Remain faithful to the grace of God

Homily: 4^th Sunday in Easter – Cycle C

Friends, this weekend we are celebrating a number of wonderful things: namely, the World Day for Vocations and Mother’s Day.  We also call today “Good Shepherd Sunday”, since the Gospel reading for the day, regardless of which year in the three-year cycle of readings we are in, is taken from the “Good Shepherd” discourse in John’s Gospel.  Certainly, there are many great things to preach on today, but I am going to focus in on a phrase from our first reading that, hopefully, will give us something to take home with us to ponder and to work on this week.

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of Paul and Barnabas making their way to Antioch to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the community there.  Being Jews, they went straight to the synagogue to proclaim to God’s chosen people that the long-awaited Messiah had come: Jesus of Nazareth, who was persecuted and put to death, but rose from the dead on the third day and now lives, having taken his place at the right hand of God in heaven.  They came to proclaim to the Jews in Antioch that it is only in the name of Jesus that they can find salvation.  From the sound of it, they found a positive reception that first sabbath day as it says that many who were there began to follow them.

To those who began following them, Paul and Barnabas spoke to them and urged them to “remain faithful to the grace of God.”  This phrase—remain faithful to the grace of God—struck me as important.  Of all of the things that Paul and Barnabas could have told the ones who were beginning to follow them—for example, “go learn to pray”, or “go study the scriptures”, or “go serve the poor”—they chose to urge them to “remain faithful to the grace of God”.  I think that this is a great Easter message for all of us and it’s a theme that connects with our other readings today.

In the second reading, we continue to hear of John’s visions, recorded for us in the book of Revelation.  In this vision, we see a great multitude of people, too many to count, who are identified as “the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”.  This description is “New Testament speak” for the martyrs: those who have shed their blood for Christ.  And what does “having survived the time of great distress” mean, except that they “remained faithful to the grace of God”?  These who are identified as martyrs—and who, therefore, stand before the throne of God (that is, who stand in heaven)—are the ones who have remained faithful to the grace of God and, therefore, enjoy the reward for their faithfulness.

In the Gospel reading, we hear Jesus say, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish”.  He continues to say, “No one can take them out of my hand.”  This is a beautiful truth about Jesus as the true Good Shepherd.  What isn’t revealed here, however, is that, while no one can take one of Jesus’ sheep from him, his sheep, nonetheless, can wander away on their own.  Jesus’ promise is amazing and should give hope to everyone who comes to him; but it should also stir in us a desire to “remain faithful to the grace of God”, so that, having become a member of Jesus’ flock, we don’t find ourselves having drifted away from him and no longer able to hear his voice.  For when we can no longer hear his voice—that is, when we have failed to remain faithful to God’s grace—then we are no longer protected by his promise.

Friends, this really is the ongoing message of this Easter season.  Having feasted on the joy of Jesus’ resurrection, we perhaps find ourselves like those first followers of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch: excited but not quite sure what to do next.  To us the same instruction is given: “remain faithful to the grace of God”.  What does this mean for us?  Surely it means “Do not return to your life of sin”.  Sin is incompatible with the grace of God and so for us to return to the sin that we strove to leave behind during Lent would be an infidelity to the grace given to us by God (which, in point of fact, helped us to break free from that sin in the first place).  I would say that it also means to be docile to the Holy Spirit.  The grace of God, which we received at baptism, is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  This Spirit dwells in us to guide us and point us to God’s will for our lives.  He is not forceful, however.  We may choose not to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but rather choose to follow our own will: in which case we stray from Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and make ourselves vulnerable to being overcome by the Evil One who seeks to separate us eternally from God.  If we make ourselves docile to the Spirit, however, we remain faithful to the grace of God and, thus, close to the protecting hand of Jesus.  Thus, enabling us to walk more confidently: ready to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen.

Finally, I might also add, on this World Day for Vocations, that “remaining faithful to the grace of God” is also the way that we come to know and follow our vocation: whether that be to the priesthood or the diaconate, to the consecrated religious life, to marriage, or to the consecrated single life.  We cannot expect to know God’s will, which is made known to us through grace, unless we remain faithful to God’s grace throughout our lives.  Oh, and by the way, holy vocations foster other holy vocations!  Therefore, if you want to promote vocations to the priesthood, then remain faithful to the grace of God in your own vocation!  When young people see others leading joy-filled lives while following God’s will, it will inspire in them a desire to know that same joy in their own lives and they, too, will begin to discern God’s call.

Therefore, friends, let us spend some time this week reflecting on whether or not we have “remained faithful to the grace of God”; and, if we haven’t, to turn back to our commitment to do so.  In this way, we will stay attuned to the voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd who leads us to eternal life, and we will also be great witnesses—that is, martyrs—to the joy of a life united to Christ, which will lead others to him, so that there may truly be “one flock” and “one shepherd” throughout the world.  May God bless us all in this good work.

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – May 12^th, 2019

The true Shepherd-King must lead us

Homily: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

          Friends, these last couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing a lot about prophets, centering our reflections around their call to prophesy: the Old Testament prophets, like Ezekiel and Amos, and the New Testament prophets (those we also call Evangelists), the Apostles.  This week we hear from another prophet, the prophet Jeremiah, but our focus today is more on his message.

          Jeremiah’s message is a message of warning to the leaders of God’s people.  He is warning them because, instead of leading God’s people in right worship and moral conduct, they had been leading them into worship of false gods and allowed moral depravity.  This was terrible for the very reasons listed: that the Kings of God’s people were more than just “governors”, meant to help maintain order in civil life.  They were shepherds, meant to lead God’s people and to keep them from falling into sin.

