My dear friends,
At least to my way of looking at things, the early days of the pandemic seem like they were a thousand years ago. But you and I probably still remember those early months of the pandemic, more particularly as we struggled to figure out what this virus was and how it was transmitted.
Do you remember? Was it by touch? Was it by breathing? Was it in the air? And a lot of what we did in response was simply because we did not know how it was transmitted, that is, passed on from person to person. Now that we do know, we’re better able to protect ourselves.
As I was reflecting on the scriptures, particularly the Gospel, that came to mind. Because my friends, disease and viruses are not the only things that are transmitted in life. There is something far greater and more important, and it is the offer and gift of faith. It too is transmitted, meaning that it is passed on from person to person, generation to generation, starting with the men that we heard in the Gospel who are the apostles, the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Let’s consider for a moment how faith is transmitted. Because the Lord today in the Gospel is giving all of us a very specific challenge in that work. But before we realize the challenge, let’s look at how faith is transmitted. How is it passed on?
Perhaps in this coming week you could spend some time asking yourself the question, how did I come to Faith? When I look at my own life, it was certainly the experience of the Sacraments. Coming with my mom and my sister, and at times even my father, to Mass, to confession, to novenas, to adoration – not knowing who it was I was encountering until I grew older.
It was by word. What I was taught, what I heard from the preaching at mass and from other occasions, from being privileged to go to Catholic school and having my the sisters of Saint Dominic teach me. I was offered the word of Salvation in Jesus.
And then there were the role models. There were many because actions speak louder than words. So I think back on my teachers in school. Some who were religious, some who were not. The coach I had in high school. Some of my friends’ parents and of course, my own parents as well.
And then they were the leaders of the Church. I already mentioned the sisters. And it was the priests that I had the privilege to meet, many of them in high school and older. All of them, all of that has a role to help us, to what? Meet the Lord Jesus, hear His voice, feel His presence and His love. Respond yes to that and begin the Journey of Faith which lasts for a lifetime. That, my friend, is the Transmission of Faith.
So now, what’s the challenge for today? Jesus says the laborers are few. And of course, when He speaks of the shepherd, you and I immediately think of the shepherds – that is, the ordained ministers of the Church. And rightfully so. We have a unique role to play in the Transmission of Faith. And not just in our words but in our loving service to you, and by our example. And on this Father’s Day, we should give thanks for the spiritual fatherhood of our priests. All of them. Because even though they do not give life in a physical way, they give life in a spiritual way. And they’re asked to nurture that life and protect that life.
But this is the challenge. Please do not understand the word ‘shepherd’ solely to mean a deacon, a priest, or a bishop. For the Lord meant much more than that. The truth is, anyone to whom another life has been given to care for, to guide and protect is a shepherd or shepherdess. And our role understood that way is perhaps the most powerful way the offer of Salvation in Jesus Christ can be passed on to those entrusted to our care.
So today we celebrate Father’s Day. Natural fathers, godfathers, grandfathers, foster fathers. Fathers are given a unique role, are they not? For not only do they bring forth life with their wives, but they are called to nurture that life, protect that life, guide that life. That’s being a shepherd to your children, and in time, your grandchildren. You are playing an essential role to help them to realize that as you love your children, God loves them. You are father, He is Eternal Father.
And so on this day, we give thanks to all those who are fathers. Because the Lord is asking you, He is commanding you, to be His presence to all those entrusted to your care.
But they’re not just fathers. Those of you who are mothers, godmothers, spiritual mothers, religious mothers – all of you play an equal role. Because to you has also given the great privilege. Either to give birth to life or to take life and nurture it in the spirit of Christ. And so you too are shepherdesses, you too have been given lives that are meant to be molded, cared for, protected and nurtured, intentionally. Because the greatest gift you can give your child, mother, father, aunt, uncle, whoever it is, teacher, doctor, counselor, the greatest gift is not physical life, but eternal life in Jesus Christ.
And my dear friends, you do not need me to tell you in the 21st century, the transmission of life, that is the transmission of faith in Jesus Christ, is being broken over and over and over again. And there is now multiple generations who have not encountered the power, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ. And when we imagine how we can allow that transmission, or forgive me for putting it, that infection, to happen, we need to think and remember that every single person in the Church to whom another life has been entrusted, has work to do. In word, in witness, in authenticity, and most especially, in self-sacrificing love.
For it might be very blunt, if we say God is Love, and we say that Love took a human life and died on the cross for me, and I do not have people around me who will love me just as I am, even when I mess up, there’s no one in my life who takes an interest and will walk with me in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, if there’s no one in my life who is willing never to turn their back on me, if there is no one like that in my life, how can I possibly believe you when you tell me that God loves me? For He will only love me through you and me.
So there is a profound challenge the Lord is asking of us today in this 21st century in the life of the Church. But have no fear my friends, because with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit and being nourished by His sacred body, blood, soul and divinity, all of us here, spiritual fathers, natural fathers, spiritual mothers, natural mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, doctors, lawyers, counselors, whoever we are, in this time when we need to find new ways to transmit the great gift of faith, perhaps the beginning and most important part of the task is staring us in the face when we look in a mirror.
