+I had a sermon written for today. It was theologically sound, somewhat interesting and challenging. But then I went to Pat Devine’s funeral and I realized that to truly teach you about the Parable of the Good Shepherd, I just needed to tell you about Pat.
Pat was my nephew John’s speech therapist throughout High School. John has severe physical disabilities. He is confined to a wheelchair, cannot speak with a voice and is fed through a feeding tube. He has every reason in the world to feel sorry for himself. But he never, ever does. He can’t because he’s too busy loving others. He is one of the fiercest Christians I know. He doesn’t just proclaim his faith on Sundays he lives it every single day. I always tell people, John is the best person I know. He became this way because of people like Pat Devine who never ever treated him with anything less than respect, and dignity. Who never ever gave him anything but hope and light and love.
As I contemplated Pat’s impending death these past few weeks (she had brain cancer and we knew how it would end) I couldn’t shake the thought that Pat, like John, wasn’t just a Christian who proclaimed, she was a Christian who lived. She didn’t just talk, she walked.
On Friday, as I sat at her funeral mass back home in Clarendon Hills Illinois, it hit me:
The story of Pat and John is the story of the Good Shepherd.
A Good Shepherd never gives up.
A Good Shepherd doesn’t rest until all of her sheep are safe.
A Good Shepherd won’t stop until all who need to be encircled in her fold of love have been found.
That’s the story of who Pat Devine was. And it is the story of who God calls us to be. As the priest said during his funeral homily, it is disrespectful to Pat to just shake our heads and say, “the world needs more people like Pat.”
What we need to do, what we must do, is pick up the mantel of Christ and be the Good Shepherd here and now.
Just like Pat.
Pat taught special ed kids. She taught speech to kids who couldn’t talk.
Now that may seem impossible, right? To teach speech to kids who are non-verbal due to physical handicap.
But you know what, it wasn’t impossible to someone who believed that all things are possible through Christ, someone like Pat.
What Pat taught was expression. What Pat taught my nephew John was that if he had a thought or an opinion or a desire, that he could communicate it. And she taught him that he should communicate it. Because she knew that he had stuff to say. She respected him, she offered him dignity and she strove, in all she did, for justice...not only for john, not only for the hundreds and hundreds of other students she taught in her career but for everyone she encountered.
Pat Devine was a Good Shepherd because Pat wouldn’t rest, she didn’t rest until all of her students knew that what they had to say—-even if they couldn’t say it the regular way with voice and words—was worthwhile, important and needed in this world.
Pat Devine helped make my nephew John who he is today: a 39 year old man with a body that has failed him, but with a mind as sharp as a tack and a soul as broad and open and welcoming as any God has created.
Pat Devine was someone who took what Jesus said and not only lived it, she shared it.
Pat Devine was someone who took what Jesus said and not only proclaimed it, but became it.
Pat Devine didn’t shake her head when she saw severely disabled children and think, “poor kids.” She got down and dirty with them and showed them just who they were—-beloved children of God worthy of dignity, justice and love....
Why did I need to share with you the story of Pat Devine? Because our faith means absolutely nothing if we don’t embody it in all we do. Because if we don’t embody it in all we do, we will be nothing more than the hired hand who, at the first sign of trouble, abandons his sheep and runs away.
When we embody our faith, as Pat did, as my nephew John does, people feel worthy, people feel seen, people feel heard, people feel loved.
And when that happens?
When that happens, wars end.
Hate dissolves.
The hungry are fed.
The naked are clothed, the broken-hearted are healed and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, reigns here on earth.
Why do we need the parable of the Good Shepherd? Why did I need to tell you about Pat Devine and my nephew John?
Because in our world, right here and right now, we need to do as they have done.
We need to love:
Fiercely. Boldly. Broadly and Fully.
My dear friends—
Be like Jesus.
Be Like Pat.
Do it well. Do it now. Do it always.
Amen.
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