+By Bishop Andrew Nkea
Boston
![Bishop Nkea Bishop Nkea]()
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“The Lord is good, all the time and all the time, the Lord is good”.
Every fourth Sunday of Easter, we read about the Good Shepherd. For me it is not a mere coincidence, but God’s Divine Plan that my first official outing from Cameroon since my Episcopal ordination on August 23, 2013, is to the Catholic Community in Boston.
It is also by divine arrangement that I have come to visit the Cameroonian Catholic Community in Boston on the fourth Sunday of Easter which is the Good Shepherd Sunday. It is still by Divine Plan that I come to visit you on the second Sunday of May which is Mothers’ Day. I use this chance to wish a very Happy Mothers’ Day to all the mothers who are here present and all those who are absent. May God, who gave you the grace of motherhood, continue to bless you and fill you with joy in your children and in your children’s children. Amen. Lastly, it is still in God’s plan that all of you are here at this time and I am also here at this time. And so let us give thanks to God for everything, for it is His will in Christ Jesus concerning us. I bring you greetings from the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda, especially the Emeritus Bishop of Mamfe, Bishop Francis Lysinge. I also bring you greetings from the priests and some of your relatives, whose names I cannot here mention. But when they ask you if I gave you their greetings, kindly do me the favour of not refusing.
There are two questions I have been asking myself all through this journey: Why did I come first to Boston on my first outing from Cameroon as a Bishop? I do not know. Other people were calling and making arrangements, but thanks to Fr. Maurice Ebai, it turned out this way.
The second question is, why have I come to Boston at all? When the Bishop comes to visit a Christian community abroad, the first thing people think is that he wants money. No, I have not come here for money, although I will not refuse to take money, no matter how big the amount is. I have come here primarily in my capacity as a Shepherd, who seeks to go after his sheep wherever they are. I have come here as a pastor, to encourage you in your faith and to assure you that in spite the problems we have in Cameroon, the resurrection of Christ this Easter also took place in Cameroon. Alleluia. I have come to you like the “wounded healer” who feels the obligation to bandage the wounds of those who are bleeding, to bring healing to those who are sick, to bring comfort to those in any kind of stress and suffering, to bring unity to those who are divided, and to tell you that in spite the problems you have here in America, Jesus is truly risen from the dead, Alleluia.
I have come to you not in my own name but in the name of the one who called me and sent me. I come with the words of the prophet Isaiah on my lips, which Christ quoted when he said;
“The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me. He has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, to open the eyes of the blind, to set the down trodden free and to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.”(Lk.4:18-19).
My dear friends in Jesus Christ, this is my mission to the Cameroonian Catholic Community in Boston, and I assure you that we believe in the Church as being One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic. Wherever you are in the world, as long as you are in the Catholic Church, you are in the bosom of our mother the Church and you must feel at home.
In this vein, I wish to sincerely thank the Metropolitan Archbishop of Boston, His Eminence Sean Cardinal O’Malley, and his collaborators in the curia, who have been taking care of you and supplying your spiritual needs since you came here. I recongnise the presence of the Director of Cultural affairs of Boston Archdiocese who is here with us. I also wish to thank the Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Riley, Pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic Parish, Salem, and his parishioners, who kindly, generously and unreservedly welcomed the Cameroon Catholic Community to their parish and are doing all in their powers to be supportive. God will bless them in abundance.
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and the Church requests that we who are the sheep, must give unconditional, unflinching and total trust to Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep listen to my voice”.
This is a difficult text to explain to a people who are not used to sheep. Ordinarily, when someone calls another sheep, it is an insult and not a compliment. A sheep is known to be dull, docile, defenceless, and vulnerable to the wolf or sheep killers. Yet this is what Jesus wants us to be. Those who drive cars on roads where there are sheep know that once the shepherd crosses the road, the sheep must all cross, whether a trailer is coming or not. They will rather be crushed by the trailer than remain on the other side of the road away from the Shepherd. Why then did Jesus use the image of such a dull animal to describe his true followers? This must be understood in context.
