I
These are very special days,[1] particularly because we are enjoy-ing a very profound spiritual happiness. We even perceive it sen-sibly, and it often happens that we don’t realize the reason, that is, the profound root, of that happiness. The profound root of that spiritual happiness is the intense spiritual pleasure that is the result of the fervor of charity, the proper fruit of the Eucharist; in this case, this is multiplied by all of those who are going to celebrate the Eucharist. This is why we feel great happiness during the cele-bration of priestly ordinations. The day that Our Lord instituted the Eucharist[2], He too enjoyed a profound spiritual happiness; the Gospel says, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you (Lk 22:15). This was not only because He was going to institute the Eucharist2 at that Passover, at the Last Supper. Rather, like the God that He is, seeing all things, He knew the way in which the celebration of the Eucharist, that is, the perpetuation of the sacri-fice of the cross, would be multiplied; He knew the way in which He would remain as food, as food and drink for our souls, in the sacrament of the Eucharist. This is why He was intensely joyful, and He was overjoyed at all Masses, including this one.
II
Today, I want to talk about a topic that certainly is related to the Eucharist. Several days ago the Abbot of the Valle de los Caídos said, “We are perhaps living during the greatest religious war, in which not only the Christian structure must be wounded, but even all of the human and historical supports that sustain it, even nations.”[3] There is a planet-wide attack against everything Catholic: the faith, sacraments, morality, piety, spirituality, mar-riage and the family, the human person, Christian politics, the economy, everything social, modesty, happiness, self-control, the freedom of the children of God, education, authority, friendship; in short, everything that smells of Catholicism is the object of mockery, scorn, ridicule, and denial.
With the certainly that comes to us from faith, we know that, in spite of all the powers of evil, the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against the Church (cf. Mt 16:18), as Our Lord said.
The Catholic priesthood suffers a particular attack, above all from those who seek to exalt any fault whatsoever that they seem to find in priests, be it real or imagined. They believe that we Catholics are as stupid as they are. Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that “from the fact of being wicked a priest does not cease to be Christ’s minister, because our Lord has good and wicked ministers or servants. Hence (Matthew 24:45) our Lord says, Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant? and afterwards He adds, but if that wicked servant says to himself, (v. 48), and so on. The Apostle (1 Cor 4:1) says, Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, and afterwards he adds, I am not conscious of any-thing against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted. Paul was therefore certain that he was Christ’s minister, yet he was not certain that he was a just man.”[4]
Our Lord Jesus Christ prophesied that there will always be wheat and tares until the end of the world (cf. Mt 13:24-30). Even among the Twelve there was one who was a traitor (that is, 8.66%. If we are now around more than 1,000 million Catholics, there should be 86 million traitors in the world and, of the 400,000 or so Catholic priests in the world, there should be 34,640 traitors, because we cannot do better than Jesus Christ!).
“Consequently, a man can be Christ’s minister without being one of the just. This belongs to Christ’s excellence, Whom, as the true God, things both good and evil serve, since they are ordained by His providence for His glory. . . . The priest consecrates the sacrament of the Eucharist, not by his own virtue or power, but rather as a minister of Christ, in whose person he acts. Hence, it is evident that priests, even though they might be sinful, can conse-crate the Eucharist.”[5]
III
When our Lord speaks of the Good Shepherd, He also speaks of bad shepherds. As Saint Augustine[6] teaches: “The Lord Jesus is speaking to His sheep: to those already so, and to those yet to become such, who were then present; for in the place where they were, there were those who were already His sheep, as well as those who were afterwards to become so. He likewise shows to those then present and those to come, both to them and to us, and to as many also after us as shall yet be His sheep, who it is that had been sent to them. All, therefore, hear the voice of their Shepherd saying, I am the good Shepherd. He would not add good, were there not bad shepherds. But the bad shepherds are those who are thieves and robbers, or certainly hirelings at the best. We ought to examine, to distinguish, and to know all the characters whom He has here depicted. The Lord has already unfolded twopoints which He had previously set forth in a kind of covert form: we already know that He is Himself the door, and we know that He is Himself the Shepherd. Who are the thieves and robbers? They are those who are foreign to Him, those who come in order to rob and to kill. The Gospel text also names the hireling and the wolf, and the porter was also introduced by name. Among the good, therefore, are the door, the doorkeeper, the shepherd, and the sheep; among the bad are the thieves and robbers, the hire-lings, and the wolf.
