Good Shepherd Sunday of 2012

A few years ago, as I was preaching at the first Mass of Thanksgiving of a newly ordained priest, I made reference to a quotation of St. John Mary Vianney that prior to my ordination filled me with awe and reverence and after my ordination filled me with trembling. The homily was on the gift and mystery of the priesthood and the citation from the patron saint of priests illustrated in radical terms just how important the priest is in the salvific plan Jesus established. "Go and confess to the Blessed Virgin or to an angel," St. John Vianney began. "Will they absolve you? Will they give you the body and blood of Our Lord? No, the Blessed Virgin cannot make her divine Son descend in the host. Even if you had two hundred angels there with you, they could not absolve you. A priest, no matter how simple he may be, can. He can say to you: go in peace, I forgive you”. Many in the desacralized modern world look at the liturgy and the sacraments as nothing more than aesthetic or affective experiences, and hence judge the priesthood solely on the basis of the "usefulness" of priest's service to those in material need. Pope Benedict XVI has always stressed the importance of the priesthood and the gift of ministerial priesthood, showing how a priest's principal service — leading the faithful to offer their whole lives with him to the Father through Christ — is precisely what will spur them to a love of neighbor that goes beyond the mere alleviation of their material needs. So, today, Good Shepherd Sunday of 2012, the teaching and example of St. John Mary Vianney can serve as a significant point of reference for us all. The Cure of Ars was quite humble, yet as a priest he was conscious of being an immense gift to his people: A good shepherd, a pastor after God's heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy, precisely because he can bring God to them and them to God. My dear brothers and sisters: this is a Sunday in which all of us are called to pray for all priests, especially for our Holy Father, our beloved Archbishop, our auxiliary bishop, and for all the priests of the Archdiocese of San Antonio ■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.