In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis listed some of the characteristics that a good shepherd must have. He explained that, first and foremost, he should act like Christ.
POPE FRANCIS
'That's why Jesus was always there with the people discarded by the clerical group. There were the poor, the sick, the sinners, the lepers...but, they were all there because Jesus had this ability to be moved in the face of illness. He was a good shepherd.'
The pope also said that a good shepherd should never be ashamed or afraid to touch wounded flesh, just as Jesus did with sinners.
EXTRACTS OF PAPAL HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)
A good shepherd is always close to his people, while a bad priest is only interested in power and money. In the reading from St Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is in the synagogue where he meets a woman who has been crippled for years and is unable to stand up straight.
But the doctors of the Law, the Pharisees and Sadducees, those who are very distant from their people, rebuke him continuously. These were not good shepherds as they were closed within their own world and not interested in their people. Or perhaps, he added, they were only interested in them when the service was over and they wanted to see how much money had been collected.
Jesus, on the other hand, is close to the woman and this closeness comes from the compassion he feels in his heart. Jesus was always there with the most marginalized people, those who had been rejected by the clerical crowd, the poor and the sick, the sinners and the lepers. The good shepherd comes close and feels compassion, he said, adding that he is not ashamed to touch the wounded flesh of those marginalized people, just as Jesus did.
A good shepherd doesn’t say, “Yes, yes, I’m with you in spirit,” and keep his distance, but rather he does what God did in sending his Son: he taught us to show mercy and compassion by lowering himself, emptying himself and making himself a servant to others.
The clerical crowd are only close to power and money, making friends with influential people and worrying about their own pockets. They are the hypocrites who are not interested in their people but become offended when Jesus accuses them, saying that they always follow the Law.
Luke tells us that the whole crowd rejoiced when Jesus’ adversaries were humiliated – while that is a sin, the pope said, the people were glad because they had suffered so much. But the good shepherd is the one who sees, calls, speaks, touches and heals. Just as God came close to us through Jesus Christ, he said, all of us will be judged by how we try to be close to those who are hungry, sick, in prison or in any kind of need.
