A Homily for the Second Sunday after Easter

+ “He truly is a hireling who holds the shepherd’s place indeed, but seeks not the gain of souls. He longs after earthly comforts; he delights in the honour of preferment; he grows fat on temporal rewards; he is elated at the reverence men proffer him.” These words of Pope Saint Gregory the Great (†604), preached in the ancient Basilica of St Peter in Rome on this Sunday over 1,400 years ago and repeated by the Church to this day in the Office of Matins are as pertinent as they are stern. For, as we learn from Saint Gregory quite clearly, the Holy Gospel of this Mass is not simply a hymn of praise for Christ, the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for His sheep and whose victory over sin and death we continue to hymn throughout Eastertide. It is also a stark reminder to those who are called to be shepherds over Christ’s flock today—most especially the pope and the bishops, but also the lower clergy and indeed abbots, priors and superiors of religious communities, and all who have the care of souls.
 
If it is possible to say of one’s ecclesiastical superior that “He longs after earthly comforts; he delights in the honour of preferment; he grows fat on temporal rewards; he is elated at the reverence men proffer him,” something is clearly very, very wrong. That this has been the case at times in the history of the Church teaches us that “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8) as the office of Compline, using the warning of the first letter of Saint Peter, brusquely reminds us each night. That this can happen even today should teach us the wisdom with which St Peter prefaced his words: “Be sober, be watchful.”
 
But thankfully such cases that exist today are rare. It is certainly not possible to apply any such judgement on the two good men called to be successors of the apostles in our own diocese: they clearly do not seek their own comfort or worldly pleasure, but are men who are willing to accept Our Lord’s command: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23) And for that we give thanks to God and pray daily for their fidelity and courage.
 
St Gregory does not only condemn the hirelings for their worldly pursuits, but he condemns them in the first place because they do not seek the salvation of souls; because the ends they seek are mundane and not supernatural; because they are not on fire for the things of God as were the great prophets and saints of old, but are content with having a peaceful enough existence in this life.
 
St Gregory was amongst the first generations of the sons of St Benedict. He did not seek the papal office and was a notoriously reluctant recipient of it. He was well aware of St Benedict’s teaching “that he who has undertaken the government of souls, must prepare himself to render an account of them. And whatever number of brethren he knows he has under his care, let him regard it as certain that he will have to give the Lord an account of all these souls in the Day of Judgement, and certainly of his own soul also.” (Rule ch. 2) If an abbot must answer thus on the Day of Judgement, how much more must a Pope—or a bishop or any pastor of souls! Thus the Code of Canon Law rightly teaches us that the supreme law in the Church—i.e. the fundamental thing that we are about—is the salvation of souls (CIC 1752).
 
The problem with this is that whilst we can agree that this principle is true, in a situation in the Church in which partisan politics have once again reared their ugly head, and in which it is more than possible to say that authorities are wielding the sword of obedience to ends contrary to the salvation of souls—indeed, rather in an attempt to protect their cherished ideologies, idols or egos—there is a real danger that otherwise good shepherds can find themselves hiding from the wolves-in-high-places, or fleeing from their true responsibilities in the face of their menaces—‘dialoguing with the devil’ as it were by playing politics themselves.
 
This is true in different areas, but it can be seen very clearly and painfully in those places where good, faithful and fruitful communities have been—and are being—victimised or even annihilated because of the ideology promoted by some in authority simply because they worship according to the ancient rites that remain “sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.” (Benedict XVI) Such persecution is not the act of a good shepherd.
 
In respect of this truth, and in respect of so many others, we are in need of truly good shepherds and not of hirelings who cower before the latest unprincipled positivist diktat of the current holder of power for fear of the inconvenience this may cause their career or livelihood. And be we the pope, a senior prelate, a God-fearing parent, the principal of a school, the president of a college or a pastor of souls in any form, we would do well to examine our conscience: do I have the courage to act for the true good of the souls in my care? Or is my silent submission to what is clearly not of God (and therefore my cooperation with it) itself part of the problem? Am I willing to resist evil, or simply to cower before it in the vain hope that the devil will not devour me also?
 
As we offer this Holy Mass. Let us ask St Gregory the Great, whose relics are present on the altar this morning, to intercede for us so that we may be given the grace and courage to lay down our lives (or reputations or careers or ambitions or whatever else), when necessary, for the salvation of the souls God has entrusted to our care. +