Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, 21 April 2024, Maryville Chapel, Talamban

Allow me to begin with some good news. Last night I watched the live-streaming of two of our Salesian priests being ordained as bishops in Rome. And amazingly, one of them was our very own Rector Major, his eminence Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB, raised to the rank of Cardinal only in September of last year. He is actually the first (or if not, maybe the second) superior of a religious congregation to be made a cardinal by the Pope. Hence, from August 16 onwards of this year he will cease to be our Superior and will start his new ministry as an Archbishop closely collaborating with the Pope at the Vatican. For this extraordinary gift bestowed on the whole Salesian Family, we invite you to share our joy of being specially blessed by the Lord with this grace despite our unworthiness.

Today on this fourth Sunday of Easter, we celebrate and contemplate Christ as the Good Shepherd. In the gospel passage we have heard today he himself solemnly declared “I am the good shepherd.” What did he really mean by that? The term “good shepherd” was used by Jesus as an image to make himself better known to the Jews so that they would eventually understand the meaning of his death on the cross. We know very well that Jesus used to work as a carpenter in Nazareth and he inherited that trade from his foster father St. Joseph. So he was known by the Jews more as “the carpenter’s son” and he was never ashamed of it.

Yes, Jesus was actually a carpenter before he began his public ministry but when he spoke to his disciples he identified himself more as “the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.” For many of us this term may not mean so much because we are not a nomadic people. We hardly take care of sheep; and we do not usually find sheep being pastured by our neighbors. We are more familiar with goats, … because goats are more common almost everywhere, right? It is much easier to raise them, and it is much easier to catch one for the “pulutan” of drunkards. I’m sure many of you won’t deny that you love to eat “calderetang kambing.”

The Jews in Jesus’ time were very familiar with both sheep and goats, and for them the job of the shepherd was very important for the protection and propagation of these livestock. It was his task to bring the flock to green pastures and flowing streams; it was the shepherd who should make sure that all the sheep were healthy, strong and able to multiply; and it was the shepherd’s role to guard them against the surprise attack of wolves and thieves.

Therefore, when Jesus said “I am the good shepherd,” what he actually meant was that it was he who took upon himself the task of giving God’s people the best care he could, leading them to green pastures where they could feed abundantly. It was he who would keep them always strong and healthy, taking special care of the sick and the wounded. It was he who would guard them from the attacks of the evil one, keeping them united and complete, and searching out any of them who might be lost due to sin.

All this work of shepherding was done by Jesus during his public ministry in Galilee and in the surrounding areas until he reached the city of Jerusalem. Then towards the end of his life, he went up to Mt. Calvary, and there he laid down his life as the Good Shepherd to save us from the most terrible wolf that devours our souls. On the cross he became like a lamb slain and offered as a sacrificial victim to ransom us from the bonds of sin and to bring us back to the Father.

And so, as we encounter Jesus in this Holy Eucharist, we thank and praise him for having been faithful and true to what he said of himself “the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” St. John tried to explain this fact for us in the second reading we have heard today. He said, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called children of God.” Jesus’s death on the cross shows clearly how much the Father loves us his dear children despite our slavery to sin.

In the early Church God continued to show his love for his beloved people by sending pastors like Peter and John to make a crippled man walk again. This is what was proclaimed in the first reading today. And if we try to read the rest of the Acts of the Apostles, we will discover how Jesus continued to shepherd his people through his apostles, whom he went to distant places to search for the lost, to preach the good news and to perform miraculous cures for them. The apostles realized how gifted they were by the Risen Lord that they felt compelled to give and to share whatever gift they have received. They had neither silver nor gold, but they generously gave away the sole treasure that they had – no other than Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord.

Five hundred and three years ago explorers from Spain led by Ferdinand Magellan travelled to the most distant islands in the East by taking a westward route in search of spices. But what they found when they reached the island of Cebu were much more valuable than the spices they were looking for. They discovered native Cebuanos with hearts of gold willing to receive the light of Christ.

I invite you therefore to honor with gratitude and great esteem the priest chaplain of Magellan’s expedition, Padre Pedro de Valderrama. While on the shores of Cebu he took time and made an effort to speak to Raja Humabon via an interpreter about Jesus, our Lord. We can consider him as the first missionary disciple to preach to us the Gospel of the Lord. He was the good shepherd with the heart of Christ who left the ninety-nine and risked everything to travel across the Pacific in search of the lost sheep. And when he found us he put us on his shoulders in great jubilation. It was he who gave us a new birth in the life-giving waters of baptism and led us to the ever green pastures of the Eucharist.

On the other hand let us not follow the mistake of Magellan who probably thought that he could force Lapu-Lapu to accept the gift of faith. Like Humabon and his tribe, Lapu-Lapu and his men were also lost sheep that needed redemption. But faith was not something you can simply impose on others. It is rather a free gift from God who knows how to wait for the right moment. If Magellan only knew how to be a “good shepherd” he could have saved his life and the rest of his men. And he could have returned to Spain alive, thankful and victorious for having successfully made the first circumnavigation of the world, bringing home not only loads of spices but also glory to Spain, and the Christianization of eight-hundred souls for the glory God.

It is important therefore that in our mission of proclaiming the Good News, we should learn from the gentle courage of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who chose not to call down fire and brimstone from heaven to destroy the Jews who refused to accept the gift he came to bring, but instead willingly laid down his life for them and for the entire flock.

Allow me to inspire you further with a brief life story of the newly ordained Archbishop. His eminence Cardinal Angel has been serving as the Rector Major (also called superior general) of the Salesians of Don Bosco since 2014. Before that, he was the provincial superior of the SDBs in Leon, Spain from 2000-2006, then again from 2009-2014 he was appointed provincial superior of the SDBs in Buenos Aires, South Argentina where he worked closely with the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio now Pope Francis. By now, you might be thinking that this particular vocation is only for a few who are well-off. However you might be surprised to know that his eminence was actually born in 1960 to a simple family of devout Catholics in Asturias, Spain (not Cebu). His father was a good fisherman and his mother was a vendor who eagerly sold whatever fish his father would catch. Having said this we see clearly that anybody can be called by God to be a “Good Shepherd” to his people just like his Son, our Lord.

Let me close with another good news. Very soon our Salesian province of the south will be blessed again with some more precious gifts: one month from now on May 24 three Salesian deacons will be ordained priests. One of them comes from the hills of Mantalongon, Dalaguete, another one from Kidapawan, Mindanao, and the third one from Quetta, Pakistan, a Muslim country. God indeed hears our prayers for priestly vocations and blesses us with pastors who will continue the shepherding mission of Christ here on earth.

We thank those among you who had been helping us in our work for vocations by tirelessly extending your financial and prayerful support. May God bless you abundantly for your generosity and unfailing help. In this Holy Mass we pray above all for young people in various parts of the world most especially in this community that they may be able to discern and discover their true calling in life. And we hope that one day they too may freely decide to answer God’s invitation to greater service in the Church as ordained priests or professed religious following the heart of Christ, the Good Shepherd. GiGsss!

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