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Gospel Reflection 20070429

Help people who sin understand and live God's love.
Traditionally known as the Christian "work of mercy" titled "admonish the sinner," this can be a tough act to do. We all admit in our heads that we're sinners, but no one likes to be told that he or she really was one on a particular occasion.
Perhaps the most practical way of doing this work is by your own example, by refusing to take part in things you see are wrong. When others see your quiet refusals and also notice that your life is happier and less cluttered with guilt, the message will get across.

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Christ Knows His Sheep!
April 29, 2007


Fourth Sunday of Easter


Gospel
Jn 10:27-30

Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”



Today's Gospel was very brief. But the message of this Gospel is not trivial. The Good Shepherd speaks and the sheep hear His voice and obey. The Good Shepherd says, "Shake off the dust of evildoers." And we are to be like the obedient sheep. Obedience. That's not a very popular word today, is it? In fact, when it is mentioned it is usually spoken with sarcasm as "blind obedience". Let us be very clear here. God wants us to obey His Commandments. He wants mature, whole-hearted, loving obedience. But He does want obedience. True, He gave us free will. But Our God is honored when we use that free will to do only what is good. And for the good sheep, who choose to follow the example of the Good Shepherd, Jesus promises eternal life.
Before He died, Jesus told his disciples what to do when they were rejected or abused. He told them to "shake the dust of the town from their feet" and move on to the next place. Does this advice sound unusual? Jesus knew first hand how it felt to be mis-judged and persecuted. He knew how easy it is to take offense and hold a grudge. He knew that grudges can grow and eat away at goodness in a person's heart. So Jesus gave his disciples one of the hardest lessons of their lives: The only way to respond when we are wronged is to forgive. Shake the dirt of resentment and revenge from our feet, our heart, and our minds. And move on to the next town. Jesus knew we cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve some people with love while we hold hatred in our hearts for the wrongs of others.

Evil is such an insidious thing. We don't realize how easily it multiplies. Consider what happens when someone at work or school hurts our feelings. If we do not choose to forgive it immediately the hurt grows. Then we go out to the playground and say a careless or mean word to someone else. On the drive home, we lose our patience with all the traffic and construction, and we angrily refuse to let someone merge in front of our car. Before we realize it, we have 'passed along' the evil we experienced to others. And probably, the people we have hurt will likewise pass it on to others.

Jesus knew this. Jesus knew his disciples must have no part in passing on evil to others. We too must keep ourselves free of the "dust" of anger and revenge. Do not carry a grudge. Instead to be "filled with joy and the Holy Spirit." This is a very important point. We cannot do this on our own. Everything in our being cries out for fairness, getting even, making them pay. Jesus gave us His Heart, His Holy Spirit, because He knew that we could not forgive our enemies on our own. If your focus is revenge, being offended, being bitter, there is no peace and joy possible. But when we yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, when we choose to forgive and move on, the result is peace and joy.

This biblical message of not seeking revenge is the exact opposite of the message the world gives us, isn't it? The world says, "Get even". Popular thinking says, "make those who hurt you pay for it." But for the Christian, our triumph is the Cross. All evil stops at the foot of the Cross. Jesus absorbed and accepted all the evil that was done to Him and all of the evil of the whole world, and He refused to pass it on. Remember, as Christians, we are called to be like Christ. In other words, we must refuse to pass along evil. We must brush the dust of evildoers from our shoes so it cannot seep into our hearts and contaminate our lives. We must not allow evil to go any further.

I remember hearing the story of a woman who saw her son murdered by a gang. Many of her son's friends were nearby and saw the whole thing happen, but they ran away in fear and abandoned him. When it was all over, what do you think this mother did? Did she turn her back on all who had abandoned her beloved son? No. She comforted those friends who had behaved so cowardly. She grieved with them and encouraged them to become more courageous and fruitful in the future. Can we imagine the courage it must take to be able to shake off the dust of hurt and anger like that? This woman was Mary.

Now there will always be those who will tell us that only a coward would turn the other cheek, that people should stand up for themselves. They would advise the young person to get revenge, to "punch that kid out" who bothered them on the playground. They would advise the co-worker to "get even" with the person who hurt them. But in truth I tell you, the really courageous person is the person who chooses not to pass on evil.