          Ultimately, they were supposed to be shepherds who model God’s own shepherding.  And where do we find an image of God’s own shepherding?  Today’s Psalm, Psalm 23, is a psalm of God’s shepherding.  Written by King David--a shepherd before he was made king, who shepherded God’s people rightly (in spite of his numerous failings throughout the years)--this psalm describes not only God’s shepherding, but the goal of his shepherding.  In essence it says that God shepherds his people to a place of rest: a place in which it is safe, tranquil, and in which they can flourish in abundance.  In this, we should hear an echo of the book of Genesis in which God rests after all his labors and in Exodus in which he commands his people to observe the day of rest (the Sabbath).  Also the voice of Jesus, who said, in criticism of the Pharisees, who made the Sabbath rest a thing of burden for God’s people: “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  All in all, the message of Psalm 23 is that God’s shepherding leads mankind to a place of perfect rest.

          Thus, Jeremiah’s critique: the leaders of God’s people were not leading them to rest and flourishing, but rather into greater labor and turmoil.  God, through Jeremiah, says to them: “I myself will gather them and appoint a shepherd who will lead them into my rest.”  He will be a “righteous shoot of David” (God’s true “shepherd-king”) who will be a model of right worship and of moral conduct for God’s people.  Perhaps, however, they didn’t expect that it would be God himself who would come as a descendant of King David to shepherd his people.  Enter, stage right, Jesus in our Gospel reading today.

Today we heard how the Apostles gathered back to Jesus after their mission to proclaim the Gospel in the dispersed towns of Israel and Judah and how Jesus invites them away from it all to rest a while.  As they go, however, the restless people, who have been dying for a true shepherd, follow them; and Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was “moved with pity” for them, “for they were like sheep without a shepherd”.  Jesus came to shepherd God’s people into rest--into true shalom, that is, peace--and so he cannot turn away from them in their restlessness.  Here we see the reason for Saint Paul’s words from our second reading: “He came and preached peace (i.e. shalom) to those who were far off and peace to those who were near…”

          Friends, Jesus is the Emmanuel--God with us--who has come to us to shepherd us into God’s Sabbath--his rest.  This is important for us to acknowledge today because, for the past 50-plus years, we’ve allowed the secular world to shepherd us: and it has shepherded us wrongly.  Don’t believe me?  Look around.  By my observation, people today are more restless than ever: and I’m not talking just about being too busy; rather, I’m talking about a loss of psychological, emotional, and spiritual stability.

A prophet of our own time, Blessed Pope Paul VI, predicted unrest 50 years ago when he released his encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae, otherwise known as, On the Regulation of Birth.  In it, Blessed Paul VI sought to reinforce and clarify the Church’s teaching on the immorality of the use of artificial methods of birth control.  His prescient moment, however, came in section 17 of the document in which he predicted three detrimental outcomes if the use of artificial contraceptives became widespread: 1) marital infidelity would increase (possible pregnancy, while not a positive deterrent to infidelity, was an effective one, nonetheless); 2) men would begin to view women as objects for satisfying their pleasure alone and begin to discard them as soon as they ceased to satisfy them (Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, anyone?); 3) Governments, seeing that these methods have become accepted within the family, will begin to impose the use of contraceptives on people.  Believe me when I tell you that the HHS mandate that coverage for contraceptives be included in “health care” plans is but a few short steps removed from “you must abort your baby if it is diagnosed with Down Syndrome”.

Friends, the results of these predictions are on display for us today: a deep restlessness as families, who have allowed the secular culture to shepherd them, struggle to find ways to keep it all together as the barriers to infidelity, objectification, and government influence have been dismantled.  Unfortunately, Catholic families have not been immune as surveys have confirmed that Catholics follow the trends of the public at large in regard to attitudes surrounding the use of artificial contraception; and the statistics regarding marital infidelity and divorce bear this out: with Catholic families trending along the same path as the public at large.

And so, what is the answer?  Well, it’s to return to Christ and to allow him to shepherd us rightly into the rest--that is, the shalom (or peace)--that he wants for us.  To do this, we need to allow the Church, led by Christ’s Vicar, the Pope, to lead us.  Statistics have also shown that families who conform themselves to the teachings of the Church have happier and more stable marriages; and that children who come from homes in which these teachings are followed lead more stable and fulfilling lives.  It’s no guarantee, of course, human weakness always must be accounted for, but social science bears out that this is a much more solid foundation on which to build a family.

And we are so blessed here in this diocese to have many dedicated persons who can help couples learn responsible family planning through natural family planning methods: methods, that is, which do not separate the unitive and procreative aspects of human sexuality and thus work to enhance a married couple’s relationship, even as it helps them to responsibly space out births.  If even just Catholic families embraced these methods as a way for Christ to shepherd them as a family, our society would be affected in positive ways and our restlessness would begin to subside.

Friends, Christ is our Shepherd--Emmanuel, God with us--who has come to gather us: those who have been far away and those who are near, so that he can lead us into his rest.  As we worship him here today in this Eucharist, let us allow him to shepherd us anew in our daily lives so that the peace (or shalom) that each of our hearts seek might be known; and that the world’s restlessness might be transformed into the peace of God’s kingdom.

