Homily
4th Sunday of Easter and World Day of Prayer for Vocations
Good Shepherd Sunday
29 April 2012
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
Daily Readings
Check this out on Chirbit
Elijah Johnson was finally playing some ball at the end of the basketball season this year. As KU made its run to the national championship game, Elijah got more play in the press and more microphones shoved in his face. We're just trusting our coach, Elijah says. We know if we trust Coach Self, and listen to him, that he will put us in the best position to win games. We're just trusting our coach.
This was a theme for this year's improbable run to the Final Four. To be a KU fan is to know teams ranked first almost all season, and to have received an overall number one seed, and not make the final four. The tournament is madness, and anything can happen. But perhaps what set this year's team apart from any other is that they listened to their coach. They really trusted coach Self. It is something that was said over and over. Perhaps other KU teams listened to coach, but in the end trusted more in their own voice.
Now coach Self is not the good shepherd. He would be the first probably to tell you that, and he has never called himself the good shepherd. Unlike the good shepherd in the Gospel who lays down his life without getting paid, Bill Self gets paid a lot, since so many expectations are laid upon him. Still, through our passion for KU basketball, we have a window of how it's supposed to work, this shepherding thing. A shepherd knows his sheep, and they know him. They listen to his voice and they trust his voice. They hear his voice, and they follow. Even though he gets paid, coach Self showed us how it's supposed to work.
This sounds like the most simple thing, and yet to keep simple things simple is hard. Ask any parent if it's easy to get kids to listen. Ask any teacher, any coach, any boss, any pastor or spiritual director. No, to keep simple things simple is hard. That is why Good Shepherd Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, is an important litmus test for us every year. It is a particularly intense day for us to ask whether we are following our own voice, or the voice of Jesus, the most uniquely powerful and life-giving voice that can ever be heard.
Lest our lives become a great tug-of-war between our will and his gracious voice, we must humbly admit the uniqueness of our relationship with Jesus, for the one through whom all things were made knows us better than we know ourselves, and the one who laid down his life for us as our redeemer loves us where we cannot love ourselves. So the voice of Jesus is not the voice of a master to a slave, but the voice of a friend speaking to a friend. We listen to him not because we need to be told what to do, but because we want to be free to be who we are.
The young men and women of our Church who will be the priests and religious of the future will be those who have truly listened to the voice of the Good Shepherd and decided to trust that voice more than their own. Let us pray for these young people, for through their trust in Jesus, they will lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters. St. Peter in the second reading challenges us to know our true identity as children of God, a dignity that we reaffirm with great passion during this Easter season, so that we never try to answer the question 'What should I do with my life?' before knowing the answer to the question 'Who am I?' As we approach the Eucharist today, let's do something hard, and try to keep a simple thing simple.
4th Sunday of Easter and World Day of Prayer for Vocations
Good Shepherd Sunday
29 April 2012
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
Daily Readings
Check this out on Chirbit
Elijah Johnson was finally playing some ball at the end of the basketball season this year. As KU made its run to the national championship game, Elijah got more play in the press and more microphones shoved in his face. We're just trusting our coach, Elijah says. We know if we trust Coach Self, and listen to him, that he will put us in the best position to win games. We're just trusting our coach.This was a theme for this year's improbable run to the Final Four. To be a KU fan is to know teams ranked first almost all season, and to have received an overall number one seed, and not make the final four. The tournament is madness, and anything can happen. But perhaps what set this year's team apart from any other is that they listened to their coach. They really trusted coach Self. It is something that was said over and over. Perhaps other KU teams listened to coach, but in the end trusted more in their own voice.
Now coach Self is not the good shepherd. He would be the first probably to tell you that, and he has never called himself the good shepherd. Unlike the good shepherd in the Gospel who lays down his life without getting paid, Bill Self gets paid a lot, since so many expectations are laid upon him. Still, through our passion for KU basketball, we have a window of how it's supposed to work, this shepherding thing. A shepherd knows his sheep, and they know him. They listen to his voice and they trust his voice. They hear his voice, and they follow. Even though he gets paid, coach Self showed us how it's supposed to work.
This sounds like the most simple thing, and yet to keep simple things simple is hard. Ask any parent if it's easy to get kids to listen. Ask any teacher, any coach, any boss, any pastor or spiritual director. No, to keep simple things simple is hard. That is why Good Shepherd Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, is an important litmus test for us every year. It is a particularly intense day for us to ask whether we are following our own voice, or the voice of Jesus, the most uniquely powerful and life-giving voice that can ever be heard.
Lest our lives become a great tug-of-war between our will and his gracious voice, we must humbly admit the uniqueness of our relationship with Jesus, for the one through whom all things were made knows us better than we know ourselves, and the one who laid down his life for us as our redeemer loves us where we cannot love ourselves. So the voice of Jesus is not the voice of a master to a slave, but the voice of a friend speaking to a friend. We listen to him not because we need to be told what to do, but because we want to be free to be who we are.
The young men and women of our Church who will be the priests and religious of the future will be those who have truly listened to the voice of the Good Shepherd and decided to trust that voice more than their own. Let us pray for these young people, for through their trust in Jesus, they will lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters. St. Peter in the second reading challenges us to know our true identity as children of God, a dignity that we reaffirm with great passion during this Easter season, so that we never try to answer the question 'What should I do with my life?' before knowing the answer to the question 'Who am I?' As we approach the Eucharist today, let's do something hard, and try to keep a simple thing simple.
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