Do Be Sheepish! (4th Sunday of Easter, Year B)

To listen to this homily, click here.

            In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus talk about his role as a shepherd, not of sheep but of his faithful followers. For this reason, the Church has traditionally named this Sunday, “Good Shepherd Sunday.” For many generations of Christians, this image of the good shepherd has brought great comfort and consolation. But for those of us who are urban dwellers, and I assume that is most of us, we might not appreciate the full power of this pastoral image until we understand the role of the shepherd in the ancient world, during the time of Jesus. 

In the Middle-East, when Jesus was preaching, shepherding was quite different than it is now. Most shepherds who tended their sheep kept them for many years for the wool they produced and did not slaughter them for meat. Shepherds led their animals - they did not drive them from behind, and they stayed with their flock both day and night, often putting them in a cave when it was night and blocking the entrance from hungry predators and thieves using their very own body. A shepherd also had a staff with hook on one end which he used for two purposes: to protect the sheep from wild animals and retrieve them from dangerous situations by putting that hook around the animal's body and dragging it to safety. The shepherd went ahead of his sheep to find safe, nourishing places of pasture and every waking hour was spent caring for them.

Because they kept their animals for years, they came to know them well and the sheep in turn knew and trusted them. As a matter of fact, most shepherds would name their sheep and all shepherds had a certain call or song the sheep knew. This call or song was the crucial bond between sheep and shepherd; Oftentimes, because places of pasture and shelter could be scarce and hard to find, several flocks might mix together while feeding or sleeping for the night. However, when it was time to sort out the sheep, one of the shepherds would stand some distance away from the group and make his unique call, which his sheep knew. As the sheep of his flock heard him, they would run to him, leaving behind the other shepherd with his sheep who refused to come to the first shepherd because they did not know his voice.

This was the relationship that existed between sheep and shepherd. The shepherd was devoted entirely to the care, comfort, and protection of his sheep and the sheep were completely obedient to shepherd, trusting in him for all of their needs. With this background information, we begin to truly appreciate the power of Jesus’ statement when he states: “I am the good shepherd, 
 and I know mine and mine know me. I will lay down my life for the sheep. 
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, 
 and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

  

These beautiful words should give us great comfort. We need to remember that God, like a shepherd, helps his sheep; he helps us. There is nothing we need to do to deserve that help. Because of Christ’simmeasurable love, it is always there for us. It was won for us on the cross of Jesus, and secured for us forever by his resurrection.

Like a good shepherd, God watches over and protects his flock. When we cry out, he comes to us, when we search for him, he is there to assist us, and when we are in danger, he protects us. But the most marvelous thing of all is this: when we wander off and stray away from him, he seeks us out and calls us back to him. Through the Eucharist and the other sacraments he continues to nourish and bring us back to the safety and the comfort of his fold.

It is so easy to get lost in our world, to run around doing all the things that must be done, losing track of where we are, and where we should be. It is so easy to be busy and we get tired, discouraged, and find ourselves hungering for peace, but not knowing how to find it. It is so easy to stray from the Lord’s voice and end up in need of help. Far too often you and I spend too much time wandering around, unaware that we are lost, hungry, and without the Shepherd. When we finally realize our need for his helping hand, when we realize that we cannot see the shepherd, and we cannot see the other members of our fold, then we need to call out to him. We know the good shepherd is looking out for us at all times, and when he hears our cry for help he will find us in our hour of need.

It is so important for us to make time to be still. Stop doing things for a moment. Stop and listen for that comforting and life-giving voice of our divine shepherd. He will lead us to a place of peace, spiritual nourishment, and life, where our souls can be refreshed. This church is such a place. God has led you here today, and here at this Mass there is food for your journey, here there is water to refresh your soul, here you will find what your soul needs: a time of rest, a time of strengthening, a time of healing, in the presence of the Lord and his people.

I know this is a busy time for all of us: this is the season of weddings, graduations, confirmations, ordinations, first communions, exams, baseball, and so many other things. Yes, it is a busy time for many of us, and much, if not all, of what we are doing needs to be done. But these times of activity will not drain or discourage us if we stay close to Christ, our good shepherd, and remember that he is here to comfort, nourish, and restore our souls.

