People sometimes ask me how I prepare for my homilies and how long it takes. I think it was Archbishop Fulton Sheen who said that if he was supposed to preach for five days he needed five minutes of prep. If he was supposed to preach for five minutes he needed five days of prep. For whatever reason, though, this was a hard homily to write this week. I followed my usual pattern of reading the readings a week ahead of time. My first draft was talking about how we can sometimes be like sheep, not the smartest creature on God’s green earth, and follow the wrong shepherd. My second draft was basically an apology for all the ways that I don’t live up to the model that the Good Shepherd sets for us priests. But neither of them “felt” right in my gut; not what God wanted me to say.
The readings are not overly complicated. Jesus calls Himself the gate and the shepherd in the Gospel, the second reading talks about how we had gone astray like sheep, and we heard the familiar psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd,” which is why this weekend of Easter is referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday. But nothing was sticking as I prepared it. So hopefully this does the job. If not, chalk it up to an off-week.
“‘I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.’” We get caught up in a lot of things in our day-to-day life. We have responsibilities, concerns, points-of-view, and things that occupy first place in our mind. Add to this all of the things that come to our mind with COVID-19. And then there’s politics. Oh how we love to engross ourselves in what’s happening politically, and whether or not it jives with our political views.
Now, all of those things are important. If you don’t keep in mind that you need to feed your family, problems quickly ensue. If you’re not noticing the green light changing to red, you could hurt yourself or another. We need to be our brother’s keeper and practice good hygiene and social distancing to help lessen the spread of COVID-19. And politics is certainly worth engaging in, as a way to make sure that the City of Man reflects, to the greatest extent possible, the City of God. But is that living? Or as the great George Strait, the King of Country, sang, “There’s a difference in living and living well.” Jesus, the King of Kings, and King of George Strait, said, “‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?’” Paying attention to food, money, traffic, viruses, and politics are all important. But do we really think that’s what Jesus meant when He said that He came to give us abundant life? Is abundant life the daily grind to make a living and provide for the family? Is abundant life just watching cars on the road and traffic signals? Do you feel you’re living an abundant life trying to navigate the ever-changing rules on how not to spread COVID-19? Is sharing and retweeting political posts and arguing and trolling people really what we think is of the utmost importance in life?
Jesus did not come to bring us a life slightly better than the one we have now. The life that Jesus came to bring, the life He came to shepherd us to, is more different than we could ever imagine. It’s not an improvement where we’re still giving the most thought and concern on our the day-to-day, but a life filled with the grace and power and love of God. Jesus did not come to shepherd us from one good pasture to another. He came to shepherd us from death to life, from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy.
The saints sometimes get foretastes of this abundant life, and we hear about saints who go into ecstasy–the overwhelming experience of pure happiness, not the drug–as they have communion with God. They give us an example, as a way to encourage us on with them to what Christ desires for us all.
That’s what made the Apostles preach as they did, as we heard in the first reading. This reading is part of St. Peter’s speech at Pentecost, where the Apostles and disciples were so ecstatic (literally from the Greek meaning out of the everyday status) that people thought they were drunk. But Peter, having experienced the joy of the Risen Christ, and given the power of the Holy Spirit to preach it, had to tell the people what they knew. Or, as St. Paul would later say, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” And it’s not merely telling the people about Jesus and the abundant life He offers. It’s also about repenting, being baptized, and receiving the Holy Spirit to receive that promise of abundant life.
So do you want that abundant life, or do you want to settle for the humdrum in which we so often find ourselves? Abundant life is your inheritance, your birthright through baptism; you need only claim it. Yes, we will still have to operate in this world and be mindful of all of our daily needs and activities. But our hearts and minds can already be joined to God, and we can, even now, enjoy the verdant pastures where Christ, the Good Shepherd, desires to guide us to enjoy abundant life.
