Like a duckling, Like a sheep, Like a child

Fourth Sunday of Easter

           

This time of year it’s not uncommon to see ducks, especially with all the rain we’ve had, and we may even see ducklings accompanying the mother duck.  What a disarming scene when you have those tiny little ducklings following behind their mother, going whatever direction she goes.  When children first learn to walk, they can sometimes resemble ducklings, waddling along, always trying to stay close to their mother if she starts walking to a different part of the house or yard.

            That image of a child (or a duckling) following its mother, is also the image that our Collect set out for us today as we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday.  In that prayer at the beginning of Mass we asked God to “lead us to share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble flock may reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before.”  Our prayer reflects Jesus’ desire, made known to us by our Mother, the Church, to follow Him, to stay close to Him.  Because Jesus is leading us, not to the safety of the nest or a pond, but to the home that was prepared for us, the “eternal pastures” which our Prayer after Communion will speak.  Jesus wants us to go to heaven, and the way He has set out for us to go there is to follow Him.

            Jesus is the one who leads us to heaven, but He’s not just one teacher out of many.  Jesus is also the gate of heaven, “the gate for the sheep” as He said in the Gospel.  And only if we enter through Him will we find those eternal pastures, the salvation we hope for.  Buddha will not save us.  The Qur’an will not save us.  The Law of Moses will not save us.  Eastern Religions will not save us.  Our horoscope won’t save us.  Only Jesus is worth centering our life around.  Only Jesus saves.  Yes, it is possible for those who, through not fault of their own do not know Jesus, to be saved.  But if they are saved, it is only by Jesus and His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  Jesus is the only way of salvation, which is why it is so important for us to spread the Gospel and encourage others to be baptized and live their lives as followers of Jesus.

            Baptism brings us into a relationship with Jesus so that we can follow Him, like sheep, or like a child and its mother, or like a duckling and a duck.  The Gospel helps us to recognize that path, and where Jesus is leading us.  Simply being spiritual doesn’t cut it.  There are lots of paths, but they don’t all lead to the same place.  If we take Jesus at His word, that “whoever enters through me will be saved,” then it’s important to go beyond just liking spiritual stuff, or acknowledging that there is a divine being out there somewhere.  It is important that we get connected with the Good Shepherd who walks ahead of us so that we can recognize His voice and follow Him.  Otherwise, if we do not recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, we are likely to follow other shepherds, who are not good, and who will not lead us to pastures of joy and peace and love, but are only thieves and robbers.

            Peter, in our first reading, preached to the Jews and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah because he was convinced that his people, the Chosen People of God, needed to recognize in Jesus their Lord and Christ, and to be baptized and saved “from this corrupt generation.”  Peter didn’t tell them that as long as they were spiritual they were doing just fine.  He didn’t even say that if they just continued on as they were they would be good.  He told them to repent from their sins and be baptized, so that they could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  He was telling them to begin a relationship with Jesus, to be baptized, so that they could follow Him, listen to Him, and conform their lives to Him.  He acknowledges in our second reading from his first epistle, that we had gone astray, like sheep, but Jesus brought us back to Himself.

            Also in our second reading, St. Peter gives us a couple of examples of how we can be like Jesus.  He tells us to be patient when we suffer for doing what is good, just like Jesus suffered for us, and did not open His mouth.  Peter reminds us not to return insult for insult, or to return a threat for suffering.  Those are two ways that we follow Jesus.

            Another great way to follow Jesus is to honor and respect mothers, as we do today as a country.  Following Jesus means promoting the vocation of being a mother as a way of holiness.  Mothers sacrifice so much of themselves: sharing their body with a tiny, new human life through conception; nursing their infant; waking up at all hours of the night to care for their child; spending countless amounts of money so that their child can have what it needs and wants, even though the mother often goes without.  Mothers often ensure that their child receives the gift of new life, and begins to know the voice of the Good Shepherd from a young age through having the child baptized, and teaching the child about Jesus.  And it’s hard enough with a father to assist in the ways that he can.  Too many mothers today find no support from their husbands and, whether legally or just practically, have to raise their children by themselves.  Following the Good Shepherd means assisting mothers and fathers in raising their children, and when only the mother does the work of raising the child, assisting her all the more.

            Today we are invited to stay close to Jesus, like a duckling and a duck, like a child with its mother, like a sheep with the shepherd, so that we can enter through the only means of salvation: Jesus Christ.  May our “kind Shepherd…be pleased to settle in eternal pastures the sheep [He has] redeemed by [His] Precious Blood.” 

Where's Jesus?

