Spirituality
May 13, 2014
10
Fr. Brendan McGuire is pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose and a Vicar
General of the Diocese of San Jose. As Vicar General, he is responsible
for special projects such as the recently launched Saint Katharine Drexel
Initiative to revitalize Catholic Schools in the Diocese. Before being ordained
in 2000, Fr. Brendan was an executive in a technology company and still
loves to use technology such as Facebook, podcasts and YouTube to bring
people to a deeper relationship with Christ. Email him at [email protected].
Sunday, May 11, 2014
The Shepherd
We know different people in different capacities. Some people we know as our
family (parent, child, sibling, uncle, aunt, etc.). Other people we know as bosses,
employees or co-workers. Still others as teachers, students, doctors, nurses, patients.
We know people in different ways because we have different relationships with
them in different capacities. Each relationship comes with different expectations.
For example, we have different expectations of our parents than of our doctors.
In the Gospel of May 11, we hear of an unusual relationship between sheep and
shepherds. In ancient times, the shepherd had a unique relationship with his sheep.
Typically he would have a small flock of sheep and he would know his sheep by
name. Shepherd relationship is more akin to a pet owner relationship. He knew
them by name and when he called them, they came because they recognized his
voice. If a sheep got hurt in any way, the shepherd would tend to that wound immediately. Most shepherds were nomadic so they would sleep with the sheep. If
a sheep got hurt badly, the shepherd would carry it on his shoulders. If a sheep
got lost, he would corral his sheep and then go find the lost sheep. That was the
expectation; that was the understanding of what the shepherd does.
So when we hear today that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep,
Jesus reminds us that he knows us by name, and when he calls us, we ought to
know his voice; when we are hurt, he will come and tend to us; and when we are
lost, he will find us. That is a very personal relationship with Jesus.
Yes, Jesus promises to care for us, to find us when we are lost and to protect us
when we are in times of darkness. But we also are called to model our lives after
Christ. That means we are called to go out and take care of the hurting sheep
among us. We are called to find the lost sheep among us. We must act as a shepherd to one another. All sounds fine and wonderful for our immediate family, but
for others too? Yes indeed!
The fold we are part of is not just our immediate family. Our fold is that of our
larger Christian community. We are called to reach out to the jobless, the underemployed, the people who are on the streets. We have a purpose. Our purpose
is to be like the Good Shepherd and as best we can to reach out to those who are
hurt. Today may we look for an opportunity to develop a personal relationship
of the Good Shepherd with someone lost or hurt; every little gesture will make
a difference.
T
he Valley Catholic
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Oxymoron
The term “oxymoron” refers to a figure of speech that puts two apparently
contradictory terms together. For example: an “open secret” or a “jumbo shrimp.”
There are others more tongue in cheek such as “government intelligence” or “honest politician.”
In today’s reading, we hear of a biblical oxymoron that is ve