THE WORD
Ac 8, 1-18 / Jn 6,35-40
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and nd pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Archbishop Dom Helder Camara (Recife, Brazil) shocked his host, a rich landowner, when he refused an invitation to sleep in this person’s mansion. He chose to sleep in a chapel nearby owned by the rich man. For him the chapel was there to help the workers accept their subhuman condition. Religion was being used as the opium of the people (D.H. Camara, The Conversion of a Bishop, 1979 ).
Contrary to the spirit of the good shepherd in the gospel, a man can be a thief or a robber, if he enriches himself out of others’ misery. The presence of thieves and robbers necessitates a good
shepherd. For Camara, a pastor in the Church must be reflective of Christ the good shepherd. Christ bears on his shoulders as he walks in today’s roads the underdeveloped world, underdeveloped people, the poor, the voiceless (D.H. Camara, The Church and Colonialsm, 1969). Development work led him to go beyond charitable acts but made him engage in social justice. Here, helping the poor to be agents of change was highlighted. Camara as a shepherd encountered various near death experiences: his house was sprayed with machine gun re, killing those associated with him.
In fact, a hired assassin was sent to his house, knocking on his door. At the sight of the frail and diminutive bishop who identified himself, the man refused to kill. “I can’t kill you.” he said “You are the Lord’s.”( R. Ellsberg, All Saints, 1997 ).
Do we have a life that promotes action towards the poor, to the frail and the diminutive people
around us? Christ the Good Shepherd is in us disturbing our conscience. Have we acted from that
conscience? Let us not desire to be carried always on the shoulders of the good shepherd. We must be shepherds: instruments or enhancers of integral human development.
- Fr. Martin I. Mandin, SVD | St. Arnold Janssen Parish Shrine, Cainta Rizal
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
