20th Week of Ordinary Time 2022 - Wednesday - Woe to the Shepherds

 On the fourth Sunday of Easter every year, we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. The Lord Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

Shepherds are found throughout the Scriptures. The Old Testament psalms describe God as a shepherd leading his flock to nourishing, restful, safe places.  Abraham was a Shepherd, as was Jacob.  Before he became King, David was a shepherd boy. All the way back in the first book of the bible, Abel was a shepherd before he was killed by his brother Cain.

 Good Shepherds feed, protect, and guide their flock. But in our reading from Ezekiel this morning, we hear not of good shepherds, but bad shepherds. Ezekiel gives this prophetic condemnation of the shepherds of Israel who are failing in their task at every turn. And they are failing not out of an excusable incompetence or forces beyond their control. The selfishness and greed and lusts of these bad shepherds is contributing to the scattering of God’s flock.

Several of the prophets at different stages in Israel’s history take aim at the complacent shepherds: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah. And of course the Lord himself is critical, and offers warnings, to the pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and scribes who were leading Israel away from God and using their positions of power for their own benefit.

I’m not going to lie: this passage should make the clergy tremble. It makes me tremble. Each of us will be held accountable by God for our sins, especially those sins which keep us from fulfilling our God-given vocations—vocations that we swore to uphold—to gather in the lost sheep, and to protect those in our fold. The shepherds of the church are not beyond reproach by God. 

Now, there are certainly those outside the Church, as well, who are in leadership positions: they lead people, teach people, govern people. And there are some good shepherds out there. But there are also some very very bad shepherds, who are misguiding our youth, instilling in them values and ideas which are repugnant to the Gospel and natural law. And many parents, who themselves are called to be shepherds, who have allowed their children, basically to be brain-washed. And we will all be held accountable.

But the good news, the good news in our gospel today, is that conversion is possible at every stage of life: in the morning, at noon, in the evening, our at the last hour of the day, even with our final breath, our generous God, offers undeserved mercy, to those who will admit that they have strayed. 

Bad shepherds—whether parents, teachers, politicians or priests are invited to change—to take up once again the mantle of a righteous leader—who like the good shepherd will lay down their life for the flock entrusted to their care. 

Pray for the shepherds—daily--of Church, nation, and families. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the love and faithfulness of the Good Shepherd will fill the hearts of the clergy, and for the protection of God’s flock from all error. Let us pray to the Lord.

That government leaders around the world may carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for freedom and the dignity of human life.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For the Church’s missions amongst the poor and unevangelized throughout the world, that the work of Christ may be carried out with truth and love. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the grace to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love our neighbors and enemies and those who persecute us, and to share the truth of the Gospel with all.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those who share in the sufferings of Christ—the sick, the sorrowful, and those who are afflicted or burdened in any way.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. Let us pray to the Lord.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - The path of beatitude and the path of woe

 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives his most famous sermon on top of a mountain: his Sermon on the Mount.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gives his first major sermon, which we heard today, not from the top of a mountain. In fact, St. Luke tells us that Jesus came down from the mountain, and taught his disciples and this large group of people on a stretch of level ground. This passage of Luke’s Gospel is known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, and is delivered immediately after spending a night in prayer and naming the 12 apostles.

In this sermon, the Lord teaches us how to live in such a way on this earthly plain, that leads to the joy of heaven. The path to lasting joy, he indicates, is the life of faith, one in which we place our trust in God rather than in money, in pleasure, in entertainment or in the esteem of others. 

Whereas Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount features eight aspects of the path to beatitude, in the Sermon on the Plain, the Lord offers four beatitudes contrasted with for “woes” or warnings. 

In contrasting the four beatitudes with the four woes, the Lord contrasts the way that leads to holiness and heaven with the way that leads to perdition. 

And the path of beatitude is a serious business, which is why the Luke introduces this sermon by telling us, “ Jesus raised his eyes toward his disciples,” In other words, Jesus looks each of us straight in the eyes as he gives us this teaching. It’s like a scene in the movie where the action stops and the main character stops and looks directly into the camera to explain what is really going on.