We understand the Lord Christ as the door, and also as the Shepherd, but who is to be understood as the doorkeeper? For the former two, He has Himself explained; the doorkeeper He has left us to search out for ourselves. What does He say of the door-keeper? To him, He says, the porter [doorkeeper] opens. To whom does he open? To the Shepherd. What does he open to the Shep-herd? The door. And who is also the door? The Shepherd Him-self. Now, if Christ the Lord had not Himself explained, had not Himself said, I am the Shepherd, and I am the door, would any of us have ventured to say that Christ is Himself both the Shepherd and the door? For had He said, I am the Shepherd, and had not said, I am the door, we should be setting ourselves to inquire what was the door, and perhaps, mistaken in our views, be still standing before the door. His grace and mercy have revealed to us the Shepherd, by His calling Himself so, and they too have revealed to us also the door, when declared Himself such. However, He has left us to search out the doorkeeper for ourselves. Whom, then, are we to call the doorkeeper? Whomsoever we fix upon, we must take care not to think of him as greater than the door itself, for in men’s houses the doorkeeper is greater than the door. The doorkeeper is placed before the door, not the door before the doorkeeper; be-cause the porter keeps the door, not the door the porter.
Perhaps we ought to understand the Lord Himself as the doorkeeper, for the shepherd and the door are in human respects as much different from each other as the doorkeeper and the door, and yet the Lord has called Himself both the Shepherd and the door. Why, then, may we not understand Him also as the doorkeeper? For if we look at His personal qualities, the Lord Christ is neither a shepherd, in the way we are accustomed to know and to see shepherds; nor is He a door, for no artisan made Him, but if, because of some point of similarity, He is both the door and the Shepherd, I venture to say, He is also a sheep. True, the sheep is under the shepherd, yet He is both the Shepherd and a sheep. Where is He the Shepherd? Look, here you have it; read the Gospel: I am the good Shepherd. Where is He a sheep? Ask the prophet: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter (Is 53:7). Ask the friend of the bridegroom: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29). Moreover, I am going to say something of a still more wonderful kind, in accordance with these points of similari-ty. For both the lamb, the sheep, and the shepherd are friendly with one another, but from the lions as their foes the sheep are protected by their shepherds. Yet of Christ, who is both sheep and Shepherd, we have it said, The Lion of the tribe of Judah has pre-vailed (Rev 5:5). All this, brethren, understand in connection with points of similarity, not with personal qualities. It is a common thing to see the shepherds sitting on a rock, and there guarding the cattle committed to their care. Surely the shepherd is better than the rock that he sits upon, and yet Christ is both the Shep-herd and the rock. All this is by way of comparison.
Therefore, brothers, let us not be disturbed in understanding Him in harmony with certain resemblances as Himself the door, and also the doorkeeper. For what is the door? It is the way of entrance. Who is the doorkeeper? He is the one who opens it. Who, then, is He that opens Himself, but He who unveils Himself to sight? See, when the Lord spoke at first of the door, we did not understand: so long as we did not understand, it was shut. He who opened it is Himself the doorkeeper. . . .
But what are we to say of the hireling? He is not mentioned here among the good. The good Shepherd, He says, gives His life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them (Jn 10:11-13). Here, the hireling does not bear a good character, and yet in some respects is useful. He would not be called a hireling if he hadn’t been hired by his employer. Who, then, is this hireling who is both blameworthy and needed? Here, brothers, let the Lord Himself give us light, that we may know who the hirelings are, and not be hirelings ourselves. Who is the hireling? There are some in office in the church of whom the Apostle Paul says, They all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ (Phil 2:21). To whom is he referring when he says: who seek their own? He means those who do not love Christ freely, who do not seek after God for His own sake; these are the ones who are pursuing after temporal advantages, gaping for gain, coveting honors from men. When such things are loved by an overseer, and when for such things God is served, whoever this one might be, he is a hireling who cannot count himself among the children. For the Lord also says of such ones: they have received their reward (Mt 6:5). Listen to what the Apostle Paul says of Saint Timothy: I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be heartened by hearing news of you. For I have no one comparable to him for genuine interest in whatever concerns you. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ (Phil 2:19-21). The shepherd mourned in the midst of hirelings. He sought someone who sincerely loved the flock of Christ, and around him, among those who were with him at that time, he found not one. It is not that there was no one then in the Church of Christ but the Apostle Paul and Timothy, who had a brother’s concern for the flock; but it so happened at the time of his sending Timothy, he had no other son of his about him; only hirelings were with him, who sought their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Yet he himself, with a brother’s anxiety for the flock, preferred sending his son, and remaining himself among hirelings.
