One of the blessings of life in my home parish is that, once a month, we welcome the Ephpheta community for the deaf and hard of hearing into our liturgy. Sometimes I am lucky enough to be rostered on as the commentator at Mass, and I get to use the very few words or phrases in Auslan that I have picked up from them. The deaf community are very generous in their response when I sign Good Morning, Thank You or Peace be With You at various points in the Mass. No matter how poorly I do it.
What brings the community to mind for me this week is the
Gospel reading about the Good Shepherd. In it, Jesus declares that ‘when the
shepherd leads out his flock, the sheep follow because they know his voice.
They never follow a stranger because they do not recognise the voice of
strangers’.
It is a strong sensory image, and one that makes sense when
I think of calling home from overseas and hearing my wife’s voice at the end of
the line. Once I can hear her voice, we no longer seem so far apart.
But this makes me wonder about the experience of those that cannot hear a loved one’s voice. Or those that cannot see a familiar face. This is not my experience, so I cannot really understand it, but what comes to my mind is that – whether it is a voice, a face, or some other sense that is engaged – what Jesus is really speaking about is knowing and being known.
And that truly coming to know someone is a result of spending time with them - of being present to them.
The pastoral image of the Good Shepherd is of a God that wants to know us - to be present to us. The challenge that is that it asks me to invest myself in our relationship in the same way. To be present to Him - in the eucharist, and in the everyday.
To be inspired by the Good Shepherd to be a better sheep.
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