4th Sunday of Easter 2021 - The Good Shepherd Feeds, Guides, and Protection + Vocation Sunday

 In Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus uses many different titles and images to describe himself.  “I am the bread of life” he says.  “I am the vine, you are the branches”?  “I am the resurrection and the life,” “I am the Way, the truth, and the life”?  In today’s Gospel Jesus uses a very tender image, when he says, “I am the good shepherd.”

Several Good Shepherds are found throughout Scriptures.  Abel, son of Adam, was the first shepherd in human history.  For bringing to God the firstlings of his flock, the Lord looked favorably on Abel and his offering; yet tragically Abel also became human history’s first murder victim, killed by his jealous brother Cain.  

Abraham was a shepherd, as was Jacob.  So was Jacob’s favorite son Joseph, who was shepherding his father’s flock when he was betrayed by his brothers.  Moses was shepherding his Father-in-law’s flock when he stumbled across the burning. Before becoming king of Israel, David was a shepherd.  And the prophet Amos was a shepherd before being sent by God to denounce Israel’s idolatry and hallow prosperity.

Shepherds who were murdered, shepherds who became kings, shepherds who gave God’s law and spoke in the name of the Father, shepherds who became heads of great families.  In Jesus, we see all these things wrapped up into one.  He is a shepherd who was a prophet, who revealed God’s Law, who was also betrayed and murdered, yet also a King, and head of the great family, the Church.

Scripture describes God Himself as a Shepherd.   The 23rd Psalm is probably the most beautiful literary expression of God’s shepherding care.  The Psalm tells us that God is the Shepherd who feeds us in green pastures, who leads us to safety, who protects us in dark valleys.  He feeds, he guides, he protects.

On the 4th Sunday of Easter, ever year, we read from the 10th chapter of St. John, and recall that Jesus IS the Good Shepherd, who feeds, guides, and protects.

How does he feed us?  The 23rd Psalm says that he “prepares a table for us in the midst of our foes”.  Amidst all of the evils of the world, the good Shepherd gathers us to be fed by his Word. For “not on bread alone does man live, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  We are then fed with the supersubstantial bread of the Eucharist. Without this food, the flesh and blood of our Lord, we do not have life within us.

Secondly, Jesus the Good Shepherd guides his flock.  The 23rd Psalm says, “he leads us in right paths for his name’s sake.”  How does he lead and guide us? He certainly leads by example. He teaches us by the virtue and goodness of His own life, how to give ourselves away in self-sacrifice. We are to be poor in spirit as he was poor in spirit. We are to be pure of heart as he was pure of heart. We are to work for peace, feed the hungry, cure the sick, preach the word, pray, as he. By studying the faith, by following in Jesus’ own footsteps, by looking to the example of the saints, we learn how to walk rightly. Jesus guides us to become the people God made us to be, and shows us what it really means to love one another and love God.  

Finally, Jesus the Good Shepherd protects his flock.  Jesus tells us that there are thieves and robbers who seek to steal, slaughter, and destroy His flock. There are wolves who want to seize and scatter the flock.  Yet, at his Holy Name it is the thieves, robbers, and wolves who scatter. Demons flee at the mention of his name.  We can be assured that any evil we must face, we face with him at our side.  The Christian is never alone.  When we are assailed by the fiery arrows of the enemy, we have the protection of his grace. When we are bombarded with the worldly errors that we draw us away from the Truth, he protects us by sending his apostles and prophets into our lives. In the moment of temptation, he protects us by sending his Holy Angels to remind us of our Christian identity. When we begin to despair of our salvation due to our many sins, he protects us by reminding us to hope in his promises.

The Good Shepherd does not fail to feed, guide, and protect his flock; rather the unhappiness and sin in our lives is always a result of failing to head our shepherd’s voice.

This Sunday is a special World Day of Prayer for vocations to the priesthood.  As I mentioned last week, the Church needs men who believe rightly, teaching rightly, and practice rightly. This week we pray that the Good Shepherd might inspire many young men to become shepherds in the new millennium.  We need priests who will feed and guide and protect the flock, don’t we? 

The Good Shepherd continues to call young men to serve the Church as priests and all of us have a responsibility to help them hear the shepherd’s invitation.  Parents, grandparents, god parents, encourage your sons to prayerfully incline their ear to the shepherd’s voice—the consider the calling to the priesthood—to be the shepherds the Church needs.

The Diocese of Cleveland is blessed to have one of the greatest seminary systems in the country, and honestly, probably the world. I know for a fact that there are Vatican Cardinals who look to Cleveland to see how Cleveland has been so successfully in attracting so many young men to discern the priesthood, and how we are retaining so many young men.

