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The good shepherd image – Late Roman in Barracco Museum, Rome)
Pope Francis Catechesis on Evangelisation 2
Paul VI Audience Hall – Wednesday, 18 January 2023
The word of the Lord (Luke 15:3-7)
At that time Jesus said “what man of you, having a hundred sheep, and if he has lost one of them, does not leave the nineteen-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, until he find it.
And when he has found it, he laid it on his shoulder, rejoicing. And when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over nineteen-nine righteous persons who need no repentence”.
Catechesis. The passion for evangelization: the apostolic zeal of the believer. 2. Jesus model of proclamation
Last Wednesday we began a cycle of catechesis on the passion to evangelize, that is, on the apostolic zeal that should animate the Church and every Christian.
Today we want to look at the unsurpassable model of proclamation: Jesus.
The Christmas Gospel called him “the Word of God” (cf. Jn 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God).
The fact that he is the Word, that is, the Word, shows us an essential aspect of Jesus.
He is always in relationship, outgoing, never isolated;
In fact, the word exists to be transmitted, to be communicated.
So it is with Jesus, the eternal Word of the Father, who reaches out to us, who communicates to us.
Christ not only has the words of life, but He makes his life a Word, a message, that is, he always lives turned towards the Father and to us to whom he was sent.
In fact, if we look at his days, as described in the Gospels, we see that intimacy with the Father, prayer, is at the top of the list for which Jesus gets up early, when it is still dark, and goes to deserted places to pray in order to speak with the Father.
(cf. Mk 1:35 – in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.; Lk 4:42 – when it was day he departed and went into a lonely place)
All the most important decisions and choices are made after prayer (cf. Lk 6:12 – In these days he went out into the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God; 9:18 – Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him).
It is precisely in this relationship, in the prayer that unites him to the Father in the Spirit, that Jesus discovers the meaning of his humanity, of his existence in the world, because he is on a mission for us, sent to us by the Father.
In this respect, the first public gesture he made after the years of his hidden life in Nazareth is interesting. Jesus does not perform a miracle, he does not preach a message to be effective, but he mingles with the people who have gone to be baptised by John.
In this way he offers us the key to his action in the world: to give himself for sinners, in solidarity with us without distance, in total sharing of life. Indeed, he will say of his mission that he did not come “to be served, but to serve and to give his life” (Mk 10:45).
Every day, after prayer, Jesus dedicates his whole day to the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and to human beings, especially the poorest and weakest, sinners and the sick (cf. Mk 1:32-39 – That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together about the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.[a]35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him followed him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Every one is searching for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.)
That is, Jesus is in contact with the Father in prayer and then he is in contact with all the people for the mission, for catechesis, to teach the way of the Kingdom of God.
Now, if we want to represent his lifestyle with an image, we have no difficulty in finding it: Jesus himself offers it to us, we have heard it, speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd, the one who, he says, “lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11), this is Jesus.
In fact, being a pastor was not just a job, which required time and a lot of effort; It was a real way of life: a daily briefcase, living with the flock, accompanying them to pasture, sleeping with the sheep, caring for the weaker ones.
In other words, Jesus does not do something for us, but gives everything, gives his life for us. His heart is a shepherd’s heart (cf. Ez 34:15). He is a shepherd with all of us.
In fact, to sum up the Church’s action in one word, the term “pastoral” is often used.
And in order to evaluate our pastoral care, we must look at the model, we must compare ourselves with Jesus, Jesus the Good Shepherd.
First of all, we can ask ourselves: are we imitating him by drinking from the fountain of prayer, so that our heart may be in harmony with his?
Intimacy with him is, as Abbot Chautard said in his beautiful book, “the soul of every apostolate”.
Jesus himself said it clearly to his disciples: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).
When you are with Jesus, you discover that his pastoral heart always beats for those who are lost, abandoned, far away. And ours?
How often do we express our attitude towards people who are a little difficult or with whom we have a little difficulty? “But it’s their problem, let them sort it out…” But Jesus never said that, never. He always went out to meet all the outcasts, the sinners. That is what he was accused of – of being with sinners in order to bring them God’s salvation.
We have heard the parable of the lost sheep in chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel (see vv. 4-7 above). Jesus also speaks of the lost coin and the prodigal son.
If we want to train our apostolic zeal, we should always start with Luke 15.
If we read it often, we can understand what apostolic zeal is. There we discover that God does not look at the pen of his sheep or even threaten them not to go.
On the contrary, when one goes out and gets lost, he does not abandon him, but seeks him. He doesn’t say: “She’s gone, it’s her fault, it’s her business!”
The pastoral heart reacts differently: the pastoral heart suffers, the pastoral heart takes risks. He suffers: yes, God suffers for those who go away, and while he grieves for them, he loves them even more. The Lord suffers when we distance ourselves from his heart.
He suffers for those who do not know the beauty of his love and the warmth of his embrace. But, in response to this suffering, he does not close himself off, but takes a risk: he leaves the ninety-nine sheep who are safe and goes in search of the one who is missing, doing something risky, even irrational, but in keeping with his pastoral heart, which is nostalgic for those who have left. The longing for those who have left is constant in Jesus.
And when we hear that someone has left the Church, what do we say? “Let him be“.
No, Jesus teaches us nostalgia for those who have left; Jesus has no anger or resentment, but an irreducible nostalgia for us. Jesus longs for us and that is God’s zeal.
And I wonder: do we have similar feelings?
Perhaps we see those who have left the fold as adversaries or enemies.
“And this? – No, he has gone somewhere else, he has lost faith, hell awaits him…”, and we are calm.
When we meet them at school, at work, in the streets of the city, why not think instead that we have a beautiful opportunity to witness to them the joy of a Father who loves them and who has never forgotten them? Not to proselytise, no! But to let the word of the Father reach them, to walk with them.
Evangelising is not proselytising: proselytising is a pagan thing, it is neither religious nor evangelical.
There is a good word for those who have left the flock and to carry it we have the honor and the burden of being the ones to say it. Because the Word, Jesus, asks us to always approach everyone with an open heart, because that is who he is.
Perhaps we have been following and loving Jesus for a long time and we have never asked ourselves if we share his feelings, if we suffer and risk in harmony with the heart of Jesus, with this pastoral heart, close to the pastoral heart of Jesus!
It is not a question of proselytism, I said, so that others may be “ours”, no, that is not Christian: it is a question of loving so that they may be happy children of God.
Let us pray for the grace of a pastoral heart that is open, that is close to everyone, to bring the message of the Lord and to feel in everyone the desire for Christ..
If we Christians do not have this love that suffers and risks, we risk only feeding ourselves.
Shepherds who are shepherds of themselves, instead of being shepherds of the flock, are combers of “exquisite” sheep. We must not be shepherds of ourselves, but shepherds of all.
