FINDING OUR IDENTITY

 A REFLECTION FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

It’s very important to know who we are.  There’s a need that springs from the depths of our human nature that begs us to explore ourselves and find out not only what makes us tick, but what is the actual essence of our personality.  This is nothing to do with the utter nonsense that drools from the mouth of our more progressive brethren.  Gender identity is nothing to do with this exploration of our inner self.  We grow up knowing quite well whether we’re male or female, and any attempt to alter the nature that God gave us is by definition unnatural, and even blasphemous.  Nevertheless, as we grow in self-awareness, we do need to recognize what our own nature is beyond its obvious and scientific boundaries.

Our personality, by and large, is what it is.  We can’t change who we are.  But in recognizing our personality with its own individual faults and virtues, hopes and fears, sense of humor, abilities and energies, we are able to use this knowledge to channel our behavior into a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.  Am I nurturing and loving?  Then I should do what comes naturally, by being a good parent, raising children for God and taking care of my family.  Am I the studious and intellectual type?  In that case, I should learn to know God better and apply my knowledge to make the world a better place.  Am I physically strong, a hard worker?  Then I should provide for my family and help my neighbor when called upon.  There is an infinite number of personalities.  We are all unique, and God loves us for who and what we are.  It’s up to us, on the other hand, to channel our behavior so that it pleases God.  We can’t help who we are, but we can help how we act.  We must work with the tools God gave us so that we can return our own gift of love to him.

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we have the chance to make at least one very basic determination about our personality.  If the Lord is my Shepherd, then I must follow.  But what kind of animal follows a shepherd?  He’s followed actually by two species of animal, both of which he feeds and takes care of.  There are, of course, the sheep.  Today’s sermon focuses on us as sheep, passively following the Good Shepherd, blindly obeying his commands because of the faith and trust they have in him.  But there’s another animal you’ll see in the sheepfold, one that we sometimes forget about.  That’s the sheepdog.

The sheepdog is just as loyal to the shepherd as the sheep.  But he’s a different kind of animal altogether.  He actively helps the shepherd to guard the livestock, barking out warnings to the him when the sheep are in danger.  The sheepdog will even defend the sheep when they’re under threat.  And in normal times, when things are going well, the sheepdog moves quietly but rapidly around the sheep, herding them in, making sure they’re all going in the right direction and not wandering off. 

If we can find it within ourselves, we need to identify more with the sheepdog than the sheep.  Especially today, when our actual shepherds have gone missing in action and left both sheep and sheepdogs to the mercy of the wolves.  Priests, parents, teachers, whoever we are, we find ourselves more and more in this role of sheepdog, warning our children, our employees, our students, our parishioners, of the increasing dangers the world poses.  We can no longer content ourselves with being mere sheep—circumstances have determined that we take on the extra duties of the sheepdog, if it’s at all within the abilities of our personality to do so.