So let’s look closely at these four contrasts.

Firstly, the Lord contrasts “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours,” with “Woe to you are rich, for you have received your consolation.” This was a revolutionary teaching and still is one today: earthly riches are not necessarily a sign that you are blessed by God, nor that you are on the road to heaven. Riches cannot buy you real happiness, and they certainly cannot buy you eternal life; you cannot buy your way into heaven. So, a life bent on obtaining riches is a misguided life. We must never, never, never allow the pursuit of riches keep us from cultivating holiness. 

The second contrast is “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied,” versus, “Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.” 

There are people who make earthly pleasure their highest good. They live to satiate their bodily appetites to the detriment of their souls. Those who are physically full without Christ are spiritually starving to death.

The Christian, rather, is to hunger and thirst for holiness more than for bread and water—to hunger for God and the things of God.

Fulton Sheen used to say that there are two philosophies of life: The pagan philosophy is first the feast, then the fast. The Christian philosophy is first the fast, then the feast. Pagan seek to enjoy the goods of the earth now, but are deprived of what is truly substantial. Christians practice fasting, and self-control of our bodily appetites, so that we may feast in the eternal banquet of heaven. 

For a culture bent on instant gratification this is a difficult teaching. But if we don’t learn how to say “no” to some appetites we may find ourselves indulging in what is forbidden and deadly to our souls.

Next the Lord contrasts “Blessed are you who are now weeping for you will laugh” with “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.” 

There are many today who go from earthly diversion to earthly diversion, party to party, who don’t take life seriously because they claim they’re living for the present moment, as if that’s the most important thing in life. But in reality, they are trying to escape from reality, trying to insulate themselves from sadness and suffering as much as they can. They don’t realize that there will be a time when the music will stop, and poor choices catch up to you, not to mention having to come face to face with the eternal judge and being required to give an account of our use and waste of our earthly time and treasure.

Rather, the Christian, instead of running away from sorrow, fear, and death, we face these things with courage, faith and hope. There is power and grace when we unite our sufferings with Christ. There is heavenly consolation when we allow ourselves to weep with His blessed mother, or like St. Monica offer up our tears for the conversion of our misguided family members. 

Lastly, the Lord contrast “Blessed are you when people hate you, … exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” with “Woe to you when all speak well of you.”

Many people find it unbearable when people don’t like them. Social pressures are among the most driving forces in our culture. So when Jesus says, you will be hated by all because of me, some people, even Christians, say, fine, I’m not going to let anyone know that I follow Jesus, especially if my Christianity would affect my professional or social standing. 

The Lord presents us, here with a choice: will you live for pleasing God or pleasing man? Will you be a prophet or will you persecute prophets?

And this is a very serious choice—the most serious. Because this word “woe”—“woe to you” is a warning. Jesus is warning us that there are consequences for rejecting his teaching here. He doesn’t say, “it’s preferable if you are poor in spirit, but I understand, no big deal, it’s of no consequence if you ignore this stuff, live your best life as your feelings dictate them.” That’s the world talking. That’s the world perverting the Christian message. Living only for the earthly feast will mean exclusion from the heavenly one.

So, how can we take the Lord’s teaching today to heart? The Catechism recommends making an examination of conscience based on the beatitudes. That means reading through the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the plan and asking yourselves questions related to these truths: “have I sought after earthly riches to the detriment of heavenly ones? Have I pursued sinful pleasures instead of practicing temperance, chastity, moderation? Have I given into diversions instead of bringing my wounds and difficulties to God? Have I hungered and thirsted for doing what’s right, working to right the injustices that I perpetuated or participated in? Have I retreated in fear when it was my time to witness to Christ?” 

Jesus looks us in the eyes, he looks into our heart and speaks these words of truth, that we may follow the way he has tread before us. We do well to consider all those things we should fast from, restrict, and restrain, in order to walk more faithfully the path of beatitude for the glory of God and salvation of souls.