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN - July 21st & 22nd, 2018

ONE : Shepherd/Flock

Homily: 4^th Sunday of Easter – Cycle B

          The other day, I got to thinking about this woman I knew named Laura.  I met Laura nearly eight years ago when we both signed up for a summer internship for future pastors and pastoral counselors at one of the hospitals in Carmel.  This was a non-denominational program, so there were Catholics, Protestants, and even those who didn’t claim to belong to any particular faith tradition.  Laura fit into that latter category.  She grew up Catholic but had long since drifted away from practicing her faith in the Catholic Church.  I must confess that at first I judged her unjustly.  Because she was a woman, divorced, in her early forties, and had left the practice of the Catholic Church I judged her to be someone who left the Church for ideological reasons.  Frankly, I assumed that she wanted women to be priests and that this was why she was now pursuing this pastoral career from outside of the Catholic Church.

          As I got to know Laura through working together in the hospital, I grew to respect her deeply.  She had been through a lot of painful situations in her life and I could see that she was trying to make sense of it all while remaining true to who she was and to being a disciple of Jesus.  Nonetheless, I still held on to my prejudice that she had an agenda against the Catholic Church (in spite of the fact that she hadn’t said one negative word against it).  One day, however, she said something that blew me away.  I don’t remember what the conversation was about, but we must have been saying something about the Church or about different faith traditions, because at one point Laura said “That’s why I love the Catholic Church, because it’s so egalitarian.  They take anybody!”  “Wait,” I thought, “you’ve abandoned the Catholic Church to do your own thing but you love it anyway?”  It was confounding to me, but it completely obliterated my prejudices of her and it made me think harder about how I look at people, especially people who don’t “fit” into my idea of a “good disciple”.

          Today, in our Gospel reading, we hear Jesus call himself the “Good Shepherd”.  In fact, in each year of the three year cycle of readings the Gospel for the 4^th Sunday of Easter is taken from the “Good Shepherd” discourse in John’s Gospel.  Therefore, we’ve come to call the 4^th Sunday of Easter “Good Shepherd Sunday”.  This year, we are blessed to hear the part of this discourse in which Jesus calls himself the “Good Shepherd” and then continues to describe how a good shepherd behaves.  The good shepherd “lays down his life for his sheep”, Jesus says, and he knows his sheep and his sheep know him.  We know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, because we know that he laid down his life for us his sheep.  In every church we keep a reminder of that somewhere and so all we have to do is look to the crucifix over there—is everybody looking at it?—to be reminded that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for us his sheep.  And he knows us and we know him.  Every Sunday (and for some of you even more frequently) we come to Mass and we hear the Word of God proclaimed and broken open for us.  This word reveals Jesus to us so that we can know him and know him deeply.  And, of course, since Jesus is the Son of God “through whom all things were made” he knows us and he loves us: not as some sheep that his Father hired him to shepherd, but as his own sheep for whom he would lay down his life.  And this is all very familiar to us.

          Then Jesus says something interesting.  He says “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.”  You know, if you take a look around you, you’ll notice that we’re a pretty homogenous group of people.  Certainly there is great diversity in our backgrounds, but if someone who didn’t know any of us stood outside and watched as everyone left after Mass, I’d bet that he or she would conclude that, for the most part, we were all pretty much the same.  And if we look around in our community, we can see that there is a large part of it that does not belong to this Church: people of different races and ethnicities, people of different socio-economic status, and people of different religious tradition.  And so when you heard the words of Jesus today—“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold… These also I must lead”—I hope that some of these people came to your mind.

          In the first reading, we heard Peter proclaim in his speech to the Sanhedrin that there is only one name by which we are to be saved (that is, the name of Jesus).  Notice he didn’t say by which “the chosen ones” would be saved, but rather by which we—meaning all—are to be saved.  Coupled with Jesus’ words that there would be “one flock [and] one shepherd”, we see that we have no claim to exclusivity in the Catholic Church.  In other words, no one has any right to claim “this is my church and I hope that only people like me attend here.”  In fact, none of us even have the right to claim that any church is “their church”.  There is only one person in the entire universe who can rightfully say “this is my church”, and that’s Jesus.  For rest of us, there is only the Church and we, at best, belong to it.

          And so, my brothers and sisters, we see that my friend Laura was right.  The Catholic Church, that is, the universal Church, is the Church for everyone, because it is Jesus’ Church.  In fact, it has to be for everyone; because if it devolves into being “my church” then it loses its very reason for existence: to be the one flock of the one shepherd, Jesus Christ.  In our second reading from the letter of Saint John we read: “Beloved, we are God’s children now.”  My brothers and sisters, there is no greater dignity than this: to be children of God.  Therefore, any distinction between us and those around us—either here in the pews or out in the community—are distinctions in this world only.  In God’s eyes, we are either his children or those who will potentially become his children through baptism.  Our task is to erase every other division and work solely so that there would be one flock for our one shepherd, Jesus Christ.

          Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity, on this Good Shepherd Sunday, also known as “World Day of Vocations”, to speak about vocations: especially vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life.  The priesthood is the visible presence of Christ in our community—the many manifestations of the “one shepherd” for the “one flock”.  Therefore, we must be bold in encouraging young men to ask God if he is calling them to the priesthood so that the presence of the Good Shepherd will always be visible to us.  Consecrated religious persons are bright sparks of light in the Church, of which currently there are too few.  Therefore, we must also be bold in encouraging all our young people to ask God if he is calling them to consecrate themselves in a special way to be a bright flash of light of God’s love in the world, which is shrouded today in so much darkness.  In both, we must do so without prejudice, knowing that God “does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called.”

