Praying for a Good Shepherd

Fourth Sunday of Easter
    On 10 April, Bishop Boyea, as required by canon law, submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Leo XIV.  As of my composing of this homily, it has not been accepted, and my guess is that it will be at least eight months until we get a new bishop, maybe even twelve or more months.  Bishop Boyea has noted that there are something like twenty-two dioceses who do not have a bishop ahead of him.

    In my own humble estimation, Bishop Boyea has been a good bishop.  He has been a good shepherd after the Most Sacred Heart of the one Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd, a title that was also referenced in the second reading by St. Peter, our first pope.  In this time where we wait for a new bishop, I would encourage us all to pray to God for another good bishop, and pray to the Holy Spirit to guide all involved in the process, all the way up to Pope Leo, to choose for us the bishop who will help us continue to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
    But what makes a good bishop?  What makes a good shepherd?  We each might have our own ideas, and not only would there be differences between your ideas and mine in some cases (as I relate to our diocesan bishop a bit differently than the lay faithful), but there are probably even some differences if I asked each of you, though there would also be some similarities.
    In some ways, our own desires for a good bishop would likely follow our own wisdom, which may or may not be connected to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  In humility, we all need to acknowledge that just because we see some charism or trait as important, does not mean that God considers it equally important.  We are sheep, and sheep are not the wisest of animals.  For example, sheep, if not moved around, will pull up the roots of the plants on which they graze, eliminating future food sources in their short-sightedness.  They also so rely on the herd, that they have been known to put themselves into danger, simply because a few other sheep are leading them that way.  So when our Lord calls us sheep, He’s not exactly giving us a compliment.  Sometimes we can take things to far like sheep pulling up roots.  Or sometimes we can go along with an idea because one or a few people that we like or we respect lead us that way.

    But Christ tells us that a good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.  A good shepherd, from today’s passage, also looks for other sheep that would benefit from being part of the fold, even if they are not part of the fold yet.  So as we pray for a good new bishop, we should pray for a holy man who is willing to die for us to protect us from spiritual dangers, as well as a man who seeks out lost sheep, or sheep that belong to another fold, and one who will welcome them in to the pastures of the Catholic Church.
    As I think of Bishop Boyea, and why I think he has been a good shepherd, he truly has a love for the Lord and seeks to have others follow the Lord.  Liturgically he has been very faithful to the way the Church wants to see the Mass and the sacraments celebrated: in a beautiful, transcendent way.  He tries to reach people where they’re at, including by his weekly videos that teach us about different aspects of the faith.  He has done his best to strengthen the weak, but to fight the arrogance of the proud.  And, he has challenged me to go beyond my own first opinions and ideas, to make sure that what I suggest to him makes sense.  And he has told me that I was wrong, when I needed to hear it, even if I didn’t always want to hear it.  
    We probably consider correction more when it comes to others that we see are wrong, rather than ourselves.  But a good shepherd doesn’t let his sheep wander away, but calls them back.  In the Letter to the Hebrews, we read: “all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.”  And we hear in different Gospel passages how the Lord has to correct the Apostles, including even St. Peter right after our Lord made Peter the Chief Shepherd of His Church, and Peter told the Lord that He should not have to suffer.  So, when praying for a new good bishop, we should also pray for one that will hold our feet to the fire when we do not live up to our call to follow the Lord, but are following our own designs.
    Trevor, today you will become the newest sheep in the Lord’s flock.  Through prayer and study you have come to the point where you want to enter into full communion with the one Church Jesus Christ founded.  The Lord, the Good Shepherd, has been with you all throughout your life, calling you to this moment, to enter these pastures.  And with great love He will seal your entrance into the Catholic Church with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation, and the gift of Jesus’ own Body and Blood through the Eucharist.  We, your fellow sheep, promise to help you continue to grow in your faith in and love of Christ, until hopefully we are all ready to enter the eternal pastures of heaven.
    I know a lot of people have expressed anxiety about who our new bishop will be.  Perhaps other recent episcopal appointments have added to that concern, though I would caution that just because we read something in a particular blog or periodical, even Catholic, does not mean that we have the whole story.  But if we make our desires for a good bishop known to the one Good Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (as St. Peter said at the end of today’s second reading, though our translation uses the word guardian), I have no doubt that God will give us the bishop that we need, who will help us to grow as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What Makes a Good Shepherd?

