Fourth Sunday of Easter

Mass Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Sunday, 17th April, 2005, at 11.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we follow the image of Jesus as our Shepherd and Leader. Because he has saved us from sin, with him guiding us we will want for nothing.

We are one with the Cardinals of the Church, who will enter the Conclave tomorrow to elect a new Pope. In this Mass we pray that they will be guided to give us a truly good Shepherd, who will represent Jesus Christ to us and to the people of today.

As Good Shepherd, Jesus puts us on our feet so that we can journey with him to the Father. No one goes to the Father except through Jesus and when Christ freed us he meant us to remain free.

Let us call to mind our sins.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The beautiful image of the shepherd calling the sheep is one which is unfamiliar to us in Australia. In Our Lord’s time the shepherd would sleep in the fields with the sheep. In our time a motorbike or a car or dogs are used to shepherd large quantities of sheep. Jesus is our Saviour; a leader who cares for us, we follow because we know his voice.

Today the Church challenges us to recognise Jesus in the Eucharist, to hear him through his Word, to be one with him in praising the Father and then to receive him as food for our journey. At the end of that journey we know he is the gate to safety.

Our Lord’s own words, “Anyone who enters through me will be safe. He will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture”, is another reminder that in Jesus we find our freedom, our Christian autonomy and the challenge that we freely and lovingly give to our society. Even Jesus’ words at the end of the Gospel, “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.”

Since the death of Pope John Paul and his remarkable funeral last Friday week the Cardinals have been gathering to prepare for the Conclave. They will live together in the special residence of Saint Martha’s and will go first to Saint Peter’s for Mass tomorrow morning (Rome time) and in the afternoon will gather in the Sistine Chapel to begin the voting process. Twice each day voting will take place until a new Pope is elected.

The whole context of the Papal election is one of intense prayer. In the Sistine Chapel the awesome sign of the Last Judgement is a reminder that the 117 Cardinals each stand before Almighty God, who will judge the choice they make in terms of the needs of God’s people at this time.

With trust in the Holy Spirit, we unite our prayers and this perfect sacrifice with those of the Cardinals, who vote to give us a Shepherd after the spirit of Pope John Paul II, who reached out to people of every nation, race, language and culture. As we think about Jesus as our Good Shepherd, this is our fervent and hope-filled prayer.

What is truly startling about the Mass today is that Jesus is offering us the protection of a higher wisdom and a higher power, where God is the one who cares for our life. When we pray, “The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want,” ( Psalm 22. V. 1 ) we confront the challenges and struggles of this life, above all with the awareness that God is sufficient and it is in him that we are able to live. In praying this Psalm we can say, ‘you God are my Shepherd, you God lead me and revive me, you God guide me along the right path, you are true, you keep me from fearing evil, you guide me and give me comfort, you have promised the banquet of heaven through the anointing of oil and my cup of joy is overflowing because of the Eucharist’. These are the gifts that God gives us every time we celebrate the Eucharist, which we contemplate in Eucharistic Adoration.

The modern tag, “If you cannot sleep, do not count sheep. Talk to the Shepherd”, is an invitation from Jesus to talk to him and turn our care over to him. Just as the animals in Jesus’ time were like members of the family with individual personalities, so we are members of Jesus’ family, called through suffering which will pass, but the fact that we have suffered moulds us to love and to entrust ourselves to God.

In these days when Pope John Paul is suffering so much, we pray, “Ever-living God give us new strength from the courage of Christ, our Shepherd.” As we honour his example we know Jesus knows us and we know him. He not only laid down his life for us, he gives us love and hope.

In the words of Saint Catherine of Siena, “Look I have made the road and opened the gate for you with my blood. Do not fail to follow nor sit down out of selfish concern. Don’t presume to choose your own way of serving instead of the one I have made for you in my own person, eternal truth, incarnate word, the straight way hammered out with my own blood. Get up then and follow him for no one can come to me, the Father, except through him. He is the way and the gate through whom you must enter into me, the sea of peace.” ( Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue )

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.