          Friends, as we continue to revel in our Easter joy, let us show God how grateful we are to be called His children by renewing our efforts daily to build up His Church into the one flock for whom Jesus the Good Shepherd laid down his life; and for whom he will one day return to shepherd into the eternal joy of heaven.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – April 22^nd, 2018

Your chance to meet the King

Homily: 34^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

          Saint Theresa of Calcutta, as most of us know, spent over 50 years serving the dying poor in the slums of Calcutta, India.  She had felt a special “call within her call” to religious life, as she would call it, to attend to those who were dying and poor that she (and the sisters that she eventually gathered around her) would find on the streets of Calcutta.  For the most part, the people for whom she and her sisters cared had no chance of recovery and survival.  That wasn’t Mother Theresa’s purpose, though.  Her call was to acknowledge their human dignity and to make them feel loved and cared for in their dying days.

          Over the years that she completed this service, many asked Mother Theresa, “How do you do it?”  In other words, “How is it possible for you to spend all of your days ministering to people who are physically filthy (because they haven’t bathed in a long time), while breathing intense body odor, dressing open sores and wounds, cleaning fecal matter and throw up, while living in a place with relatively poor sanitation and even poorer ventilation?”  Mother’s answer was always five simple words (which she would count off using the fingers of her hand): “You. Did. It. To. Me.”

          For Mother Theresa, it was her love of Jesus, and Jesus’ promise that he made to his disciples in the judgment parable that we heard in our Gospel reading today, that impelled her on.  For her, Jesus’ judgment warning wasn’t so much of a threat (that is, “look at how you will be punished if fail to do this!”), but rather an amazing opportunity promised to her.  When she read, “whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me”, she saw her chance to meet Jesus, for whom she had fostered and intense love, in the flesh of the poor ones whom she met in the streets of the slums of Calcutta.  In other words, in this phrase, Mother Theresa found the way to order her life rightly so as to demonstrate her love for Jesus in the most intense way.

          Friends, it is true that this passage of Matthew’s Gospel is a depiction of the final judgment.  If we view it only as a fearful thing, however—that is, as something over which we have no control—then we fail to see the beautiful instruction that Jesus gives to us within it.  You see, in telling us how we are going to be judged, Jesus is giving us a clue as to how we are to order our lives rightly.  In effect, Jesus is saying: “If you love me and you wish to serve me, here’s how you do it.”  And what is that way?  To do works of mercy to all those around you.  In doing this, that is, in instructing us in this way, Jesus is demonstrating that he is shepherding his people, just as he promised to do through the prophet Ezekiel centuries before.

          In our first reading, we heard this prophesy from the prophet Ezekiel in which God says that he, himself, will come to tend his sheep.  He is saying this because the shepherds whom he had appointed for his people—that is, the rulers who had followed in the line of King David, the original “shepherd king”—had failed to shepherd his people rightly, which led God to remove his protection from them, which then led to their being conquered by the Babylonians and forced into exile from their land.  This prophesy, then, is a promise that God himself will come and shepherd his people once again and lead them back into their land.  More importantly, however, he promises to lead them into rightly ordered lives, by which they will enjoy God’s friendship for all eternity.

          Today, therefore, as we celebrate this feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we see that what we celebrate is Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd King—not just of one people at one place in time, but of the whole universe—whom God sent to save us from our exile in sin and to shepherd us into rightly ordered living so that we might enter into God’s friendship for eternity.  As King—especially as a King who has shown us such great benevolence by taking on our human nature so that he might suffer all of the effects of our sinfulness (including, and especially, death!) in order to save us from sin and death—he expects that we will serve him and offer to him works that demonstrate our gratefulness for this grace that we have been given.  Even more so, however, our King expects that our works would not be done out of duty alone, but also out of our love for him who has already demonstrated his love so generously for us.  This latter expectation is what Mother Theresa clung to so strongly in her life and in her work: She loved Jesus so much that she delighted in demonstrating her love for him by performing these extraordinary acts of mercy for those “least brothers” of his.

          My brothers and sisters, Jesus is our great Shepherd King and he longs to shepherd us into his kingdom of eternal life and peace.  And so, how do we allow him to shepherd us?  Well, it would be easy for me to say “by doing the works of mercy”.  Perhaps, however, I can offer an even more practical method: what if we simply tried to be less selfish every day?  You know, if we all tried to be a little less selfish every day (and, therefore, more giving to others), then, before we know it, we’d look a lot more like Mother Theresa.  All it takes is a choice—and it is a choice that we’ll have to make every day—but when we do, we begin to let Jesus shepherd us.  And when Jesus shepherds us, then our lives begin to become rightly re-ordered.  And when our lives begin to be rightly re-ordered, then our world will begin to be rightly re-ordered.  And when our world becomes rightly re-ordered, then what else is that but the kingdom of God among us.  And what more could we want than to have the kingdom of God among us?  Once we experience that, then we have nothing else to wait for than the coming of our Shepherd King, Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, so that death, the final enemy will be destroyed and we will be given back to God to live in the eternal joy of heaven.

