From the Sheep to the Cardinals

The faithful are united in prayer with the cardinals in the process of discerning a new universal pastor for the flock of the Church. This occasion brings to mind the beautiful and important passage of this Sunday’s Gospel reading: “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs’” (John 21:15).

These words from the Gospel of John reflect the need of the faithful to be fed, the desire of Jesus that they be fed, and the duty of the pope that he feed them. But what are the sheep fed with? All Catholics know the answer to this based on their faith: it is the Eucharist. And what is the Eucharist? It is Jesus himself, the gift of himself to us, which builds us up, unites us into the body we receive and become, the body which sustains us in communion with God. And who is Jesus? Peter’s faith, the pillar of the flock’s faith, tells us: “You are the Messiah, the Son of living God” (Matthew 16:16). But an additional insight into Jesus’s identity is given to us by Jesus himself: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And so, the pope feeds the members of the Church with God’s life, which is the truth that unites the flock on the way to the Father. This way is Jesus, as the famous “road to Emmaus” passage shows us in Luke 24. Peter’s office is thus a Eucharistic office: the particular Church is fully Church only insofar as it makes present the universal Church in its particularity through unity with the universal pastor who confirms his brethren in the one faith, in fidelity to the Lord. It does this by celebrating the mystery of the Eucharist in communion with the universal pastor, the bishop of Rome. This communion ensures that every gathering, every ecclesia, is the gathering, the ecclesia catholica. Hence why tradition refers to the pope’s office as one which “presides in love,” making it an office of service. Service of feeding the flock with the way, the truth, and the life, and of fulfilling the duty Jesus entrusted to this office. This means that the papacy is not an office which seeks to impose the personal will of its occupant, but which applies the will of the Lord, as the Lord applied the will of the Father.

It is easy to confuse one’s wants with one’s needs. But the real needs of the sheep can be found in the wants of the simple of faith precisely because of the simplicity of their faith. What they want, what they need, is to be fed with clear doctrine which points to the truth made flesh, the truth who is a person, the truth which is love, and the love which is the truth. When fed, they feel taken care of and they can go about the missionary work of bringing about this communion of “love in the truth” to the world.

Salvation history, precisely because it is a history, is a pilgrimage. We walk together toward the Father through Christ who is the way. The simple of faith want a synodal Church if synodality is Christocentric. Without Christ we scatter, and scattered sheep are confused and feel lost. The togetherness of synodality requires the service of personal authority. This service is guaranteed by the sacrement of Holy Orders. Without this personal dimension to complement the communal dimension, the anonymity of a confused brouhaha disorients the sheep who suffer needlessly because of it. The way is the truth and it gives the sheep life, vigor, and evangelistic zeal. The faithful are not advocating for a propositional reduction of truth wielded as a bludgeon, but for a clarity in the truth’s availability in the person of Jesus Christ, in his commandments. The commandments are not oppressive and arbitrary mandates which curtail our freedom or which are insensitive to our circumstances… they are what redeem us in the circumstances of a sin-wrought world. They free us from the archons of this world and enable us to unite with God in love. We want to be told both that much is expected of us and that God is all forgiving.

Without overreaction, candor is needed. A trend has become pervasive among the simple faithful: they are confused. They do not feel fed with Christ and they are scandalized by the oppressive anonymity of a bureaucratic Church. A Church which seems to be opening up discussions that have been closed. This is simply an empirical fact that the cardinals ignore to their serious detriment, and to the detriment of the Church. Many sheep don’t realize the difficulties, the burdens, the pressures, and the compromises involved in the governing of the largest religious body on the globe. Granted. And yet, even while keeping these real difficulties in mind, the sheep feel like an atmosphere of confusion has made things worse even for the pastors, for their witness and for the respect they need from the sheep. This is not some extremist minority-based grumbling. Dismissing it is to be blind to the real needs of the sheep who look to the pastors for guidance.

The faithful do not want a conservative pope or a liberal pope, they do not want a traditionalist pope or a progressive pope, they want a man, any man, who will feed them with Christ, whole and entire. The faithful, especially young Catholics and new converts, want to be challenged by the truth of the Gospel. They want to hear the sermon on the mount and the requirements of holiness. They want a Church which teaches that much is expected and that God can forgive any and all sins. Not a Church which teaches that the exceptions are the new rules. The faithful have no problem with pastors accommodating messy situations on the ground, they simply need the Church’s teaching offices to focus on the commandments of the Gospel and to let the local pastors apply their prudence with love. How can exceptions be discerned if they become the rule?

In conclusion, the sheep humbly ask the cardinals to listen to them, to listen to their need to be fed, and not to allow their personal will get in the way of the duty Christ has entrusted to them. We continue to unite ourselves in prayer with the cardinals, and we ask of God that he give us a pastor who will feed us with Christ, whole and entire.