Hirelings are also found among us, but the Lord alone distin-guishes them. He who searches the heart distinguishes them, and yet sometimes we know them ourselves. Indeed, it was not with-out purpose that the Lord Himself said also of the wolves, By their fruits you will know them (Mt 7:16). Temptations put many to the test, and then their thoughts are made manifest, but many remain undiscovered. The Lord’s fold must have as overseers, both those who are children and those who are hirelings. However, the over-seers, who are sons, are the shepherds.
But give heed to the fact that even the hirelings are needed. There are many in the Church who are indeed following after earthly profit, and yet they preach Christ; even through them the voice of Christ is heard. The sheep follow not the hireling but the Shepherd’s voice speaking through the hireling. Hearken to the hirelings as pointed out by the Lord Himself: He says, The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example (Mt 23:2-3). What else did Christ say but, “Listen to the Shep-herd’s voice speaking through the hirelings? For sitting in Moses’ seat, they teach the law of God; therefore God teaches by them. But, if they wish to teach their own things, hear them not, do them not.” For certainly such seek their own interests, and not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. No hireling has dared to say to Christ’s people, “Seek your own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” For his own evil conduct he does not preach from the seat of Christ: he does injury by the evil that he does, not by the good that he says. I tell you, “Pluck the grapes, and beware of the thorn.” I am glad to see that many of you have understood, but, for the sake of those who have not grasped the meaning, I shall repeat these words with greater plainness. How can I say, “Pluck the bunch of grapes, and beware of the thorn”? When the Lord says, Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? it is quite true. Alt-hough what I said might seem to contradict this, it is also true: Pluck the bunch of grapes, and beware of the thorn, for sometimes the grape-cluster, springing from the root of the vine, finds its support in a common hedge. Its branch grows, becomes em-bedded among thorns, and thus the thorn bush bears fruit that is not its own. Nor has the thorn been produced from the vine, but has become the resting-place of its runner. Make your inquiries only at the roots. Seek for the thorn-root, and you will find it apart from the vine; seek the origin of the grape, and from the root of the vine it will be found to have sprung. Moses’ seat, then, was the vine; the morals of the Pharisees were the thorns. Sound doctrine comes through the wicked, as the vine-branch in a hedge, a bunch of grapes among thorns. Gather carefully, so as in seek-ing the fruit not to tear your hand; while you are to hear one speaking what is good, imitate him not when doing what is evil. Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you – gather the grapes; but do not follow their example – beware of the thorns. Even through hirelings listen to the voice of the Shepherd, but be not hirelings yourselves, seeing you are members of the Shepherd. Indeed, Paul himself, the holy apostle said, I have no one comparable for genuine in-terest in whatever concerns you. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ, draws a distinction in another place between hire-lings and sons. See what he says: some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, others from good will. The latter act out of love, aware that I am here for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not from pure motives, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my impris-onment. These were hirelings who disliked the Apostle Paul. Why such dislike? It is just because they were seeking after temporal things. But see what he adds: What difference does it make, as long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed? And in that I rejoice. Indeed I shall continue to rejoice (Phil 1:15-19). Christ is the truth: let the truth be preached in pretense by hirelings, let it be preached in truth by the children. The children are waiting pa-tiently for the eternal inheritance of the Father, the hirelings are longing for, and in a hurry to get, the temporal pay of their em-ployer. For my part let me be shorn of the human glory, which I see such an object of envy to hirelings: and yet by the tongues both of hirelings and of children let the divine glory of Christ be published abroad, seeing that, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed.