          You probably didn’t think that being a little less selfish today could bring about heaven did you?  But it’s true!  Choose heaven today, therefore, by choosing to be less-selfish and you will be choosing eternal life: the shepherding of our King, Jesus Christ—the very same King who we meet here at this altar.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – November 25^th & 26^th, 2017

Seeking the authentic voice of Jesus

Homily: 4^th Sunday in Easter – Cycle A

          Friends, in this Gospel passage, Jesus uses imagery that would have been very familiar to the people to whom he was speaking in the Ancient Near East: images of sheep and shepherds.  Now, most of us probably have never raised a flock of sheep (and even if we had, we might not have done it the same way as they did back then).  Thus, it might be helpful to unpack these images that Jesus uses so that we can understand the message that Jesus is trying to convey.

          First, Jesus refers to a sheepfold.  In his time, villages were much smaller and compact and people didn't have large, separate properties in which to raise their flocks.  Therefore, usually, just outside the village, there would be a large pen—or sheepfold—in which several flocks of sheep were kept.  This sheepfold would have a large, lockable gate to secure it and a hired guard to watch over it.  The gatekeeper would know the shepherds who had brought in their flocks and so would not allow anyone other than them to enter.  Thus, those who are seeking either to harm the sheep or to steal them for their own purposes would have to climb over the wall of the sheepfold in order to get in.  Jesus contrasts this image of the “sheep stealer” with the shepherd who freely walks in through the gate to retrieve his sheep.  Not only is he known to the gatekeeper, but he is known also to his sheep.  Even though the flocks are intermixed, a shepherd would simply stand to one side after entering the sheepfold and call out to his own.  His own, who would have grown accustomed to his voice, would then respond, drawing near to him.  They would not recognize the voice of a stranger, however, so, should a stranger call out to them, they would avoid him.

          Something analogous of this to our own situations might be a Neighborhood Watch team.  The Neighborhood Watch is a team of residents in a particular neighborhood that organizes itself in order to keep watch over the neighborhood so as to keep it safe.  The first goal of the team is to ensure that everyone in the neighborhood knows everyone else so that they will recognize strangers when they come.  The next goal of the team is to be vigilant for one another: that is, to watch out for one another’s safety and security.  Strangers that enter the neighborhood, but then enter someone's house by the front door are probably known to that person; and so, no alarm is necessary.  Strangers that enter the neighborhood and try to enter a home through a window or by climbing over a fence, however, are probably thieves and robbers and, thus, need to be stopped.  Basically, it's an understanding that the neighborhood is like a sheepfold and the residents are like gatekeepers.  Those with good intentions enter through the gate.  Those with harmful intentions try to sneak in through other ways.  Jesus, in describing all of these things, is contrasting himself, as the shepherd, with the false messiahs who had come before him, whom he is portraying as thieves and robbers.

          The chosen people of God were in the sheepfold and the Messiah was the shepherd who would call them out and lead them into pasture.  In fact, the Messiah—the shepherd—knows the sheep so intimately that he calls them each by name.  The false messiahs, Jesus implies, entered the sheepfold like thieves and robbers and have tried to lead the sheep astray.  By using this image, Jesus is trying to lead the Pharisees to realize that he is the true Messiah, and, thus, to accept him; and to teach his disciples about how to recognize authentic authority: authority that will lead them in God’s way, towards eternal life.  Thus, this is the message that Jesus is also trying to convey to us: for he is trying to teach us about recognizing and following authentic authority.

          My brothers and sisters, there are many voices trying to lead us in different directions in this world.  The one who wields authentic authority is the one to whom we should pay attention.  We know that Jesus is the one who wields authentic authority; but the question remains: how do we hear his voice?  In the Holy Scriptures, of course; but also through his bishops, priests, and deacons.

          And so, if this is true, then why are so many people being drawn to places of purported revelation?  I think that it is because they’re hungry for authentic authority and they don't see it in their churches.  Therefore, if Jesus speaks to us through the authentic authority of his bishops, priests, and deacons—and if people are hungry for authentic authority—then it must be that there is not enough bishops, priests, and deacons to satisfy the needs of the people; and so they are flocking to places of purported revelations seeking to satisfy their need for someone to wield authentic authority in their lives: that is, for someone to shepherd them in the name of Jesus.

          My brothers and sisters, this is why we pray for vocations on this Sunday, which is commonly known as Good Shepherd Sunday, so that there might be an increase in the number of priests and religious in the Church who can interpret for us Jesus’ authentic voice in our lives.  And while prayer is always very necessary, so is action in the world.  Thus, I have homework for you: If you know a young man in your life who you think might make a good priest someday (or even if you don't know what his vocation might be), invite him to consider the priesthood.  Most priests will tell you that they began considering the call to the priesthood because someone invited them to consider it.  Your invitation could open a young man's heart to this call from God.  And so, please make a resolution today to make it a habit in your life to invite young men to consider the priesthood.

          Then, pray for them every day.  This doesn’t have to be complicated.  You could simply pray a Hail Mary during your morning or evening prayers, or at any other time that you think about it throughout the day.  You could also come and offer prayers to Jesus here in the Church before the Blessed Sacrament.  Any and all of these little sacrifices of prayer win grace for the young person so that he might discern well God’s voice in the midst of the thousands of voices that call out to him each and every day.

          St. John Vianney, the patron of parish priests, once said that "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus."  As we offer to God this Eucharist today, which is made possible for us only because of the priesthood, let's pray in a special way for the young men in our parish that God is calling to be priests: that they would be kept safe from all temptation that would lead them away from this noble calling and that they would respond generously to his call.  And let us pray also for the grace to rely on the authentic authority that he has already placed in our midst—and to trust in the fullness of spiritual revelation that he has already given us by His presence, both in the Scriptures and in His real presence here in the Blessed Sacrament—so that we might always be anticipating the fullness of his presence among us when he, the Good Shepherd, returns to call us each of us, by name, back unto himself.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – May 7^th, 2017

Of Cowboys and Shepherds

          I hope that you enjoy and are edified by my homily from this past Sunday.  Please pray for me this week as I will be on retreat.  Many blessings to you all!