As we prepare to enter into the liturgy of the Eucharist, pause for a moment, close your eyes, and sense his presence in this place...Take comfort in knowing that God knows where you are and will answer your call... He knows each one of us by name and is ready to give us all we need...Jesus is the good shepherd, who lays down his life for us; there is nothing that you and I shall want if we follow him and trust in his care.

Find Him in the Breaking of the Bread (3rd Sunday, Year B)

To listen to this homily, click here.

Today's Gospel begins with a reference to the Eucharist; the disciples share how Jesus made himself known in the breaking of the bread. Even though these followers of Christ walked with Jesus all the way to Emmaus, it wasn’t until he began celebrating the Mass that they recognized him. They are filled with such excitement, wonder, and awe that they run back to Jerusalem the very same night and share their great news with the apostles who are hiding in the upper room.

I think of this excitement, wonder, and awe each year as we welcome new members into our Church at the Easter vigil. In much the same way, I love seeing the nervous excitement and pure faith of our second graders as they receive the Body and Blood of Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion. Just yesterday this happy moment took place and their lives will be forever changed whenever they get to be present at Mass and witness Jesus in the breaking of the bread. 

As a priest, I pray in a special way for our people who are going through these milestone moments of faith as new Catholics and first-time communicants. I ask God to protect them and help them grow their spark of Faith into a roaring flame. I ask for some of their zeal and reverence, in case some of mine has been lost from being around our Catholic faith my whole life. Lastly, I pray they don’t fall out of love with God or with His great gift to us: the Mass, the Breaking of the Bread!

Sometimes people tell me they don’t go to Mass anymore because they found it boring or they didn’t get anything out of it. I try not to be defensive but it always hurts my heart. Even when the complaints are not directed at me personally, its hard not to want to shake that person and say, “do you realize what you are saying?” Even with a boring homily, or less than inspiring music, or fidgeting servers, or whatever human imperfection was observed in one of the ministers at Mass, Jesus is still present in the breaking of the bread. Sometimes we make the Mass about us but it’s supposed to be about Jesus, offering himself to the Father for the salvation of the world. Sometimes we want instant gratification, entertainment, comfort, and inspiration, all in less than an hour a week from Mass. But meeting Christ in the Breaking of the Bread is a relationship which takes time and effort to understand and experience its life-changing effects.

Let me give a personal example that might illustrate the point. About five or six years ago I found out I had high cholesterol. Each year it kept going up despite changes in diet and consistent exercise. I didn’t want to go on a statin drug so my doctor said a natural remedy of oatmeal for breakfast and a supplement of red yeast rice might work but I would have to be faithful to using both every day for it to have an effect. Virtually every morning I have a breakfast of oatmeal, blueberries, raw honey, and walnuts. I'd prefer bacon and eggs or cinnamon toast crunch but over the past two years, my cholesterol has nearly been cut in half. If I start to skip this healthy breakfast and only eat it once or twice a month, or simply at Christmas or Easter, or only when I feel like it, I am certain my health will suffer accordingly. 

The same is true with our faith. If I eat Jesus' body and drink his blood at least once a week at Sunday Mass, I will have his life within me. My soul will become spiritually healthy. Sometimes I will enjoy Mass and look forward to being present at the breaking of the Bread. Other times it will be a deliberate decision, a labor of love. The important thing is that I commit to being present and active each and every Sunday regardless of what feelings I experience. This language of eating and drinking is not meant to be a rare event but something a Christian does often: weekly, maybe even daily. Perhaps this is why our wise God made weekly worship one of His 10 commandments. St. John writes in today’s second reading "The way we may be sure we know him is to keep his commandments." Let’s be regulars every week at Mass. Let’s be present at the Breaking of the Bread every Sunday so that we can recognize the Lord and his Love can be perfected in us.

There are three tried and true ways to make sure our relationship with God never stops moving forward: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer, which I have just spoken about with the Mass and of course our daily conversations with God, including reading Scripture, praying the rosary, and so many other ways we stay in contact with the Lord. 