As Bishop Pilla would often say, our seminary attracts young men who could be very successful in the different professions—men who could be doctors, lawyers, professors, movers and shakers. And yet good young men in our diocese continue year after year, to take the risk, to devote the time to discern God’s call. It is certainly a sure sign that the Holy Spirit is at work, when a very talented and gifted young man dares to ask the question, is God calling me to a life of holy ecclesiastical service? Is the Shepherd calling me to shepherd?

Our culture is becoming increasingly secular, and we need men to help us remain faithful to the Master—men who will proclaim the unchanging Good News of Jesus Christ and its bold message of salvation with conviction. May God raise up many good and holy priests to help us be holy, to help us work out our salvation, to equip us for the work the Master has for each one of us—to be his instruments in the world, that He may feed, guide, and protect others through us for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Easter Octave 2021 - Wednesday - Emmaus Word and Sacrament

 

As I mentioned yesterday, in ancient days the newly initiated would attend daily mass throughout the easter octave. The homilies would have a catechetical tone to help the newly initiated understand the mysterious meaning of easter, the sacraments they received, and apply the scriptures to their new way of life.

And isn’t that exactly what the Lord does in the Gospel today: shrouded in mystery, he meets a small group of confused disciples, he breaks bread with them in which they recognize his real presence, and he explains the scriptures to them—how what occurred on Good Friday and Easter Sunday was in fulfillment of his Father’s plan of salvation foretold in the Old Testament.

The whole Christian life is like a journey beginning at baptism, in which we encounter the risen Lord, and then subsequently grow in our understanding of discipleship as we walk the Way of Life.

And then like the disciples—hearing the word and breaking the bread—every time we attend Mass, we are encountering the Risen Lord—in the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Word we encounter the Lord challenging us, inspiring us, enlightening us, correcting us, healing us, deepening our understanding, inviting us, equipping us, and sending us out into the world, like Peter in the first reading, to bring the Lord’s good news and spiritual healing to others. Some people zone out during the liturgy of the word, but this dimension of the mass is of vital importance, and we do well having come to mass already having read a bit and reflecting on the scriptures, so that when they are proclaimed during Mass, we are ready for and receptive to the Lord’s life giving word.

And then as the disciples recognized the Lord in the breaking of the bread, we recognize the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist—bread and wine changed into his very body and blood. In all of the other sacraments Jesus gives us His grace, says St. Thomas Aquinas, while in the Eucharist, the “sacrament of sacraments,” He gives us His whole self, His divinity and His humanity.

Something happens within us when we encounter Christ in the Mass.  Our hearts do burn within us, as the Emmaus disciples—they are enflamed with love, enlightened with understanding, purified of selfishness, warmed and consoled, and tempered for the work of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. 

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

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

Octave of Easter 2019 - Wednesday - Easter Conversion through Word and Sacrament

Pope Benedict XVI wrote that the episode of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “shows the effects that the Risen Jesus works in two disciples: conversion from despair to hope; conversion from sorrow to joy; and also conversion to community life.”

Pope Benedict continued his homily, explaining what is necessary for the daily conversion of the Christian life. He says, “It is thus necessary for each and every one of us to let ourselves be taught by Jesus, as the two disciples of Emmaus were: first of all by listening to and loving the word of God read in the light of the Paschal Mystery, so that it may warm our hearts and illumine our minds helping us to interpret the events of life and give them meaning. Then it is necessary to sit at table with the Lord, to share the banquet with him, so that his humble presence in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood may restore to us the gaze of faith, in order to see everything and everyone with God’s eyes, in the light of his love. Staying with Jesus who has stayed with us, assimilating his lifestyle, choosing with him the logic of communion with each other, of solidarity and of sharing. The Eucharist is the maximum expression of the gift which Jesus makes of himself and is a constant invitation to live our lives in the Eucharistic logic, as a gift to God and to others.”

The Lord wants for us during this easter season the same thing he wanted for the disciples on the road to Emmaus during that first easter season: conversion from despair, sorrow, and isolation, to hope, joy, and community life, to communion.

And the program for us is the same as the Lord’s program for the disciples—their road is our road: listening to and loving the Word of God, sharing in the banquet of the Eucharist, and allowing God to transform us, to become what we have received in the Eucharist—a gift to others for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.
For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. And for the victims of the terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka and their families, for consolation in their grief, and assistance in their needs.

For our parish, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received.

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

3rd Sunday of Easter 2017 - Word and Sacrament on the Road to Emmaus

In a homily on the Emmaus story a few years ago, the holy Father, Pope Benedict, spoke about conversion.

