are set on fire and we start running after the one who touched us so deeply in the hope of catching Him. We say to Him: “You have wounded me at the heart, and I am doing because I am not dying”.

At times the prayer of somebody who has been called becomes like a fight. We wrestle with God, like Jacob. The bones of our soul become dislocated as it was the hip of Jacob who after this fight was called “Israel” meaning: “The one who fought with God”.

I am aware that I fought and I am still fighting with God to surrender myself completely to Him. I pray that He, and not me, should be the winner. After so many years in the priesthood I am painfully aware of my shortcomings and I tell Him:” I will still follow you, if you agree”

The priestly vocation has its origin in love, that when is directed toward a human being becomes mercy.

The mercy and compassion of Jesus for the crowds as from Mt. 9,35-38: “ Jesus saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

And, again, in Mark 6, 34-36 “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a hepherd.

"Compassion comes from Latin: to suffer-together. In Hebrew it is translated with “The-entrails-of-a-mother”. You will understand it when you consider yourself watching your child as it is being crushed by a car. Your whole being reacts to it, you feel your womb moving, wrenching. It is the same with God every time He looks at us, it is the same for a priest, or Pastor, when he approaches people.

In the letter to the Colossians  St. Paul urges us :” Indúite vos sicut elécti Dei, sancti, et dilécti, víscera misericórdiae” Col. 3, 12 which is rendered in English: “ Put on then heartfelt compassion”. Become shepherd  of each other.

No money can pay for a priest and his vocation. When on Sundays the church fills itself with people: it is a miracle. That the people should find a table that has been set for them and the heart of a priest waiting for them, is a second miracle.

The times we are living are challenging, and they are changing this beautiful vocation into a business. It is the death of the church.

St. Leo, the Pope, commenting on this passage was saying: Why is Jesus telling us to pray for shepherds?” He added: “The world is full of priests. Many want the honor of the office, but they fail to shoulder it burden”. Even today: we have even too many priests. They are simply in the wrong places: in offices, behind desks!

Jesus gives us the out-line of a religious leader, of a priest:

1. He is a shepherd: he is to be an out-cast. Sharing his life, day and night, with the sheep. He does not have time for himself, but for the sheep. His clothes linger with the sheep odor. He is a “wounded healer”.

2. He has to be a “Good shepherd”: thinking of the welfare of the sheep more than his own. Fighting for them. Always on the lookout for wolves. Leading the sheep to verdant pastures. Giving them food in the journey of life. Feed them, and not be fed by them.

3. “He knows them”: the word “to know” in the Bible usage means “to love”

4. “By name”: in a parish there are no figures, numbers, but people with names, faces, problems. When in Israel I asked a local shepherd how many sheep he had, he started counting:” Blackie, snow-flake” etc. individual sheep with their nick names.

5. “The follow him” it is the example of a priest which draws people, not his sermons!

6. “He gives his life for them”

In conclusion: We thank God for being so good to us, as a Good shepherd who knows and cares for our needs and we pray for many who, in time, will continue His mission.