4th Sunday of Easter

          “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own…leaves the sheep and runs away…This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.”

          There is a saying, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”  And I think there is a lot of truth to this statement.  We are all looking for that thing that gives ultimate meaning and purpose to our lives; that thing we feel we can’t not do because it’s just so in our bones; that thing that we love so much that even to toil at it feels more like a blessing than a burden.  You students, especially, are here at St. Ambrose hopefully not just to get an education so that you can get a good paying job, but to discover that thing about which you are so passionate that you would devote your whole self, your whole life to it.  You are here to discover and to cultivate your gifts, so that you might use them for the benefit of others and the glory of God.

This takes time.  There is a process to this.  Maybe some of you have already changed majors once or twice, or still aren’t really sure what you want to do in life.  To the chagrin of your parents, I say, “Good for you!”  You’re talking to a guy who started in the seminary as a history and philosophy major, then discerned out of the seminary at the beginning of my sophomore year, was a “regular joe” college student for a couple of years and a history/secondary education major, until I couldn’t “outrun” the call anymore and came back to the seminary only in my senior year.  The rest, as they say, is history.  But I get it.  There will inevitably some twists and turns in this process of self-discovery and discernment.  That’s okay.  It’s worth it in order to be a “shepherd” who lays down his or her life for others, and not just a “hired man” or a “hired woman,” who has no concern for those entrusted to their care and who bolts at the first sign of trouble. 

Don’t get me wrong, I want you all to get jobs when you leave here, but what I really want for you is to discover your vocation, your calling, that thing that is more than a job, that defines you, that is who you are; who you were created to be.

I think of my oldest sister, Mary Jo.  Mary Jo is a fourth grade teacher at a public school in my hometown of Ottumwa.  She doesn’t just “work at a school.”  She is a teacher.  My parents and some of my other older siblings could tell you that she was a teacher even as a child.  She always loved explaining things to others and showing them how to do things.  It’s in her bones.  She eats, breaths, sleeps, dreams, lives teaching.  Yes, it’s a paycheck, and (as we know) not a very big one.  Certainly not what she and most teachers deserve, but it’s so much more than that for her.  I can honestly say that, over the many years she has been teaching, the only things I have ever heard her really complain about had almost nothing to do with teaching in itself, but were the things that seemed to inhibit her being able to teach: increased bureaucracy, “red tape,” more testing, paperwork, requirements, etc.  But even all of that she is willing to endure.  Why?  For love of her students.  For love of and absolute dedication to this profession, this vocation, without which we would not be here and the world would be in the darkness of ignorance. 

Students, this is what you’re after.  Take time, discern it well, talk to others who can help you, and pray.  Pray!  Pray to God regularly and intentionally about this question of the meaning and purpose of your lives.  If you are only ever asking yourself, “What do I want to do with my life?”, then you’re asking the wrong question.  You need to be asking God, “God, what do you want me to do with the life that you have given, that you have entrusted to me?”  I promise you, no answer to this question that is carefully, prayerfully, genuinely discerned will ever disappoint you.  God will not drag you kicking and screaming into something He knows will make you miserable.  He may call you to something that is hard.  You may even at times have to put yourself between a “wolf” and the “sheep,” but God will also give you that fire in your belly to do it, and more than this, He will give you an abiding satisfaction that nothing in this world can touch.

The point is, find that thing that will make you a true “shepherd,” and not just a “hired person.”  You can’t afford to miss this.  Your own salvation and the salvation of those whose lives are in any way entrusted to your care depend on it.  But be at peace.  Don’t strain too hard to find this right away or to force it.  Keep your eyes open, your ears open, and most importantly, your heart open, and God will do most of the work for you.

I don’t normally plug television shows in my homilies, but recently I read some reviews of a British television drama called Broken about a fictional Catholic priest, Father Michael Kerrigan, portrayed by Sean Bean, serving in a parish in a very blue collar town of northern England.  I was intrigued enough by the reviews that I signed up for the free 7-day trial of BritBox (which is like Netflix for British television and films).  So far, I have seen only four of the six episodes, so I’ll reserve final judgement to when I have seen the series through. 

There are things I don’t like about it, but it gets a lot right.  For one, it is not a slave to the old “tropes” when it comes to the priesthood.  That is, it doesn’t portray this priest as either the saccharine, Bing-Crosby-Bells-of-St. Mary’s type or as a villain, as we have often seen in television shows and movies (the greedy hypocrite, the pedophile, the cruel disciplinarian, or the unfeeling rigorist).  Rather, it portrays a very real priest, a real man, who has his own struggles, issues and wounds, to be sure, but who is obviously still in love with his priesthood, even now in middle age (having been in the trenches thirty years), even on the worst days.  You see this character that at times feels himself to be a fraud and yet consistently, selflessly and genuinely pours himself out for his people.  As the title of the series suggest, here is a man broken and poured out for others. 

Again, it isn’t a perfect show, but personally I am just so refreshed to finally see a more realistic portrayal of something to which I have given my own life, and to see the quiet, gritty, but truly beautiful witness to the priesthood.  He is a true shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep, and then goes home to an empty, somewhat run-down rectory to make himself a bowl of microwave noodles at the end of an exhausting day of one crisis after another, but who would do it all again a thousand times over, and joyfully.  Why?  For love of his people.  For love of Jesus Christ.  For love of the Church.  For love of the priesthood. Because he is a true shepherd, in the likeness of the Good Shepherd, and not just a “hired man.”

This Sunday is called “Good Shepherd Sunday” (the reasons are obvious from the Gospel) and, at the request of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and the popes before him, it is also designated as the “World Day of Prayer of Vocations.”  And so, let us pray that each of us comes to understand and embrace that wider sense of vocation that issues from our baptismal calling – discovering with God why we are here.  And let us pray that all people, especially our students, discover their own particular vocations in service to the world and in imitation of Christ who says, “I am the good shepherd…I know mine and mine know me…and I will lay down my life for [my] sheep.”