Second Sunday after Easter
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Nine days ago Bishop Boyea, as required by canon law, submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Leo XIV.  As of my composing of this homily, it has not been accepted, and my guess is that it will be at least eight months until we get a new bishop, maybe even twelve or more months.  Bishop Boyea has noted that there are something like twenty-two dioceses who do not have a bishop ahead of him.

    In my own humble estimation, Bishop Boyea has been a good bishop.  He has been a good shepherd after the Most Sacred Heart of the one Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who today in our Gospel referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd, a title that was also referenced in the epistle by St. Peter, our first pope.  In this time where we wait for a new bishop, I would encourage us all to pray to God for another good bishop, and pray to the Holy Spirit to guide all involved in the process, all the way up to Pope Leo, to choose for us the bishop who will help us continue to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
    But what makes a good bishop?  What makes a good shepherd?  We each might have our own ideas, and not only would there be differences between your ideas and mine in some cases (as I relate to our diocesan bishop a bit differently than the lay faithful), but there are probably even some differences if I asked each of you, though there would also be some similarities.
    In some ways, our own desires for a good bishop would likely follow our own wisdom, which may or may not be connected to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  In humility, we all need to acknowledge that just because we see some charism or trait as important, does not mean that God considers it equally important.  We are sheep, and sheep are not the wisest of animals.  For example, sheep, if not moved around, will pull up the roots of the plants on which they graze, eliminating future food sources in their short-sightedness.  They also so rely on the herd, that they have been known to put themselves into danger, simply because a few other sheep are leading them that way.  So when our Lord calls us sheep, He’s not exactly giving us a compliment.  Sometimes we can take things to far like sheep pulling up roots.  Or sometimes we can go along with an idea because one or a few people that we like or we respect lead us that way.
    But Christ tells us that a good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.  A good shepherd, from today’s passage, also looks for other sheep that would benefit from being part of the fold, even if they are not part of the fold yet.  So as we pray for a good new bishop, we should pray for a holy man who is willing to die for us to protect us from spiritual dangers, as well as a man who seeks out lost sheep, or sheep that belong to another fold, and one who will welcome them in to the pastures of the Catholic Church.
    As I think of Bishop Boyea, and why I think he has been a good shepherd, he truly has a love for the Lord and seeks to have others follow the Lord.  Liturgically he has been very faithful to the way the Church wants to see the Mass and the sacraments celebrated: in a beautiful, transcendent way.  He tries to reach people where they’re at, including by his weekly videos that teach us about different aspects of the faith.  He has done his best to strengthen the weak, but to fight the arrogance of the proud.  And he has challenged me to go beyond my own first opinions and ideas, to make sure that what I suggest to him makes sense.  And he has told me that I was wrong when I needed to hear it, even if I didn’t always want to hear it.  
    We probably consider correction more when it comes to others that we see are wrong, rather than ourselves.  But a good shepherd doesn’t let his sheep wander away, but calls them back.  In the epistle the Hebrews, we read: “all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.”  And we hear in different Gospel passages how the Lord has to correct the Apostles, including even St. Peter right after our Lord made Peter the Chief Shepherd of His Church, and Peter told the Lord that He should not have to suffer.  So, when praying for a new good bishop, we should also pray for one that will hold our feet to the fire when we do not live up to our call to follow the Lord, but are following our own designs.
    I know a lot of people have expressed anxiety about who our new bishop will be.  Perhaps other recent episcopal appointments have added to that concern, though I would caution that just because we read something in a particular blog or periodical, even Catholic, does not mean that we have the whole story.  But if we make our desires for a good bishop known to the one Good Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (as St. Peter said at the end of today’s epistle), I have no doubt that God will give us the bishop that we need, who will help us to grow as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is God, for ever and ever.  Amen.   

A Domesticated Good Shepherd?

