When I visited Italy for the first time, in 1977, I was driving toward my family’s village when I saw a shepherd leading a flock of sheep along the side of the road. I pulled over, rolled down the window, and lifted my camera. The shepherd saw me and began shouting and shaking his fist in my direction. I was perplexed.
In the back seat of my car was a man I had met in Salerno who had volunteered to show me the way to my destination if I would drop him off in Paestum. He explained to me that many shepherds were self-conscious about their social standing and objected to being viewed as curiosities.
I have seen shepherds since—in Italy and Israel—and have known better than to photograph them, even though cell phones have made it easier to do than it was in 1977.
This experience reminded me that the importance of a person’s work is often not reflected in how that person is compensated or regarded by others. The shepherd, for example, is indispensable as reflected in the passage from John’s Gospel that is read in today’s Mass:
“Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep … he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.”
Jesus used that metaphor to describe his own relationship with his followers. He is the indispensable leader; the salvation of the world—and of each of us—comes through him, and only through him.
This central fact of our faith always raises questions about its implications for people who have never heard of Jesus and people who have heard of him but have not accepted him as their Savior. Regarding those questions, the Church teaches that people who, “through no fault of their own,” have not followed Jesus still can be saved.
What “through no fault of their own” means is a judgment best left to God.
That doesn’t mean that we who follow Jesus have no role in the lives of those who do not. We are called from baptism to represent the Good Shepherd to the world, not by proselytizing, as Pope Francis has pointed out, but by living in ways that are consistent with the gospel of love, compassion, generosity, and justice.
We cannot say we follow Jesus if we do not live by his teaching and example.
On the other hand, we can help attract others to the Good Shepherd by reflecting his gospel in how we drive, how we do our jobs, how we treat people who provide us with services, in even the most mundane aspects of everyday life.
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Photograph by Joe Pregadio on Unsplash.
Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved. The passage regarding the wedding garment is from The New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved.
Charles Paolino is managing editor at RENEW International and a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey.