Homily
4th Sunday of Easter C1
Good Shepherd Sunday and World Day of Prayer for Vocations
Mother's Day
11 May 2024
St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village, KS
AMDG
Who really knows me?
I have a ton of fun with the kids who run around St. Ann. They're always asking if I know their name! One of them this week asked me if I knew her mom's name, because she saw me talking to her mom! I teased back at her - did your mom forget her name? Is that why you're asking me? If so, I'm so sorry that your mom forget her name. This teasing escalated the conversation, and the little girl ended up screaming at me to remember her mom's name!
We don't really have a parish here until everyone wants to know everyone. There's no such thing as an anonymous Christianity. Jesus has called us into intimate communion with Him and each other. None of us makes sense in isolation; much less so our faith. The only real chance we have of knowing ourselves is by first being known. Otherwise, we remain enigmas and mysteries to ourselves and each other. We don't really have a parish until and unless everyone wants to know everyone.
Our need to be known is immense, as deep as the mystery of a human soul. When I am interested in God and others, and them in me, life takes on its full excitement and adventure. When I stop being curious, and conclude that nobody really knows me, nobody cares, and nobody can do anything, despair and death lurk in wait for my soul.
There's someone who says He knows you like no one else. Those who belong to Him know His voice, the most unique voice in human history, the only voice that leads those who follow it to eternal life.
There can be many powerful voices in our lives. The voice of our mothers is usually one. Not always, but usually, and it can even be powerful in its absence. I remember a ton of things my mom said to me. Now that she has been gone almost 25 years, I can't hear her tone anymore in my head. That makes me sad, and I miss it. But my mom's voice was unmistakable. She always believed I was capable of more. She never wanted me to settle. She told me not to be a priest if my heart was not in it. Most of all, she said that I was not myself around any of the girls I brought home to Hoxie, especially the ones who didn't know how to peel carrots or potatoes. My mom knew me like no one else. She knew my blind spots. Her voice is still powerful even in its absence. It's because she knew me in ways I could never know myself.
There are two ways of knowing things. There's the factual way and the personal way, the way of ideas and the way of experience. Guess which way teaches us more? You know the answer well. We learn more by experience, and by story, than by facts and ideas. The latter aren't bad, but we all know ultimately that what matters is not what you know, but who you know.
Most of us have three competing voices in our souls. The first one is the voice of the Good Shepherd, the voice of encouragement, inviting us to go where the the brave Shepherd has gone before. For our shepherd, the Lord, is also a sheep who was shorn naked, killed and eaten. His is the voice of encouragement, that there is no heroic nor sacrificial love that's impossible for you. It's the voice that echoes the first words of the Risen Christ, and that of Pope Leo XIV - Peace be with you!
The next voice is the voice of discouragement. You're not good enough, and you never will be, so you might as well not try. It's the voice of shame that divides us against ourselves.
The third voice is ours, it's the voice that desperately seeks control out of fear of the pain and vulnerability of the human experience. It's the voice that just wants to be alone, and seeks to avoid, escape and hide.
Which of these three is the most powerful voice in your life? Only one leads to true and everlasting life. It's the voice of encouragement. You're capable of greater and more heroic love that you think you are. Peace be with you. Be not afraid. Leave your old self behind, pick up your cross, and follow me, for the sake of the joy and new life that lies ahead. Amen.
+mj
