The Good Shepherd
A Reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS

The Good Shepherd comes to heal us. In your mind picture a large flock of sheep. Perhaps that's hard for you to imagine in the U.S. since shepherding isn't so common here but in Spain, Australia or New Zealand there are large flocks. I’ve visited Spain and remember seeing great herds of sheep. Every flock has one or more handlers, shepherds, with their dogs which round up the sheep if they get too far away from the flock. Every now and then a sheep gets caught on barbed wire fencing or on some log and such. Then the shepherd will bandage up the sheep and dispatch it back to the stall or the flock depending on the severity of the injury. Shepherds really care for their animals. Many of you, like me, have or had pets. When your dog, cat or canary gets hurt, you are hurt because you love this animal as if it were your very own child.

Our relationship with the Lord is much the same way. I’ve heard it said that if we all obey God with the unfailing loyalty of a dog we'd all get to Heaven. God loves us beyond our wildest dreams. Well, then why does He make me sick, you ask; why do I get cancer, broken limbs or migraine headaches? Well, the fact is that He doesn't make us sick or wish for us to suffer. Illness and bad luck befalls us as a result of Original Sin. It strikes indiscriminately, without favoritism, without regard to piety, age, race or sex. We're all subject to the possibility of suffering of one sort or another. Often it is the misuse of the environment around us that should get the blame. God's total desire is to make us well. To heal us! He does this in various ways related to His plan for our salvation. Having faith in God is important, of course, but it is not the sole reason we experience healing. A baby who is healed, through prayer by the parents and friends, has no knowledge of Faith. We don't know how a baby thinks about God, if he is conscious of His love. The other aspect of a healing is love of others for us: this love is expressed through intercessory prayer. The people of God as a whole are praying, during every Holy Mass, for other people, for alleviation of the human condition. A huge column of prayer rises steadily from Christians and non-Christians all over the world to Heaven. We pray to our loved ones in heaven, to the Saints (St. Francis of Assisi), to Angels, and especially to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to Jesus, to God the Father and to the Holy Spirit. God wishes us to be joyful in our prayer to Him. He wants us to be faithful and most of all, He wants us not to sin.

Some years ago, a friend wrote me that he wasn't going to pray anymore because his prayers weren't being answered. I wondered where he thought his knee replacement operation came from. Everything that is done to us to relieve pain comes from God. It is the result of His desire for us to be well and to be happy. Sure, the doctor performed the operation but the doctor, like you and me, is only the instrument in God's hands. To look at the bigger picture sometimes will open our eyes! I pray for you, that Jesus, our Good Shepherd, will help you in your hour of need. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never works separately from the Father and the Son, so God resides in us when we love Him (that is, when we do our best not to sin.)

Wishing you His peace and all good,

Fred Schaeffer, OFS
3/18/2025 (from unpublished notes)

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