Fasting, is that voluntary choice to give up good things from time to time to grow in self-control and also to remind ourselves that we are not the center of universe. Fasting can involve food, entertainment, sleep, or any other morally good thing and it helps keep us grounded as pilgrims working our way back to heaven.

Finally, Almsgiving, which is prayerfully giving some of our material resources to support the Church and help those who are less fortunate than us. There are many ways to do this, but probably the two main ways for you and me would be to contribute to Incarnate Word parish and the Annual Catholic Appeal, which Charlie Hildebrand is going to talk to you about now.

The Mercy of God (2nd Sunday of Easter, year B)

To listen to this homily, click here.

One of the first things amateur philosophers like to do is ask seemingly impossible riddles. For example, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Or when they study the philosophy of God: could God make a rock so heavy he couldn’t lift it. They will argue for hours whether the answer is yes or no, but ultimately it is a silly question. God is all-powerful and by definition, anything he creates is within his power. Perhaps more important to our reflection today, on this Divine Mercy Sunday is this riddle: Could God create a sinner so sinful he couldn’t forgive him? It might seem to be a silly question, but it is one that many people end up answering with a loud “yes.”

In our gospel we find the apostles huddled in the upper room. The doors are locked because of their fear of the Jews and perhaps due to their shame of abandoning Christ. Could Jesus forgive the weakness of his closest followers? Right away, we see that he does as he says, Peace be with you”! But even after Jesus appears to the ten who are present, we have Thomas, who was out doing other things. He refuses to believe unless he can put his finger in the nail marks and his hand into the side of Jesus. A week later Jesus returns, and notice, the doors are still locked; even after the apostles saw the risen Lord, they were still afraid, still hiding behind locked doors!! Again Jesus comes to them, gives them his peace and invites Thomas to touch his wounds that he might believe. Jesus will continue to appear to those who believe in him over the next forty days to strengthen them and prepare them to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Pay attention to how often they will need to hear these words-- “Peace be with you”. They need to hear these words before they can go out and spread the good news of his resurrection. Even though they have seen the risen Christ, even though one of them has touched the wounds of Christ, they still struggle with fear and disbelief.  

But the apostles aren’t the only ones who react to fear and shame by locking themselves away in a room. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that there are times that we find ourselves in the very same position in our spiritual lives. For each of us, there are parts of our lives, sins from the past, areas of our hearts that we lock up and hide behind closed doors. Perhaps, just a week ago, we came to this church with some good resolutions from our Lenten journey. Perhaps we saw some things in our lives that we could change so that we might grow closer to Christ. And maybe Good Friday inspired us to live better lives, as we reflected on the many ways that Jesus suffered and died to set us free. But now, a week after Easter, how have our lives changed? What difference has Easter made for us? Or do we find ourselves like the apostles; aware of the empty tomb but afraid and confused. What are those things in our hearts and in our lives that we hide behind locked doors because of fear or shame? 

Maybe we are more like the apostle Thomas in our disbelief. Perhaps we can’t quite bring ourselves to believe the good news of the resurrection until we see some proof for ourselves. 

And these are some of the reasons that the Church gives us this Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday; to remind us of the great love God has for us. Despite all our doubts, despite all of our fears, even with our worst sins, Christ is always present with those comforting words we hear in the gospel today: “peace be with you.” In a special way, we are reminded of the great gift that we have in the sacrament of reconciliation, where our sins, sufferings and shortcomings are wiped away by God’s endless mercy. In this sacrament of confession, Christ enters the upper rooms of our hearts to offer us peace where there is fear, forgiveness where there is self-hate, --- and faith where there is doubt. 

His mercy is always present. But he doesn’t force us to accept it. We have to do our part by inviting him in. And so today, on Divine Mercy Sunday I invite you and challenge you to make use of this great sacrament of mercy and forgiveness. I urge you to experience the peace and forgiveness that only the Resurrected Christ can give you by going to confession. There is no sin too great, no situation too hopeless for our Lord, who has conquered death itself. As St. John Vianney said: ‘the sinfulness of man is like a grain of sand compared to the mountain of God’s mercy.’ 

My prayer for each of us here today is that we experience the joy of this Easter season by encountering the divine and endless mercy of our God. May we let go of the fear and doubt in our lives that causes us to hide from God and from others by going to confession. In this way we will become a people of the resurrection, a people who hears and experiences the words our Lord speaks to each one of us, “peace be with you.”