“The Gospel of the Third Sunday of Easter — which we have just heard — presents the episode of the disciples of Emmaus, an account that never ceases to astonish and move us,” the Holy Father said. 

“This episode shows the effects that the Risen Jesus works in two disciples: conversion from despair to hope; conversion from sorrow to joy; and also conversion to community life.”

Conversion. There is an important word in the Christian life. Generally, conversion means any sort of change. Converting dollars to pesos, metric to standard. In the religious sense, we can speak of converting from one religion to another. St. Paul, for example, converts from being an unbeliever and persecutor of Christianity to one of the greatest and most heroic evangelizers of history. At Easter this year, here at St. Clare, 5 people from different faith traditions: Baptist, United Church of Christ, Methodist, and Presbyterian converted to Roman Catholicism.

In mathematics, converting from one type of unit to another is simple, if you know the formula. Moral conversion and religious conversion are not so easy, and rely heavily on the grace of God. Our 5 converts spent months undergoing formal training in the faith, and many of them would speak of how their journey to the faith took many different twists and turns throughout their lives.  Moral conversion requires more than intellectual training, converting from selfishness to generosity is not so easy. We have to break habits of the mind, renounce selfish ways, and make real effort to be more generous.

And Pope Benedict is saying that the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is the story of conversion. In their conversion they came to a deeper understanding and joy in the risen Christ and love for him.  This is a conversion that the Lord wants for each one of us. To deepen our understanding, to deepen our faith, and to deepen our love.

For the life of the Christian isn’t simply about a one-time conversion at baptism, and then we are guaranteed of heaven. The life of the Christian is a journey of continued conversion: not just from unbelief to belief, not just from evil to good, but from good to better. Hopefully Easter 2017 finds you holier, more prayerful, walking more reverently, utilizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit more than you did a year ago. If not, what happened?

Well, whatever happened, Our Lord extends today the invitation to begin to walk again in the way of daily conversion.

Pope Benedict continued his homily, explaining what is necessary for the daily conversion of the Christian life. He says, “It is thus necessary for each and every one of us to let ourselves be taught by Jesus, as the two disciples of Emmaus were: first of all by listening to and loving the word of God read in the light of the Paschal Mystery, so that it may warm our hearts and illumine our minds helping us to interpret the events of life and give them meaning. Then it is necessary to sit at table with the Lord, to share the banquet with him, so that his humble presence in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood may restore to us the gaze of faith, in order to see everything and everyone with God’s eyes, in the light of his love. Staying with Jesus who has stayed with us, assimilating his lifestyle, choosing with him the logic of communion with each other, of solidarity and of sharing. The Eucharist is the maximum expression of the gift which Jesus makes of himself and is a constant invitation to live our lives in the Eucharistic logic, as a gift to God and to others.”

Did you catch the two necessary practices for ongoing conversion? Listening to and loving the word of God, and valuing more deeply the gift of the Eucharist.

A little less than a year ago, we were reflecting on the story of Martha and Mary, how Mary sat at the Master’s feet and listened to him and cherished him. And I think it was at this Mass, in which I presented a challenge…a 10-minute-a-day challenge. Not turning on the television, not doing the household chores, until you’ve spent 10 minutes reading and reflecting upon the Scriptures. I wonder if anyone took me up on that.

The scriptures help our hearts to be “warmed and illumined” as Pope Benedict said.  They help us “interpret the events of our life”. Have you ever been reading the Scriptures and discovered that it was as if they were written just for you? I hope so. If not, I encourage you to do a little more reading.

So the first necessary practice is listening and loving the word of God, the second is cherishing the Eucharist more deeply, allowing its power to becoming unleashed in your life. The Pope used a really neat phrase, he said when we accept the gift Jesus makes to us in the Eucharist, our lives begin to take on a “Eucharistic Logic”.

In the Eucharist, Jesus is offered to the Father, broken, shared, and poured out. And when we allow the Eucharist to convert us, our lives begin to take on the same logic, the same pattern: we allow ourselves to be broken, poured out, and shared for others. Our life becomes a “living sacrifice to the Father”.

When we truly begin to take seriously this call to listen and love the Word of God and to cherish the Eucharist we begin to experience profound conversion: conversion from despair to hope; conversion from sorrow to joy; and also conversion to become more involved in service in the life of the community, such as the ways being presented in today’s Ministry fair down in the gym.

May we accept the invitation the Lord makes to us today, to grow in grace, to allow him to shape and transform our lives through Word and Sacrament for the glory of God and salvation of souls.