 Fourth Sunday of Easter
    When people think of cherubs, I think our minds immediately go to the pudgy, babies with little wings, like what you would see in a Raphael painting.  In the Book of Ezekiel, they are described as having two sets of wings, and four faces (lion, ox, human, and eagle).  John describes them similarly in the Book of Revelation, but with three sets of wings, instead of two.  If a cherub as described in the Bible showed up, you might understand why the first words out of angels’ mouths are generally, “Do not be afraid!”

    Today is called Good Shepherd Sunday, after the Gospels used in all three years of the Sunday cycles of the Gospels.  We don’t quite hear Jesus say today that He is the Good Shepherd, but He talks about His sheep hearing His voice and following Him.  Perhaps we have domesticated the image of Christ the Good Shepherd, in much the same way we have domesticated cherubs.
    First of all, to be called a sheep is not a compliment.  Sheep are not smart animals.  That is why they need shepherds.  Not only are they easy prey, but I read somewhere that the reason they have to be moved, is because they will eat up all the grass, roots and all, if left in a solitary pasture.  So not too flattering for us.
    We do hear how the Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and elsewhere, Jesus says that He will go after the lost sheep.  We like that image.  Probably because we, like sheep, wander off to dangerous places that we should not go.  But this presumes that, when we hear the voice of the shepherd, we want to return to the good pastures.  The picture we hear from the Acts of the Apostles today gives us a different glimpse.  
    Paul and Barnabas are preaching in the synagogue in Antioch, in modern-day Turkey.  As Paul preaches to them that Jesus is the Messiah, at first they are open.  But, as they see non-Jews starting to accept the message, they turn and become agitated with Paul and Barnabas, and start rejecting them and their message of salvation through Jesus.  They eventually get enough people to expel Paul and Barnabas from the territory.  The message of life and truth as rejected, even by the people prepared by God to accept that same message, because they had the prophets preparing them for the Messiah, the prophecies of which Jesus fulfilled.
    So, too, we can think that if we hear the truth that we will readily accept it.  If the Good Shepherd tells us something that we need to hear, we will listen, especially if it’s for our own good.  And if He invites us back to the good pastures, that we will naturally follow.
    As we celebrate Mother’s Day today, we honor our mothers for all they have done for us, especially giving us the gift of life.  But think about your own mothers: even when they were saying something that was for your own good, did you always listen?  I’ll admit I didn’t.  So if we don’t do that with our own mothers, from whom we learn what love is, do we think that we’ll do better with Jesus?
    The same goes with our Holy Mother Church.  She often tells us that we should do X, or should avoid Y, and how often do we end up saying something like, “Mind your own business!”?  The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ.  She speaks for Her Groom, Christ Jesus.  She applies what He taught us for salvation to new times and circumstances.  When it comes to faith and morals, hers is the voice of the Good Shepherd, leading us to the pastures of everlasting life.  But how often would we rather do our own will and follow our own so-called wisdom, rather than following the wisdom and will of the Good Shepherd?
    We see this in our own day with abortion.  If you’ve seen the news recently, you’ve seen an opinion paper, leaked from the Supreme Court, which advocates overturning Roe v. Wade.  Now, the Church has been clear since the first century of Christianity, that abortion is not consistent with being a follower of Christ.  Anyone who truly follows Christ cannot support abortion.  The Church, especially in recent years, has “followed the science” (to use a phrase in vogue right now) to remind us that the infant in the womb is a unique human being, with unique DNA, even while in the womb of the mother.  It is not a potential human, it is a human with potential.  We have marched and talked about the value of every human life, and promoted adoption, in case a mother has no support to raise the child she has conceived.  Even children born from sexual assault have talked about their own value as a human being, and how glad they are that their mother followed the will of God and chose life.  And yet, with all these good witnesses, people, sometimes even Catholics, sometimes even very prominent Catholics like our president, promote abortion and do not heed the voice of the Good Shepherd, pleading for the life of those little lambs in the womb.  
    Today, let’s listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd, in all areas that He speaks.  Let’s pray for all mothers today and ask God to help them to be the best mothers they can be.  That includes mothers whose children came to term and whom they raised; mothers who suffered the great sorrow and loss of miscarriage or stillborn children; and especially pray for mothers who made the decision to abort their child, that they have a conversion of heart and that the wounds that abortion causes are healed.  May we all–mothers, fathers, and children–be attentive to and listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd today and every day. 