He Has Rescued Us! (Easter 2018)

To listen to this homily, click here.

On October 14, 1987, a toddler named Jessica McClure was playing in her aunt’s backyard when she fell into an abandoned well, becoming wedged in a narrow crevice 22 feet below the surface. As rescue operations began, reporters and television crews descended upon Midland, Texas, where Jessica’s teenage parents were struggling to make a living. Glued to their tv’s, people around the world learned that “Baby Jessica,” as she was famously called, spent her time underground sleeping, crying, singing songs, and calling for her mother. They watched as emergency workers piped fresh air down the well, burrowed through solid rock to create a rescue shaft and, more than 58 hours after her ordeal began, hauled the frightened but alert toddler out of her cramped, dark prison.

In January, 1945, 121 volunteer U.S. Army Rangers set out to rescue more than 500 allied prisoners of war who had already survived the Bataan Death March, a brutal multi-day forced walk through the searing heat of the Philippine jungles. The POW’s were held in a notoriously brutal camp which was seen as the end of the line for the unlucky souls in captivity. To free their fellow soldiers, the Rangers snuck behind enemy lines and launched a surprise attack on the Japanese. The assault lasted 30 minutes and freed hundreds of soldiers, with minimal American casualties. 

These stories are just a couple of the countless, amazing moments where human life has been saved through courage, persistence, and ingenuity. People love the story of a successful rescue. In recent times we can think back to the miraculous rescue of 33 miners from a collapsed mine in Chile which took over two months or the "miracle on the Hudson” where all 155 passengers and crew were rescued after splashing down in the Hudson River.

In each of these cases, when people heard about these rescues, they were the talk of the town. There were celebrations, parades, and even trips to Disneyland. It was the topic of conversation everywhere and everyone felt good about the successful outcome. But over time, the memory of these miracles faded. In just a few years many people struggle to remember the details of what exactly happened or how amazing it was. Of course, it’s safe to say that those who were rescued never forgot the joy of being saved or the gratitude they felt towards those who helped them. More than likely, they gave thanks daily for their “second chance”, their new lease on life. 

One of the great doctors of our Church, St. John Chrysostom, exclaims that each and every one of us has been rescued by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Easter Sunday is the celebration, throughout the entire world, of the most important rescue that ever did and ever will happen. Before Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, humanity was trapped in the darkness of sin and death, unleashed by the original sin of Adam and Eve. We were completely unable to help ourselves regain friendship with God or enjoy the rest of heaven. Death had the final word and we were powerless in its grip. 

Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead, we were given another chance. Death no longer reigned supreme. Christ showed us he could defeat this ancient enemy when he rose from that tomb in Palestine, some 2000 years ago. 

One of the dangers for you and me, is that we have heard this story before. It happened a long time ago. We might feel far removed from that daring and life-saving rescue which changed the course of our world and our own personal destiny. We might even be at risk of being ungrateful to the Lord or unaffected by his heroic sacrifice which set us free. 

Which is why our Church calls us to pull out all the stops in our celebration (tonight) today. It’s why we will bask in the glory of the resurrection for the next 50 days of the Easter season until it ends with Pentecost. This is why we are asked to come to Mass each and every Sunday to join together in the saving sacrifice of the cross, right here at the altar. Those who remember are grateful and those who are grateful make sure their rescue is never forgotten and the sacrifices that were made were not in vain.

  Easter Sunday is a joyful reminder to say thank you to the God who rescued our souls. It is a reminder that Jesus loved each of us so much he died for our sins and made it possible for us to be with him in heaven. Today, as we gather with friends and family to celebrate and enjoy time together, let’s make sure we don’t neglect to thank the very person who gave everything so we would no longer be trapped by sin and death. Let us not forget His sacrifice! Every Sunday is a little Easter and every time we come to Mass, we say “thank you” to God for setting us free from the clutches of sin and death.

May the joy and peace of Easter fill our hearts and homes. May we never take this gift of salvation for granted or fail to thank our heavenly rescuer, Jesus Christ, risen and victorious forever!