The Good Shepherd

Our new Pope, Leo XIV, was elected after only three ballots. We thank God and ask the Lord to fill him with the fullness of the Spirit as he begins the task that has been asked of him, of being the chief shepherd.

Last Wednesday and Thursday at Mass, as the Cardinals went into conclave, I used the prayers in the Roman Missal: For the Election of a Pope. This is what we prayed for: ‘a pastor who will please you by his holiness and to us show watchful care.’ The prayer after communion reads: ‘Gladden us with the gift of a shepherd who will instruct your people by his virtues and imbue the minds of the faithful with the truth of the Gospel.’ The words ‘pastor’ and ‘shepherd’ identify the qualities that are essential for one who is to be Pope.

This 4th Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday because, in the three-year cycle, we have readings from St John’s Gospel recognising Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Because of this, we are asked on this Sunday to pray especially for young men whom God is calling to share in the ministerial priesthood of his Son Jesus.

I look back on my early life as a boy in Clapham, and recognise that my thinking about whether God was calling me to the priesthood was greatly influenced by my local parish priest, Joe Sullivan. His humour and personality affirmed to me that to answer the call to priesthood did not mean you were cut off from ordinary humanity. To be a priest, you have to be truly human. I realise now that his presence in my life was an encouragement and affirmation. He was an ardent yet gentle preacher of the Gospel. His life showed me what it meant to be a shepherd who knows his sheep — who in turn, through him, will hear the voice of Christ.

Please pray that God will provide shepherds for us. Pour out in your church a spirit of piety and fortitude, to raise up worthy ministers for your altar and make them ardent yet gentle heralds of your Gospel.