Third Sunday of Easter

           

Some of you may remember a series of books that either you, or your children owned, or maybe even they own one now.  The series was called Where’s Waldo, and these books were picture books.  The point of each illustration was to find a little guy named Waldo, who was in a red and white striped shirt, with a red and white striped stocking cap on and glasses.  Some were easy, some were hard.  For me, it was a great way to pass the time waiting in a doctor’s office, or on a long road trip.

            Our main concern in this life should not be where’s Waldo, but should be where’s Jesus.  You don’t have to buy a set of picture books looking for a guy in a white tunic with a red sash over it, hidden among other people and scenes.  Our vocation is, rather, to find Jesus as He makes Himself known to us.  One primary place to find Jesus is in the Scriptures.

            That’s what St. Peter did as he spoke to the Jews in our first reading today.  Having been filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter proclaimed to the people that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He had been raised from the dead.  St. Peter saw Jesus in the Old Testament, in the only Scriptures that existed at that time.  He saw Jesus in Psalm 16 as he quoted King David: “…because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.  You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.”  St. Peter, who had likely read that Psalm countless times as an observant Jew, saw it in a new light, saw the reference to Jesus, who was not allowed to see corruption, nor abandoned to the netherworld, but raised up. 

            The disciples on the road to Emmaus have Jesus Himself open up the Old Testament for them, showing them how it refers to Him.  And while they do not at first recognize Jesus walking with them, their hearts burn within them as He helps them to understand how Jesus fulfills all the prophecies of the Old Testament.  Who knows exactly what passages Jesus explained to them, but we can see from the very beginning, in Genesis, how a redeemer is promised as God tells the serpent, in Adam and Eve’s presence: “‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.’”  That offspring, striking the head of the serpent, is Jesus. 

In our Eucharistic Prayer that we hear today, the Roman Canon, we hear three important persons from Genesis that refer to or prefigure Jesus: 1) Abel the just, the son of Adam and Eve, who offered a pleasing sacrifice to God, and was yet killed by his own brother, Cain, just as Jesus offered Himself as the acceptable sacrifice, as He was killed by his own; 2) Abraham, our father in faith, whom God asked to sacrifice his beloved, his only son, Isaac, though at the last minute an angel stayed his hand, just as God offered His beloved, His only Son, Jesus, but did not stay His hand; 3) Melchizedek, the king of Salem, which means king of peace, who appears without any lineage, without beginning or end, and is priest of the Most High God, though not of the Levitical priesthood, and who offers bread and wine, just as Jesus, the True Priest, without beginning or end, changes the bread and wine we offer into His Body and Blood, “a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.”

Or perhaps Jesus spoke to the disciples on the road about the suffering servant chapters of Isaiah, chapters 49, 50, 52, and 53, describing the suffering of Jesus.  Or maybe Jeremiah 20, where all gather to attack the just one and cause trouble for him on every side.  Or maybe Wisdom 2, where the wicked plan to attack the just man, because he is obnoxious to them, and calls himself a child of the Lord, and reproaches them for transgressions of the Law.  Or maybe he explained how Hosea 6 says, “‘Come, let us return to the Lord, For it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.  He will revive after two days; on the third day he will raise us up.’”  Or maybe he quoted for them Zechariah 12:10: “and they shall look upon him whom they have thrust through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they shall grieve over him as one grieves over a firstborn.”

Some of those passages or chapters may sound familiar, as we read them during Lent.  But these are just scratching the surface.  Jesus reveals Himself though the Word of God, the Scriptures.  But can we find Him?  Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear?  Whether it’s the Old or the New Testament, do we come to know Jesus through reading the Bible?  It’s not always easy, but it helps us to know Jesus better.  And for those tricky passages we offer Bible studies, or small faith-sharing groups, to help you to recognize Jesus better and better each time you read the Word of God. 

St. Jerome said that ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.  Do we know Jesus?  Is our view of Jesus consistent with how He revealed Himself in the Word of God?  Do we read the Word of God?  And if we do, do our hearts burn within us as Jesus is made known?  If you don’t read the Bible every day, now is the time to start.  Start with the New Testament, just one chapter per night.  I read the entire New Testament in a year, and the entire Old Testament in a year.  It’s doable.  And, especially for those tough passages, pick up a good Bible Study, or join one, or see what the Catechism says about those passages with the Scripture index in the back.  If we are open to the Word of God, which always is meant to prepare us for Jesus making Himself known through the breaking of the bread, the Eucharist, then our lives will be changed, for the better, and we won’t have to hunt for Jesus, but we will recognize Him in the ways He reveals Himself to us.