“The Good Shepherd: Our Future of Abundant Life and Love”

Within the framework of his apostolic visit to Hungary, His Holiness Pope Francis presided at nine thirty in the morning the Divine Liturgy in the “Kossuth Lajos” square in Budapest in the presence of a large number of believers. : “As for me, I have come so that life may be for people and it may be abundant in them.” This is what the good shepherd does: he gives his life for his sheep. And so Jesus, as a shepherd going in search of his flock, came to find us while we were lost; as a Shepherd who came to snatch us from death; And as a shepherd who knows his sheep and loves them with infinite tenderness, he brought us into the fold of the Father, and made us his children.

Pope Francis continued, saying, “Let us contemplate, then, the image of the Good Shepherd, and let us stop at two actions that he does, according to the Bible, for the sake of his sheep: first he calls them, and then he takes them out.” First he “calls his sheep.” At the beginning of our salvation history, we do not exist with our entitlements, abilities, and structures; Rather, there is in the original God’s call, his desire to reach us, his concern for each one of us, and the abundance of his mercy that wants to save us from sin and death, in order to give us life in abundance and endless joy. Jesus came as the good shepherd of humanity to call us and bring us home. Therefore, remembering with gratitude, we can remember His love for us, who were far from Him. Yes, when we “lost our way like sheep” and “everyone turned to his own way,” He took upon Himself our iniquities, bore our sins, and brought us back to the heart of the Father. Thus we heard from the Apostle Peter in the second reading: “You were once lost like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” Even today, in all the circumstances of life, in what we carry in our hearts, in our loss, in our fears, in the sense of defeat that sometimes attacks us, in the prison of sorrow that threatens to imprison us, He calls us. He comes as a good shepherd and calls us by our names, to tell us how precious we are in His eyes, to heal our wounds and take upon Himself our weaknesses, to gather us in unity in His fold, and to make us in harmony with the Father and with one another.

Brothers and sisters, as we are here this morning, the Holy Father added, we feel the joy of being God’s holy people: we are all born of his calling; It is He who called us and therefore we are His people, His flock, His Church. He has gathered us here so that, though we are different from each other and belong to different communities, the greatness of His love binds us all together in one embrace. How beautiful it is to be together: bishops and priests, monks and the lay faithful, and it is nice to share this joy with ecumenical delegations, heads of the Jewish community, representatives of civil institutions and the diplomatic corps. This is Catholicism: we are all Christians, and the Good Shepherd has called us by our names. We are called to accept and spread his love, and to make his fold inclusive and never exclusive. Thus, we are all called to foster relationships of fraternity and cooperation, without being divided among ourselves, without considering our communities an environment limited to certain people, and without being preoccupied with defending our personal spaces, but by being open to mutual love.

After the shepherd calls the sheep, “he takes them out,” Pope Francis continued. He had first invited her into the barn and now he was pushing her out. We are first gathered into God’s family so that He may then raise us up as His people, but then we are sent out into the world to become courageously and without fear announcers of the Good News, witnesses of the love that has recreated us. This movement – entry and exit – we can understand from another image used by Jesus: the image of the door, when he says: “I am the door, and whoever enters through me will be saved; he will enter and go out and find pasture.” Let’s listen again to this: it goes in and it goes out. On the one hand, Jesus is the door that opened wide in order to bring us into the communion of the Father and to experience his mercy; But, as everyone knows, an open door is used not only to enter, but also to exit the place we are in. And so, having brought us back into the bosom of God and into the fold of the Church, Jesus, who is the door, makes us go out into the world: he pushes us to go to meet our brothers and sisters. Let us remember this well: all of us, without exception, are called to this, that we may step out of our comfort zones and find the courage to reach every suburb that needs the light of the Gospel.

The Holy Father added, Brothers and sisters, that we are going out and going out means that each of us becomes, like Jesus, an open door. It is sad and painful to see the closed doors: the closed doors of our selfishness towards those who walk beside us every day; the closed doors of our individualism in a society that risks being lost in loneliness; closed doors of indifference to those who live in pain and poverty; Closed doors to those who are strangers, different, immigrants, and poor. Even the closed doors of our ecclesial communities: closed between us, closed to the world, closed to “illegal residents”, closed to those who yearn for God’s forgiveness. Please: let’s open the doors! Let us also try to be – in words, actions and daily activities – like Jesus: an open door, a door that never closes for anyone, a door that allows everyone to enter and experience the beauty of the Lord’s love and forgiveness.

The Pope continued: I repeat this especially to myself, and to my brother bishops and priests: For us shepherds. Because the shepherd, Jesus says, is not a thief or a thief; That is, he does not abuse his role, does not oppress the flock entrusted to him, does not “steal” the space of the lay brothers, and does not exercise strict authority. Let us be encouraged to always be open doors: “facilitators” of God’s grace, experts of closeness, willing to give their lives, just as Jesus Christ, our Lord and all of us, teaches us with open arms from the Cross and as He appears to us every time on the altar, the living bread broken for us. I say this also to my lay brothers and sisters, to catechists, to pastoral workers, to those who have political and social responsibilities, to those who simply go about their daily lives, sometimes with difficulty: be open doors. Let us allow the Lord of life to enter our hearts, and His word that comforts and heals, so that we may then go out and in turn be open doors in society. We must be open and inclusive towards each other, in order to help Hungary to grow on the path of fraternity, on the path of peace.

Pope Francis concluded his homily by saying, dear ones, Jesus the Good Shepherd calls us by our names and takes care of us with infinite tenderness. It is the door and whoever enters through it has eternal life: therefore it is our future, the future of “life that flows into us”. Therefore, we never feel discouraged, we do not allow anyone to rob us of the joy and peace that Jesus gave us, we do not get caught up in problems or indifference. Rather, let us allow our Pastor to accompany us: with him our lives, our families, our Christian communities and all of Hungary, sparkle with new life!