Stand by me

This past Sunday, which was both the 4th Sunday of Easter and Mother's Day, the wives of the deacons of our parish preached.  This is the homily text from my wife Therese.

Today is the fourth Sunday of Easter, which is unofficially called “Shepherd Sunday”.  If you’re like me, one of your favorite parts of Mass at St. Edna’s is listening to Fr. Rodolfo tell us stories about his life growing up on the farm.  I could listen to those all day long. Taking care of trees, sharing a bicycle, helping out his family.   I’m sure he could tell us a fantastic tale of how he took care of sheep on his family farm, he could tell us what sheep are really like and what it really means to be a shepherd.

I’m a city girl.  I grew up first on the South Side, in West Englewood, and then in Evergreen Park.  I’m not sure I’ve even seen a sheep up close.  We went to the State Fair once, so we might have ducked in the sheep barn and seen a few, but they didn’t make an impression.  I definitely remember seeing the bunnies and the prize-winning afghans.

So I don’t know about sheep and shepherding, but the readings today help us understand the love and care that Jesus, the Good Shepherd and God, our Father give to us, the sheep of their flock.  The second reading has such beautiful words:  “They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them.  The Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  We have a Good Shepherd to follow, who loves us and takes great care of us.  God’s love for us is deep, is strong, is infinite.   Jesus wants to lead us to a place where we will have everything we need.  We can put our trust in our Shepherd and follow Him.

When preparing this reflection, I was trying to picture myself back in the day when I was a mother of small children, leading my four perfect children, who were walking dutifully behind me, following me carefully.  Honestly, I think I tried that once.  It was at Woodfield, and we walked about a hundred feet, and I turned around, and I only had three of my four children left.  My son Nick had already managed to wander off.  People are harder to lead than sheep. We want to be our own shepherds, to do things our way.  This is not a bad thing, this is how we are made.  God has blessed us with minds and free will, and we are going to use them, even if it means that we are not always following our shepherd, even if it means that we will sometimes wander off. 

Are the sheep who wander off lost forever?  Definitely not.  Our Shepherd will look for us and bring us back.  He never stops loving us.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us “No one can take them out of my hand.”  .I love that image, being in God’s hands.  Right at this moment, we are being held in God’s loving embrace.   He is as close as this, right now.  Even when we wander, our shepherd is not far away.  Think of that.  Feel the comfort that we have a Shepherd we can trust.  Jesus is with us, beside us, in every moment.

I don’t know about sheep and shepherding, but I know about anxiety, and occasionally, distress.  I’m a mother, after all.  Every one of us, from the most senior member of this community gathered today to the smallest baby, has experienced anxiety and distress.  We’ve been sick.  We’ve been alone.  We’ve failed.  These are just part of life.  When these things happen, and they will happen, we may think our shepherd is far, far away, but He never is.  God is always there, with love, and comfort, and care.  We being held by our Lord, who will never leave us, and will never stop loving us.  We have a Shepherd that we can always trust.

No, I don’t know about sheep or shepherds, but recently I have been spending a bunch of time singing and kind of dancing in St. Edna’s Snack Theater production, #blessed.  One of the numbers I decided to be in is “Stand By Me”, because I figured that any song with “Stand” in the title would not involve much, if any, dancing.  I was right.  Sometimes I stand still and sing “Stand by me, stand by me, Ooo ooo, stand by me.”  Sometimes I move a little bit to the right and then to the left singing “Stand by me, stand by me, ooo, ooo, stand by me.”  When I sing or listen to a song, I love to think about its message, what the lyrics mean to me, what images the song evokes.  One of the ways we can think about the song “Stand By Me” is as a prayer to our Good Shepherd when we’re going through those times of anxiety, those times of distress:  “When the night has come, and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light we see.  No I won’t be afraid, no I won’t shed a tear, just as long as you stand by me.”

“If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall, and the mountains should crumble to the sea.  I won’t cry, I won’t cry, no I won’t shed a tear, just as long as you stand by me.”

“Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me.”

And here is God’s answer:

“Whenever you’re in trouble, stand by me.  Darling, darling, stand by me.  Stand by me. Stand by me. Stand by me.”