My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
On May 8th, the whole world was filled with joy when we heard those words, Habemus papam. We heard: We have a pope. And then Pope Leo XIV came out on the balcony, and everyone was rejoicing.
Even before he came out on the balcony, you could hear the bands playing and the people singing. Then he came out, and the whole world was filled with joy. He began his address to the people with “Peace be with you all,” which were the first words of the risen Lord. The pope pointed out that these are the words of the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his flock.
We appreciate and give thanks to God for the fact that we have a new pope, but we also give thanks to God for the bishops in communion with the Pope as well as the priests. We, as members of the flock, listen for the voice of the Lord.
Usually, Jesus is saying to us, “Follow me.” We could think of many people, and the many voices that we hear. But which ones should we follow? We should follow the voice of Christ, the Good Shepherd. He alone is the way to the Father. He alone is the one who is willing to give his life over entirely for us, to lay it down and to take it up again. Yet, as the Good Shepherd, he also watches over, protects, nurtures and defends his flock. He is concerned about each member of his flock.
We also think about other people in the Church who have shepherding roles. It is easy to think about the Pope, the bishops, and the priests. I ask that you pray for all of us: that we may be able to live our vocations. Parents, too, have a shepherding role. They watch over their children. They want to work hard for their children and protect their children from any harm; they also want to feed their children – not only physically feed their children but feed the spiritual lives of their children. Parents have to be like shepherds who are vigilant, watching carefully over their children, because they have been personally invested in each child.
I think also of all the mothers. Mothers are highly invested in their children in the womb, and then afterward, throughout the whole lifetime. I think about all the things my own mother did for my brothers and me – how she fed us when we could not feed ourselves, how she cooked our food, how she ironed our shirts and our trousers and laid them over our chairs; how, with great love, she packed up our lunches and with her own hand wrote our names on our brown paper bags as we went off to school; how she spent time teaching us because she knew that there were also wolves out there. She wanted her sons to be prepared.
Jesus knows about the wolves, but He also gives us shepherds. It is comforting to know that we are worth a shepherd’s care. We ought to be docile toward the Good Shepherd, listening to His voice and following Him wherever He leads.
We could think about many world leaders, but how many of them are like Jesus, willing to pour out their blood, give over their bodies entirely for their people? Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was willing to do that, and God, our Father, raised him gloriously from the dead, and so we can cry out: “He is risen. He is truly risen. Alleluia!”
Most Reverend Earl K. Fernandes
Bishop of Columbus