OUR NEW SHEPHERD

The past few days all of the media outlets have been filled with stories about our new pope.

So I figure I may as well join the fun.

Has anyone else noticed how appropriate our recent mass readings have been for the occasion of the election? Here are a few thoughts.

The Acts of the Apostles

At every mass during the Easter season, we read a section from the acts of the apostles. The plot of this book is very simple: it tells the story how, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the apostles spread the faith to the rest of the world, starting, of course in Jerusalem. It doesn’t take long before the action speeds up. On the day, the pope was elected, we heard the story of the conversion of Saint Paul, who would spread the gospel to the Greek-speaking world. The Good News would no longer be confined to Israel, but would now spread to the Gentile world. The psalms and antiphons have echoed the theme, “All you nations, sing out your joy to the Lord."

The Bread of Life

After listening to passages from the Acts of the Apostles in the first reading, we were

presented with passages from the gospel of John, Chapter 6, the so-called “Bread of Life chapter.“ We heard first the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus as the new Moses bringing us the new manna from heaven. Then the emphasis shifted to Christ as the bread of life “I am the bread come down from heaven. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” We learned that we are all one in Christ, one bread, one body. The theology of the Eucharist teaches that we are all one in the Lord.

The Good Shepherd

Last Sunday’s gospel shows Jesus speaking with Peter, the first Pope. The risen Lord gives him his mission, repeating it three times: "Feed my sheep." The week ends with "Good Shepherd Sunday."  The Alleluia verse before the Gospel summarizes the theme contained in all three readings: 

"I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;

I know my sheep and mine know me."

The good Shepherd cares for the one flock. And the flock is not just one particular group, but all of the Father’s children. Pretty appropriate bookends for the week during which the Lord gave us a new shepherd!

Pope Leo XIV

The Holy Spirit has guided the college of Cardinals to choose for  us a New Shepherd whose whole life has been a witness to the worldwide reach of the Church. He speaks several languages and has been to many different countries around the world. Although he is an American citizen, he is also a citizen of Peru, where he served as a bishop for almost 10 years. 

While so many of us waited impatiently for the name of the new pope to be announced, the television cameras kept panning the crowd in Saint Peter’s Square, where many people were waving flags of different nations from around the world. It was a celebration of the worldwide reach of the church.

After the identity of the new pope was announced, the camera showed a couple of people proudly holding up and shaking a large American flag. I immediately groaned out loud. “No! It’s not about what nation he's from! It’s not like the World Cup competition!“

Later that day, however, I started to ask myself “What were those Americans shouting as they were waving their flag?“ My first thought had been that they were shouting. “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” like a bunch of rowdy, soccer fans. But what a difference it would make if they were shouting “Viva il Papa! Viva il papa!“ I hope that this is indeed what they were shouting. If that's so, then I publicly apologize to them for my rash judgment.

Let us all pray hard for our new pope. May he convince the 1.4 Billion Catholics in the world that we are called to be the successors of those first missionaries in the Acts of the Apostles, to spread the Good News by the way we live.

May he help us to heal all the divisions in our church and help us to realize that we are all called to be one in the body of Christ.

May he find us attentive and obedient members of the one flock under the one Shepherd.

Finally, let us all do our part so that we can deserve to shout with all of our brothers and sisters around the world. “Viva il Papa!”