Homily
4th Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations
21 April 2013
Daily Readings
I know my sheep. They hear my voice. They follow me.
Sounds perfectly simple. Know. Listen. Follow. Yet ask any parent, or coach or teacher, or pastor, if simple things are easy, and they will laugh at you. No sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to keep simple. Know. Listen. Follow. Sounds incredibly simple, but in practice, it is incredibly hard.
The 4th Sunday of Easter each year is nicknamed Good Shepherd Sunday, and is also given to us by the Holy Father as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It is the Sunday when we Catholics are challenged to admit where we are in knowing and following the voice of Jesus. For there is no such thing as having a deep relationship with someone, and not being able to know or hear their voice. A voice is something unique to each person. Not only the sound of the voice, but the words that are chosen as well. Each unique person has a unique voice. For our deepest friends, we recognize that voice instantly, and we miss it when we are apart from them. Most importantly, for our deepest friends, we can internalize their voice, and remember and hear them even when we are apart from them. It is fun to know friends so well that we know what their voice is going to say before they say it.
So it is with Jesus. No one can say that he is an intimate disciple of Jesus, much less best friends with our Lord, without knowing his voice. Today we reflect on our hearing, from the depths of our being, the most unique voice in human history. A distinct and powerful voice, a voice that alone has the words of eternal life. We should recognize instantly this voice when we hear it. This is my body broken for you, and my blood poured out for you - that's the voice of Jesus, the unmistakable voice of our Lord. Leave everything and follow me - again, the voice of Jesus, and no one else's. Whoever does not deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, cannot be my disciple - guess who? That's right, the voice of Jesus. It is a very different voice than when we are told to 'follow your heart' or 'do what makes you happy.' On Good Shepherd Sunday we are challenged to do more than to listen to our own heart and to find our own voice. No, when we go into the innermost parts of our person, we are invited not to be alone, but to conform the desires of our heart to the will of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who knows us and loves us more than we know and love ourselves.
When I was a teenager, my mom knew me much better than I knew myself. She told me that I should be open to the priesthood, and listen to what God was asking me to do. It used to make me so mad. I hated the pressure. I had my own ideas, and wanted to follow my own voice. The last thing I wanted was someone telling me what to do, neither my mother, nor the voice of Jesus. This is a reaction we all have when we doubt that anyone can know us as well as we know ourselves. Yet in reality, man does not make sense by himself. He can only find his mission and vocation in life through relationships with others. And so it is that in many of our relationships, we find that others know parts of us that we do not know. My mom, who knew me intimately from my conception, who changed my diapers, and who had been watching me for years and years, and loving me, of course knew me better than I knew myself as a teenager. Yet the only voice I wanted to hear, and to trust, was my own voice.
As vocation director for the Archdiocese, I tell men all the time they would make a great priest. Yet in order for my words to have any effect, a man must also be able to hear the voice of Jesus deep in his heart, in that place where the man prays. Pope Benedict XVI rightly said about calling forth vocations in our Church, that if we fail to teach our young people to pray, there will be no way to talk them into a vocation. Yet if we dare to teach them how to pray, to enter into that space where the unique and life-giving voice of Jesus may be heard, then there will be no way we could talk them out of their vocations.
It is at the Eucharist, my dear friends, where the voice of Jesus is most intimately and perfectly spoken. Here the Holy Spirit makes present the voice of Jesus, not only in the scriptures, where we listen to things only Jesus can and does say, but most perfectly at the time of consecration, when we Catholics hear the most intimate and perfect words that can be spoken - this is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, poured out for you. The Eucharist, then, becomes the privileged place of discernment for each one of us - a chance when we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and ask ourselves if we have responded with generosity and faith.
It is on Good Shepherd Sunday when we are challenged to ask ourselves if we have kept something simple simple, or made it complicated. I know my sheep. They hear my voice. They follow me. Amen.
4th Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations
21 April 2013
Daily Readings
I know my sheep. They hear my voice. They follow me.
Sounds perfectly simple. Know. Listen. Follow. Yet ask any parent, or coach or teacher, or pastor, if simple things are easy, and they will laugh at you. No sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to keep simple. Know. Listen. Follow. Sounds incredibly simple, but in practice, it is incredibly hard.
The 4th Sunday of Easter each year is nicknamed Good Shepherd Sunday, and is also given to us by the Holy Father as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It is the Sunday when we Catholics are challenged to admit where we are in knowing and following the voice of Jesus. For there is no such thing as having a deep relationship with someone, and not being able to know or hear their voice. A voice is something unique to each person. Not only the sound of the voice, but the words that are chosen as well. Each unique person has a unique voice. For our deepest friends, we recognize that voice instantly, and we miss it when we are apart from them. Most importantly, for our deepest friends, we can internalize their voice, and remember and hear them even when we are apart from them. It is fun to know friends so well that we know what their voice is going to say before they say it.
So it is with Jesus. No one can say that he is an intimate disciple of Jesus, much less best friends with our Lord, without knowing his voice. Today we reflect on our hearing, from the depths of our being, the most unique voice in human history. A distinct and powerful voice, a voice that alone has the words of eternal life. We should recognize instantly this voice when we hear it. This is my body broken for you, and my blood poured out for you - that's the voice of Jesus, the unmistakable voice of our Lord. Leave everything and follow me - again, the voice of Jesus, and no one else's. Whoever does not deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, cannot be my disciple - guess who? That's right, the voice of Jesus. It is a very different voice than when we are told to 'follow your heart' or 'do what makes you happy.' On Good Shepherd Sunday we are challenged to do more than to listen to our own heart and to find our own voice. No, when we go into the innermost parts of our person, we are invited not to be alone, but to conform the desires of our heart to the will of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who knows us and loves us more than we know and love ourselves.
When I was a teenager, my mom knew me much better than I knew myself. She told me that I should be open to the priesthood, and listen to what God was asking me to do. It used to make me so mad. I hated the pressure. I had my own ideas, and wanted to follow my own voice. The last thing I wanted was someone telling me what to do, neither my mother, nor the voice of Jesus. This is a reaction we all have when we doubt that anyone can know us as well as we know ourselves. Yet in reality, man does not make sense by himself. He can only find his mission and vocation in life through relationships with others. And so it is that in many of our relationships, we find that others know parts of us that we do not know. My mom, who knew me intimately from my conception, who changed my diapers, and who had been watching me for years and years, and loving me, of course knew me better than I knew myself as a teenager. Yet the only voice I wanted to hear, and to trust, was my own voice.
As vocation director for the Archdiocese, I tell men all the time they would make a great priest. Yet in order for my words to have any effect, a man must also be able to hear the voice of Jesus deep in his heart, in that place where the man prays. Pope Benedict XVI rightly said about calling forth vocations in our Church, that if we fail to teach our young people to pray, there will be no way to talk them into a vocation. Yet if we dare to teach them how to pray, to enter into that space where the unique and life-giving voice of Jesus may be heard, then there will be no way we could talk them out of their vocations.
It is at the Eucharist, my dear friends, where the voice of Jesus is most intimately and perfectly spoken. Here the Holy Spirit makes present the voice of Jesus, not only in the scriptures, where we listen to things only Jesus can and does say, but most perfectly at the time of consecration, when we Catholics hear the most intimate and perfect words that can be spoken - this is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, poured out for you. The Eucharist, then, becomes the privileged place of discernment for each one of us - a chance when we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and ask ourselves if we have responded with generosity and faith.
It is on Good Shepherd Sunday when we are challenged to ask ourselves if we have kept something simple simple, or made it complicated. I know my sheep. They hear my voice. They follow me. Amen.
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