Shepherds and Moms

5/10/2025

Shepherds and Moms

Dear friends on the journey,

When my youngest was three years old, he disappeared from the baby aisle in the Camarillo Target. He was standing next to me and a second later he was gone, leaving behind one tiny shoe. Now, I pulled this stunt on my mom, so I calmly checked under the clothing racks then behind the large-boxed items as well as the nearby toy section. He was nowhere to be found. Circling the store, I called then tearfully shouted his name while the manager was ready to shut down the store. In my panic-stricken state, I returned to the original spot only to find my curly toe-headed, smiley faced, angelic baby boy standing there, looking at me as if the last five minutes of terror had not happened. Twenty-four years later, I still do not know where he was hiding.

In last week’s gospel, Jesus instructed Peter to feed his “lambs” and our gospel today, Good Shepherd Sunday, continues the theme of Jesus as shepherd, my favorite image of God. And even better that it falls on Mother’s Day! After all, shepherds and moms have many similar qualities and values.

The voice of the shepherd and a mother is known intimately by their lambs and children. Science tells us that a baby begins to recognize their mother’s voice in the third trimester. Comfort, joy and relief are evident on a baby’s face when they hear their mother’s voice, even after the briefest of separations. We too know our Good Shepherd’s voice. We may not always hear it but he is always there, gently guiding and calling to us.

Shepherds and moms smell like their flock. Our late Pope Francis exhorted priests to “smell like their sheep,” meaning they should be so deeply connected to the people they serve, so close to share their joys and sorrows, and to be a source of comfort and support. This is what moms do daily. We absorb our children’s feelings, worries, joys, successes, sorrows. We know their moods, abilities, weaknesses, and rhythms. This is what Jesus does, and he invites us into that intimacy too.

Shepherds and moms tend, herd, guard, and guide their flock. Their primary role is to ensure the well-being of the flock by providing care, protection, and guidance. So, when one leaves or is lost, they will leave the many to find the lost one, as I did all those years ago and so many before me and since then. Jesus emphasizes this time and again in the gospels through parables – the lost son, the lost coin, and the lost sheep. Jesus will come after each one of us; no one is forgotten or left behind. No one can be taken out of his hand.

Today I extend special love to mothers who never got to hold their child, who have outlived their child, who gave up their child to another, who opened their hearts and homes to another’s child, who have complicated relationships or are estranged from their child. You are seen and you are not forgotten.