Homily: 4^th Sunday of Easter – Cycle C

          If you’ve grown up here in the United States, then you probably know something about cowboys and cattle ranchers.  Perhaps many of us have never been on a cattle ranch, but the image of the cowboy and cattle rancher is so ubiquitous in our cultural folklore that I would dare to say that very few of us know nothing about them.  Even for our friends who have come to us from south of our borders, even if they have never seen the countless films and television shows about cowboys and cattle ranchers, they would know something about them because many of them have come from rural areas where they either owned or worked on ranches.

          That said, one of the most prominent images of cowboys and cattle ranchers is the image of the cowboys driving the herd of cattle: either from one area to another or to market for sale.  It takes a lot of cowboys to drive a herd of cattle.  You need a line of cowboys pushing from behind just to get them moving and a number of cowboys on either side to keep them all together.  It takes a lot of energy to drive a herd of cattle and there’s nothing gentle about it.

          Shepherding, however, is very different than this.  Perhaps, for many of us, the only things that we know about shepherding are what Jesus tells us in the Gospels.  The shepherd, in contrast to the cowboy driving the herd from behind, walks ahead of the sheep, whistling, speaking, or singing, and the sheep follow behind.  As long as they can hear the shepherd’s voice, they will keep following.  This, of course, means that they have to stay close to the shepherd; because, if they get too far away, they won’t be able to hear his voice and, thus, may get separated from the flock and become lost.  This is, perhaps, why it always looks like sheep are walking on top of each other: they don’t want to risk getting too far away from the shepherd!  This helps for protection, too, as predators won’t attack the sheep if the shepherd is close.  And so we see that the work of the shepherd is much different than the work of the cowboy, though the result is the same: the herd/flock moves from one place to another.

          Isn’t it interesting, then, that God has chosen to use the image of the shepherd to describe himself?  Among ancient religions, even those that worshiped many gods, they almost always acknowledge one god that is supreme above them all.  This god is often associated with the sun or the sea or a volcano—some natural phenomenon on which their culture depends.  Never, however, do they see this supreme god as a divine shepherd of humankind.  Comparing God to a good shepherd can only happen in a religion that recognizes a special connection between the human person and God—such as, for instance, when the book of Genesis describes that man was created in the image of God.  Only then does the comparison make sense, because a God who is a good shepherd is a God who walks with his people, guiding them and protecting them from harm.

          Thus, when Jesus says “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me” he is invoking this image of the divine shepherd of humankind.  He is reminding us that God is not someone who is distant from us, but rather someone who is close to us and who wants us to remain close to him.  Too often, perhaps, we think of God as a cowboy driving the herd, using force to move us in the direction that he wants us to move.  The Scriptures today remind us, however, that God is like a shepherd who leads us by the sound of his voice.  In this image, we have a responsibility, don’t we?  A responsibility to stay close enough to hear his voice.

          Unfortunately, life in today's world is noisy, and it is not always easy for us to hear the voice of our good shepherd.  We are bombarded with so many other voices, so many images, so many ideas.  Christ knows this, yet he still tells us, "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me."  What gives Christ so much confidence in our ability to stay close to him and avoid the traps set by poachers and wolves?  It is prayer, one of God's greatest gifts to us, and one that we often take for granted.  Christ is always paying attention to us, just as a good shepherd pays attention to his sheep.  He is always speaking to us, just as a good shepherd walks ahead of his flock talking and singing, so they can hear him and follow.  No matter how noisy, dark, or stormy it gets, Jesus knows how to make his voice heard in our hearts; but we have to tune in.  So how do we do this?

          First, of course, is to stay close to him in the sacraments.  Our weekly participation in the Mass and the frequent use of the sacrament of Reconciliation are tangible means of grace that keep us close to the Shepherd so that we can hear his voice.  Beyond that is our time of private prayer, particularly spending time with the Holy Scriptures.  The Scriptures are the living Word of God and so spending time praying with them helps us to know what his voice sounds like so as to know when he is speaking to us.  Finally, the teachings of the pope, our bishop, your priests and lay leaders are additional ways that we can hear the voice of the Good Shepherd speaking directly into our lives. 

          Listening for the voice of the Good Shepherd is also the way for one to discover his or her vocation.  We all know that there is a constant need for more young men and women to discover and to follow God’s call to the priesthood and religious life.  Every one of us has the duty to help our young people to hear the call of the Good Shepherd.  God keeps calling, but there must be a fervent Christian environment among families, parishes need to promote formative and apostolic activities that open young people’s hearts to the call of the Lord, and young people need to be taught generosity so as not to deny God anything He asks for. We need to pray for our young people and to encourage them to listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd to see if he is calling them to a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.  It is also providential that this World Day of Prayer for Vocations comes just one week after Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation “On Love in the Family”, because it is truly the fostering of a renewal of Christian family life that will foster a renewal of vocational discernment among our young people.