We have seen who the hireling is also. Who, but the devil, is the wolf? What was said of the hireling? A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. Was the Apostle Paul such a one? Certainly not. Was Peter such a one? Far from it. Was such the character of the other apostles, save Judas, the son of perdition? Surely not. Were they shepherds then? Certainly they were.
Who is the hireling? He is the one who sees the wolf coming, and flees, because he seeks his own interests, and not those of Jesus Christ. He is one who does not venture plainly to rebuke an offender. Look, someone or other has sinned, and grievously sinned; he ought to be rebuked, to be excommunicated. But, once excommunicated, he will turn into an enemy, hatch plots, and do all the injury he can. At present, he who seeks his own interests, not those that are of Jesus Christ, in order not to lose what he seeks after, the advantages of human friendship, and incur the annoyances of human enmity, keeps quiet and does not adminis-ter rebuke. See, the wolf has caught a sheep by the throat; the devil has enticed a believer into adultery, and yet you hold your peace, you utter no reproof. O hireling, you have seen the wolf coming and you have fled! Perhaps he answers and says, “See, I am here; I have not fled.” You have fled, because you have been silent; you have been silent, because you have been afraid. The flight of the mind is fear. You remained with your body, but you fled in your spirit, which was not the conduct of him who said, For even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit (Col 2:5). For how did he flee in spirit, who, though absent in the flesh, yet in his letters reproved the fornicators? Our passions are the mo-tions of our minds: joy is expansion of the mind, sorrow the con-traction of the mind, desire a forward movement of the mind, and fear the flight of the mind. You are expanded in mind when you are glad, contracted in mind when you are in trouble; you move forward in mind when you have an earnest desire, and you flee in mind when you are afraid. This, then, is how the hireling is said to flee at the sight of the wolf. Why? This is because he has no concern for the sheep. Why does he have no concern for the sheep? This is because he works for pay. What does that mean? He seeks a temporal reward, and will not dwell in the house forever.”
IV
There are good and bad shepherds, and there always will be. It was prophesized! Let us not be scandalized as the Pharisees were in the face of evils. May we not diminish the excellence of Christ, who orders even these things for His glory!
With this in mind, let us pray that we might not imitate the bad shepherds, and pray that the greatest possible number of priests might be good ones, a grace that we ask for these newly ordained priests whom we commend to the Virgin Mary.
I end with a poem of Saint Theresa of Avila:[7]
All ye who with our Master fight,
And ‘neath His banner take your stand,
Oh, sleep not, sleep not, ‘tis not night:
There is no peace in all the land.
A Captain brave to do and dare,
Our God was pleased on earth to die,
So let us follow manfully,
Since it was we who slew Him there.
Who would have thought that life so fair
Could be to death so close at hand?
Oh, sleep not, sleep not, ‘tis not night
And God is driven from the land.
To die for us upon the tree
A willing Host Himself He gave,
Our souls to enlighten and to save
By suffering so cruelly.
Oh, what a conquest this will be!
Oh, war how glorious and how grand!
Oh, sleep not, sleep not, ‘tis not night
And God is driven from the land.
Let no one shrink but onward go
Unheedful if your lives be lost,
For they who never count the cost
Are they who true salvation know.
And He Who guides us here below
Will be our Prize if firm we stand.
Oh, sleep not, sleep not, ‘tis not night:
There is no peace in all the land.
So let our solemn pledge be given
To die for Jesus every one,
And, when our life on earth is done,
We’ll keep our wedding-day in Heaven.
Follow we Him Who thus has striven
And goes before our little band.
Oh, sleep not, sleep not, ‘tis not night:
There is no peace in all the land.
[1] Homily preached at the First Mass of 14 newly ordained priests at “Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word” Seminary (San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina) December 4th, 2005.
[2] Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, S. Th., III, q. 81, a. 1, ad 3.
[3] Cf. www.politicaydesarrollo.com.ar [Visited November 30th, 2005].
[4] Saint Thomas Aquinas, S. Th., III, q. 82, a. 5.
[5] Saint Thomas Aquinas, S. Th., III, q. 82, a. 5.
[6] Tractates on the Gospel of John, 46. Translated by John Gibb. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 7. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Litera-ture Publishing Co., 1888).
[7] Cf. The Complete Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus: Vol III, Poems, Trans. E. Allison Peers, London 1950, 309-310.