Matthew 25: Setting the Bar

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

There can easily be a disconnect between our modern culture and the first reading and Gospel passage today.  They both focus on sheep and shepherding, which would have been a very common thing in Palestine around AD 33.  As we look forward toward Christmas, we know that the shepherds were one of the first to see the infant Jesus with Mary and Joseph.  But today, I can probably think of only person that I know that owns sheep.  Sheep aren’t quite as common today as people who have chickens or cattle or horses, though goats are starting to make a comeback in some areas (there are more and more videos on Facebook with goats doing funny things).  

So the idea of a sheep and shepherd might be a bit out there for us.  But we probably understand the metaphor well enough to get what Ezekiel and Jesus are saying to the people: God is going to shepherd His people, gather them together, and judge between the sheep (which are good) and the goats (which are bad).  In fact, one of the oldest depictions of Jesus is as the Good Shepherd in the catacombs of Pope St. Callixtus I in Rome.  

As we celebrate this weekend Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we celebrate a Shepherd-King.  Yes, Jesus is our King, not an elected official.  We can’t vote Jesus out of office if we don’t like Him.  By virtue of the fact that we were conceived, we became subjects of a king.  However, at the end our of life, we will be judged and will be in the Kingdom of Jesus, “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace,” or in the kingdom of Satan, a kingdom of lies and death, of sin and vice, a kingdom of injustice, hatred, and war.  And as it turns out, it is not so much that we are sent to one of those kingdoms, but our actions on this earth determine of which kingdom we want to be a part.  

Over the past few weeks we have heard how we will be judged: two weeks ago we heard that we need to be ready for the Bridegroom to return, and to focus our lives on that one goal above all others, and be like the wise virgins; last week we heard that we need to use the talents God gave us to help us enter the kingdom of heaven; and this week we hear that it is how we treat Jesus in this life, especially in the least of His brothers, that will determine in which kingdom we will live eternally.  

The kingdom of heaven has been described over the past few weeks as a wedding party, and, on the flip side, hell has been described as outer darkness, a place of “wailing and grinding of teeth.”  And today Jesus describes hell as an eternal punishment of fire, but heaven as the place of the blessings of God and eternal life.  

It is easy to think of hell as the place for the most degenerate of persons: Hitler, Stalin, bin Laden, and Charles Manson.  It is easy to think of heaven as the default where everybody goes as long as they don’t commit genocide or murder.  But Jesus doesn’t talk today about murderers going to hell.  The people who go to hell are those who didn’t feed others, give others a drink of water, welcome the stranger, give clothing to the naked, and visit the ill and in prison.  Those are the people who will go to eternal punishment.  That might sound harsh if it were me saying it, but Jesus, Mercy Incarnate, is the one who sets the bar, and it’s certainly a gut-check for me, as it likely is for you.  God wants everyone to go to heaven; we are also told that in Scripture in St. Paul’s first letter to St. Timothy.  But if we put together all of chapter 25 of the Gospel according to Matthew, the Gospel passages for the last two weeks and this week, heaven is for those who have kept themselves focused on waiting for the Bridegroom, using their talents that God has given them, and serving Christ in others.  To the extent that we do that, we are being prepared for heaven.  To the extent that we ignore chapter 25, we are being prepared for hell.  In our life each day, we are either going one way or another; there’s no standing still in our spiritual lives.  We are either moving closer to God, or farther away from Him.  

The good news is that we have today to move towards God, impelled by His grace.  We don’t have yesterday; all we can do is ask forgiveness for our past sins in confession, a sacrament that moves us closer to God.  We don’t have tomorrow; all we can do is hope that we will accept God’s grace to continue moving toward Him.  But we do have today, and we do have opportunities to move closer to God through prayer, worship, and service.  If we follow God and where He tells us to go in our daily lives, we know He only leads us to heaven because He is the Good Shepherd.  And if we follow the Good Shepherd, we will end up in the verdant pastures, near restful waters, where “only goodness and kindness follow me” as we “dwell in the house of the Lord.”