          My brothers and sisters, with all of the competing voices surrounding us, it surely is hard work to listen for the voice of Jesus; but it is a work we must take up if we hope to be one of the great multitude standing before the throne of the Lamb who will drink from the springs of life-giving water for all eternity.  Let us take up this good work so that we may never lose our way and so that we might enjoy the loving care of the Good Shepherd forever in heaven.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – April 16^th, 2016

Our encounter starts in the home

          Dear friends, we are wandering like sheep without a shepherd, but the truth is that we have a shepherd in Jesus Christ.  When we put our trust in God's will, we no longer wander, but have direction and we come to a life-transforming encounter with Jesus.  That first part is so important, however!  We have to give our lives over completely to the lordship of Jesus if we want to see his power working in our lives, this especially includes the lives of our families.

          Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an important way in which we place the lives of our families under the lordship of Jesus.  I invite you all to explore its spiritual, emotional, and physical benefits for you and your families.  Start here.

          May God bless us all as we strive to find him through following his will in our lives.

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Homily: 16^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          Fifty years ago, it was easier to be a religious person.  This is because the culture at large supported religious practice.  In fact, it was something that was expected of people who considered themselves “respectful members” of the community.  Those, for example, who didn’t attend some kind of church service on Sunday were considered with suspicion as if they had some sort of “ulterior motive”.  Since then, however, both the landscape of the Church and of the culture at large have changed dramatically.  The Second Vatican Council ushered in a time of great renewal in the Church, while at the same time the moral fabric of Western Civilization began to unravel.  Because of this, the culture’s tacit support of religious practice began to disappear.  Pastors of every sort of mainline denomination were unprepared, it seems, for this change and so have struggled to adapt to the needs of the two most recent generations.

          For these two most recent generations it is no longer considered a “social status” marker to be directly involved with or connected to a church.  For two generations now, we’ve taught (for better and for worse) that faith is one’s personal choice, alongside choices about career, marriage, and the like.  In a way, we’ve taught the men and women from these generations to be their own shepherds: to guide their own destinies based on whatever they think is best.  What we’re finding now is that we seem to have two generations of people who look like sheep without a shepherd, wandering aimlessly, looking for something to satisfy the deepest longing in their hearts.

          And so in this we can see an echo of the image painted for us by the prophet Jeremiah in the first reading.  There it was the failure of the leaders of the Israelite people to reinforce the religious practice and devotion of the people, but the result was the same: a culture that no longer supported true devotion to God alone—a result of religious leaders who no longer shepherded their people—and so the people began to shepherd themselves: leaving them scattered, like lost sheep.

          This individualistic way of treating the faith is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is missing an important element: an effort to lead people into an encounter with Christ.  In the past, the cultural support of religious practice meant that people came to encounter Christ a little more “implicitly”: that is to say, they got it simply by being exposed to it in high doses through religious practice.  And this was effective, as is evidenced by the many “more mature” members of our community who remain faithful to their religious practice today.  Today, however, this encounter with Christ must be much more explicit: that is to say, it has to be something that happens consciously and willfully in a person’s heart.  When it is, however, the effect is the same: a life-long commitment to following him and practicing that faith in a worshiping community.

          In the Gospel reading today, we see how Jesus has fulfilled God’s promise that he made through the prophet Jeremiah to be a true shepherd of God’s people.  Jesus had been teaching, driving out demons, and healing the sick—and his apostles had been doing the same in his name—and so when they returned great throngs of crowds gathered to hear more from Jesus.  They had encountered him personally and thus nothing could keep them from following him: not even Jesus’ attempt to slip away to a deserted place with his disciples.  That, my friends, is true devotion.  And that is what happens when men and women have an authentic encounter with Christ.

          Of course, there are many ways to lead our brothers and sisters back to an encounter with Christ: through service of others, through companionship in difficult times, through Eucharistic Adoration, and through the witness of a joy-filled life, just to name a few.  Today, however, I want to highlight just one of them.  Saint John Paul II often explained how the family is the place where many people first come to know Jesus.  And so he encouraged all parents to help foster in the home a place where in love is lived: with spouses shepherding, loving, and caring for each other and their children.  In other words, he called for the family home to be the first place where people serve one another, support one another in difficult times, and witness to a joy-filled life of faith so as to be the privileged place of encounter with Jesus.

          In his Apostolic Exhortation On the Role of the Christian Family in the World, John Paul II said: “It is, in fact, to the families of our times that the Church must bring the unchangeable and ever new Gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it is the families involved in the present conditions of the world that are called to accept and to live the plan of God that pertains to them.”  One of the ways in which the family accepts and lives the plan of God that pertains to them is in how the husband and wife live out the marital covenant that they formed before God.  Couples have a noble vocation to embody God’s love in their marital gestures of life and love, for the good of each other, their families, and the larger society.  The methods of Natural Family Planning respect God’s design for married love, which is why the Church supports its various methods.  The essence of the Church’s teaching is to encourage couples to celebrate and join their love with the creative spirit of God—that is, to embody God’s love—and thus make their home a place of encounter with Jesus Christ: an encounter that transforms lives for good and forms life-long disciples of Jesus, our true shepherd.

          I specifically highlight the Church’s support of the various methods of Natural Family Planning today because this week the United States Bishops are promoting Natural Family Planning Awareness Week and so I want to invite all couples—from those who have been married for many years all the way down to those who are now just planning to get married—to explore NFP as a profound way of making your homes a place of encounter with Jesus and so to begin to gather back to him his sheep who have been wandering as if they have had no shepherd.

