Wine that smells like sheep.

Ever had a wine that smells a little like sheep? Weird, I know. But it’s one of my favorite things to find in wine and it points us to our challenge this week. That sheep smell tells us about how a wine was made and more importantly to this illustration: indicates where the wine is from. A yeast, Brettanomyces, (commonly referred to as “brett”) causes the smell and is common in “old world” (European) wines and generally avoided in “new world” (North, South, and Central American and Australian) wines. The wine smells like its place.

In 2013 the Holy Father addressed all the priests of the Church saying that priests should be “shepherds living with the smell of their sheep.” A good shepherd is intimately involved in the lives of the sheep, carrying a wounded (or frequently wandering sheep) over his shoulders until they are healed and ready to rejoin the flock. Put a sheep on your shoulders and you’re going to smell like the sheep.

If the sheep are struggling in a bramble, the shepherd enters the bramble to get them. If the sheep are lost, the shepherd goes and meets them in the wilderness. This week’s challenge is not written for our priests— it is written for us in the pews. Through our baptism, we “share in the priesthood of Christ: ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people…’” (1 Peter 2:9). (CCC, 1267, 1268).

We each have a call to minister to those around us. To enter into the lives of those we encounter, to “smell” like our community. This includes drawing closer than ever to those in our community whom we disagree with, those who are struggling and those in need of someone to pick them up and carry them for a few miles.

Our challenge this week: Minister to those around you. Be willing to enter into the lives and struggles of neighbors, family members, and those who have wandered away from the church—abide with them, carry them, and lead them home... Be bold enough to smell like sheep!

Christ, the Good Shepherd, is with us.
Cheers and God Bless