Gospel Standards

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            One of the nice things to have in any educational setting or profession is standards.  You want to make sure that there are controls to ensure that a person is reaching the expectations of the job, or actualizing the potential that he or she has inside.  We have standardized tests for school to make sure that kids are learning the right material and are competitive with other students across the country and the world.  We have standards for the members of the Armed Forces as they go through Basic Training to make sure that they can physically, mentally, and emotionally endure the trials of being a solider.  We have standards for businesses to make sure that a good product is being delivered and that people are doing all they can to help the company succeed.

For the past few weeks we’ve been hearing tough words from Jesus: “‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter, but will not be strong enough’”; “‘when you are invited, go and take the lowest place’”; “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother…he cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not carry his own cross…cannot be my disciple…anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.’”  These are very high standards for us as Catholics.  Hearing these readings should have caused each one of us to take stock of how we are responding to the great riches of being Catholic and having a life in Christ.  Some of us, hearing these words seriously and taking them to heart, may have even started to question practices in our lives, or maybe even our eternal salvation.

And the reason why we hear these tough words from the Word of God is to cause us to soberly realize that salvation, while a free gift, calls for a great response from each one of us, not a mediocre retort.  Faced with this realization that a great response is needed, the temptation can be to try and lower the bar so we can reach it.  After all, in the name of compassion, or what we understand as compassion, we so often loosen our standards if no one can reach it, sometimes even if the standard is what is needed.

But Jesus does not lower the bar.  He does not loosen the standard.  Instead, He shows mercy.  He forgives us when we do not meet the standard set for us.  Take, for example, what St. Paul tells us in the second reading.  Jesus does not lower the bar and decide that all those who murder Christians can get into heaven, since some people who want to go to heaven are murdering Christians, and after all, we’re all basically good.  Rather, he forgives those who have murdered so that they can witness to God’s mercy.  St. Paul himself says, “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated.  […] Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  Of these I am the foremost.  But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example.”  St. Paul does not explain away what he has done, nor does he excuse his actions, but relies upon the mercy of God so that St. Paul can share that mercy with others and be a living witness of God’s mercy.

Sheep in the Judean countryside

And God’s mercy is so great, that to some it looks foolish.  If we examine the first parable in today’s Gospel, we see how “foolish” and “wasteful” is God’s mercy.  God is like the shepherd who leaves 99 sheep to find one that has wandered off.  Losing one sheep out of 100 is not bad odds.  And leaving the other sheep which do not wander to find one that does could endanger the 99 safe sheep.  But God is not satisfied with the 99.  He wants the one, wandering sheep to return to the fold.  He is not happy with 99% of His flock being safe and sound.  He wants 100% of his sheep to be safe.

That is how great God’s mercy is: that there is more rejoicing for one sinner who has returned than for 99 righteous people who never left.  That is how much God wants to share His mercy with us: to the point of appearing foolish or wasteful.

Often, we do not live up to the standards set before us by Jesus in the Gospel.  We don’t turn the other cheek, or love our enemies, or pray for those who persecute us.  We all struggle with particular sins, some minor, some major.  Rather than saying, “It’s ok to do this sin or that sin; I’m only human,” we should rather turn to God for mercy to be forgiven of the sins that draw us away or separate us from God, and strive again for those high standards by the grace of God. 

And the way we do this is to return, again and again, to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  In this way we respond to God’s grace so that we can be found, and lead the choirs of angels and saints in heaven to rejoice for us sinners who have repented.  Maybe we only usually go twice a year during Advent and Lent.  Let’s make an effort to go four times a year.  Maybe we go every other month.  Let’s try to go every month.  Maybe we go every two weeks.  Let’s stay faithful to that practice so that we can receive the great mercy of God, and be living witnesses of the mercy that God wants to show every one of us.  Between St. Thomas and St. Johns, Reconciliation is available at least every other day each week.  What a great opportunity it is for us to have God and the heavenly host rejoice over us. 

Maybe we’re a major sinner like St. Paul who needs major conversion.  Or maybe we just struggle with the same minor sins every month.  God is waiting to forgive us and show us His mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  May we first receive mercy, and then spread the Good News of how deep God’s love and mercy is for us to those we know who are in need of God’s mercy.