          My brothers and sisters, the culture at large has seemingly abandoned religion as one of the core elements that held it together.  By embracing God’s life-giving will for each of our lives, however, we will create a new culture of encounter with Jesus that will turn the tide against the destructive forces that have scattered God’s sheep from his flock.  And we will once again know the joy of communion in him with our lost brothers and sisters: the very communion we celebrate today here in this Holy Mass.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – July 19^th, 2015

Every sheep needs a shepherd

Homily: 4^th Sunday of Easter – Cycle A

          In January of 2012, I had the happy opportunity to spend about two and a half weeks in Rome with my classmates from the seminary.  It was a mini-“study abroad” trip as we studied a mixture of art, church history, world history, and theology through the visits we made throughout Rome and the surrounding areas.  At the end of the trip, all of my classmates and I were going to make our “canonical retreat”: which is a retreat required by Canon Law before being ordained to the priesthood.  While all of my classmates returned back to the United States to do this, I decided to stay in Italy to make mine (I mean, I was already there, so why not, right?)

          I decided to make my retreat at a Benedictine monastery in Norcia, Italy.  Norcia is the birthplace of Saint Benedict and this monastery had been re-established there in the year 2000 by a monk from Saint Meinrad Archabbey right here in Indiana.  Norcia is an ancient ancient town nestled among the Perugian Mountains about an hour and a half northeast of Rome.  The old city is still surrounded by the wall that served to protect it from invaders in times past.  Now, of course, the village’s inhabitants have spread out around the old city.  Nonetheless, it still holds all of its “old city” charm.

          Everyday I’d take time to go for a hike in the surrounding village.  This was, in part, because I had time to do it and I enjoy seeing the “snapshot” of village life that you get by making such walks.  But it was also because the monastery guest rooms had heat only for about two hours each day—one in the morning and the other in the evening—and I needed to get my blood pumping so that I wouldn’t freeze to death!

          On my way back from one of these afternoon walks, I encountered a flock of sheep being led down one of the side streets of the village.  Having grown up in what, essentially, is a suburb of Chicago, I was a little surprised to see a flock of animals being led through the streets of town.  I got about as close as I dared so as to watch them pass.  As I did, one or two of the sheep would pause for a second to take a look at me.  But as soon as they did, I heard the shepherd yell something (perhaps it was Italian, perhaps it was just nonsense), and the sheep immediately turned back to the flock and continued on their way.  It struck me that they knew the voice of their shepherd.  This, of course, stayed with me throughout the rest of my retreat.  I mean, I was making a retreat in preparation of being ordained a priest of Jesus Christ—that is, a shepherd after the heart of Jesus—so I didn’t chalk it up to “coincidence” that I encountered the shepherd and his flock that day.

          Whether the shepherd was leading the flock out to pasture or leading them back to their pen, I don’t know.  What was clear to me, however, was that the sheep needed a shepherd to get them where they were going.  If they were going out to pasture, then they would need someone to watch over them so they wouldn’t get in trouble.  If they were going home, they would need someone to open the gate for them.  I think that if we take just a moment to think about this, we would realize that we, too, need a shepherd.

          In our Gospel reading today, Jesus gives us two allegories (which are stories in which the characters and events illustrate and explain a greater, more abstract idea).  These allegories are meant to help us understand more clearly what Jesus means when he says “I am the Good Shepherd”.  In the first, we see Jesus as the shepherd who leads the flock to the safety of their home.  The gatekeeper (which is an image of God the Father in this case) opens the gate (which is an image of the gate of heaven) for the shepherd, because he recognizes the one who has been entrusted with the care of his sheep.  In the second allegory, Jesus describes himself as the gate, that is, the means through which the sheep enter the safety of their home (which is heaven) and by which thieves and robbers are kept out.  In both, the lesson that we are to learn is that we need Jesus if we want to get to heaven.

          Peter, of course, understood this.  On the day of Pentecost, when he gave his impassioned speech to the Jews gathered for the feast, he preached that those who felt convicted because of having consented to Jesus’ murder should repent—that is, “turn around”—from their sin and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for it was only though him that they would receive forgiveness of their sins.  Later, he also taught that the way that his disciples remain close to Jesus (like sheep remain close to their shepherd) is to conform themselves to him in every way.  Thus Peter can say that “if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace from God… because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps”, like sheep follow the footsteps of their shepherd.

          Mary, whom we honor in a special way this month, also knew this.  Sinless from the moment of her conception, she never thought that it was because of any merit of her own.  Rather, from the moment of her fiat, her “yes” to the angel, she knew (instinctually, if not explicitly) that it was God’s mercy, mysteriously merited for her by her son, Jesus, even before he was born, that had won this grace for her.  Thus, she was and remains the first and most perfect disciple of her Son, through whom she now fully enjoys the glory of heaven.

          My brothers and sisters, if Peter, the rock on which Jesus would build his Church, and Mary, the Immaculate One, both knew that they needed Jesus to find salvation and everlasting glory, then it must be true that we need him, too!  Any other attempt to enter the sheepfold without him will get us labeled as thieves and robbers and will result in our immediate and permanent expulsion from it.  Only the shepherd can get us in and only through the gate can we enter. 

          Therefore, let us follow him, our Good Shepherd, by conforming our lives to him, who suffered for doing good.  And let us believe in him, in whose name we have been baptized, for he will help us to turn away from this corrupt generation and turn towards the incorruptibility of the glory of heaven, where Mary and all of the saints and angels wait to welcome us; and where Jesus will lead us out into the green pastures of eternal salvation.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – May 10^th & 11^th, 2014