The discourse on the good shepherd is given by Christ in John chapter 10. In John chapter 6, Jesus gave the teaching on the Eucharist and said he who does not eat my flesh and drink my blood will not have eternal life. Many of his followers reasoned this out to be a very difficult teaching and stopped following him. In John chapter 7, the leaders of the Jews decided to kill Jesus at the Feast of the Tabernacles because he claimed to be the Christ. In John Chapter 8, Jesus claims that his testimony was more authentic than that of Abraham, because he existed before Abraham and this greatly offended the religious leaders of the time. In John chapter 9, Jesus opens the eyes of Bartimeus who was born blind and this sparked another serious argument with the Jews. Jesus then said to them, “I came into this world in judgment, so that those who do not see may see and so those who see, may become blind” (Jn.9:39).
With all these forgoing arguments, Jesus then said to his followers: I am the Good Shepherd, anyone who wants to follow me must be like the sheep, and if you are not like the sheep, then you cannot be my disciple. This simply means that we cannot obstinately persist in arguments against the teachings of Jesus Christ who is God made man and who came that we may have life and have it to the full (Jn.10:10). It calls us to have great faith in the Shepherd first and then in following the shepherd wherever he goes, because we know and trust that he can only lead us to the right direction.
My dear friends, however, it is important to note that the reading does not talk about the good sheep but about the good shepherd. The Palestinian shepherd carried a bag of animal skin for food; a string and a staff. He cared for his sheep. Today in the Church, we see a symbol of the Shepherd’s care in the Bishop’s crozier. It curves at the top because he uses it to care, lead the sheep or separate the feeble and strong. Priests share with the Bishop the office of pastor and shepherd of God’s flock. We shepherd the flock in the person of Christ who is the good shepherd par excellence. Therefore, the teaching we give is not our own, but we teach in the name and the person of Christ who gave us the mandate, and woe betide us if we do not feed the sheep entrusted to our care.
It is hard to be a Christian and not be a sheep. We see problems in the Church today because people refuse to recognise their shepherds. People argue and criticise the Pope and Bishops and openly defy their teachings and instructions, yet they want to remain Christians. This is not possible. This explains why there are many Churches in the world. Sheep are stubborn to the shepherd and break off.
What kind of sheep are we? What is our relationship with the Church? Do we believe in the Pope’s authority? Are we in union with the Bishop of our local Church?
You are living in a free society where anyone can decide to be a shepherd tomorrow. If Jesus talks about the good shepherd then it is as opposed to bad shepherds. There are bad shepherds “ad intra et ad extra” that is, “within and without the Church. We must pray for the conversion of the bad shepherds, ad intra, and we must not follow the bad shepherds, ad extra. Catholic Christians fall prey easily to bad shepherds because if you go into most of the new ecclesial movements, most of their followers are Catholic Christians who are looking for miracles, healing, success and the gospel of prosperity without the cross. Jesus Christ is the good shepherd who says that “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, he must renounce himself, take up his cross every day and follow me”.
My dear friends, my advice to you therefore is:
-Love one another as Jesus has loved you. You come from various parts of Cameroon, but in this far away country, be brothers and sisters to each another. Do not glory in the downfall of each other, but rejoice in the progress and growth of your fellow countrymen.
Secondly, keep the faith. Fortunately, Cameroonians are generally a God loving people, no matter their confessions of faith. Do not come into the race for money and forget the God who guided you to where you are now. From most of our backgrounds we would never have been where we are now had it not been for God’s grace and favour. Therefore, do not see light and forget the source of light. Keep the faith and God will continue to help you in your difficulties.
- Be good citizens and law abiding residents of the United States of America and proverbially we say, “Never bite the hand that is feeding you”.
Lastly, do not forget where you come from. Keep warm the link between yourself and your roots, be it economically, socially or spiritually. May God bless all of you and keep you safe in your work. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.