In a few minutes we all will say the Our Father. Remember, this is the only prayer that Jesus gave us. In this prayer, we beg the Father to forgive us our faults, our wrongdoings, or sins as we forgive everyone else. Let us pause for a moment and consider our words. Do we choose this moment to forgive everyone or not? Do we want Jesus to forgive every one of our sins or not?
In the Gospel we learn that even when misfortune occurs, Jesus protects those who are faithful to Him. He says: "My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.”
His words are very important in these times. After the death of Jesus, the apostles had great success in convincing the people of many nations to follow His teachings. However, each paid a price for their stewardship. History indicates that 10 of the remaining 11 apostles suffered martyrdom. Following Christ has it’s rewards but no one ever said it would be easy. It's not easy, today, ... in the year 2007. Do you realize that by being gathered here this morning you are all examples of individuals who have remained true to Christ’s teachings? You may say to yourself, “Well, what’s so difficult about coming to Church once a week?” Think about it. Just a few years ago, our nation could be considered a Christian nation. If we study our history, we learn the majority of the men signing our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were extremely religious. Is that true today? I would suggest it is not true.
In a recent American Bishop’s survey it was determined that of those who claim to be Catholic, only 40% say they attend Mass each week. You here today are in the minority among Catholics. Why is that important? For two reasons. First, what you do each week is not easy. But what does Jesus say to those who do listen to His words?

My sheep hear My voice; I know them and
they follow Me. I give them ETERNAL LIFE
AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH.

What a promise! We have remained true to Jesus and He has indicated we will be rewarded. The second reason our presence here, today, is important is because the society in which we now live seems intent on blotting out all reference to God, the Commandments and to Jesus Himself. If you turn on your television set, visit the movies, read the magazines and the books, the majority of the messages we receive is, “Forget religion. Forget the story about Jesus’ resurrection. That’s just a myth.”
That’s what the apostles were told by many of the people to whom they preached. Let me address the young people directly, those of you in grade school, high school, college or just getting started in your careers. Many huge corporations in our society, like the Jewish priests of old, are spending billions of dollars each year to woo you away from your faith. I know that your parents constantly remind you of this fact but often the young may be inclined to dismiss that advice, saying, “Mom and Dad are a little bit old fashioned.” No, they’re not. They are teaching you the same concepts that Jesus taught us in today’s Gospel.
Now, no one can deny that all through the past 2000 years, Christians have experienced many times of great distress. In fact, we are living in such a time right now, a time of darkness and sin, which Pope John Paul has so aptly named a “culture of death”; but that should not sop us from speaking and acting boldly about our Christian faith. Like Paul and so many others who have witnessed before us, It is now our turn to be instruments of salvation in the midst of hostility. Will we do it?
Well, one thing is for certain. NO one can give what he or she does not possess and that brings us to an examination of conscience. Before we try to shine the light of Christ into other people’s lives, we need to ask ourselves if we are ready to welcome that light into our own lives.
Would we, for example, welcome Jesus to sit with us as we tuned in our favorite TV shows or as we surfed the Internet? Would he be welcome to stand with us in the voting booth as we make our political choices? How welcome would he be on our next date? What would his light reveal if he tapped into our phone lines to hear our conversations?
Examples could go on and on because everyone of us would find some darkness, some sinfulness in our lives. Would that disqualify us from spreading the light of Christ? Do we have to wait until we are perfect? Certainly not. It has been truly said that, if sinners do not spread the Gospel, it will never be spread. On the other hand, we need to also realize that, since we are only reflecting the light of Christ, we are not its source, our lives are like any other reflector. The cleaner it is the better it works.
Have any of us gathered at the dinner table and discussed what a wonderful offer God makes to us? Have we ever discussed the reality of Heaven? Frankly, I have never had a discussion like that. I have had discussions about vacations. However, I've never had a discussion about Heaven. I've never talked with others about what it could be like ... what we would do, how we would interact with God, would our families and friends be there? It's almost as if you and I hear about Heaven but we really aren't sure whether we will be there.
Let's imagine that it was an advertisement for a free, wonderful vacation in, say, Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean or the Isle of Capri. Wouldn't we probably rush to sign up? And wouldn't we gather our families around us and discuss what a wonderful time we would have. We would get all the details and plan visits to the beach, wonderful meals together, sightseeing trips, golf outings and just plain relaxation. All at no cost!!!
If Heaven were a vacation spot and if it was advertised on television and in the travel magazines, we'd all rush to make a reservation. It would all be free. "Hey ... sign me up for the rest of my life. Or, better still, for all eternity."
If I took a poll here this morning and asked, "after you die, who would like to sign up for this place they call Heaven?" I assume everyone would say, "Yes, include me! What's the charge?" There is no charge.
Well, there are some stipulations to the offer. There's no money involved but God does ask that we make some prior arrangements. Number 1, there are some guidelines which he calls the "commandments". He asks that we meet certain conditions to qualify. Well, that's reasonable. There are guidelines to every vacation we take.
However, his guidelines have a two fold benefit for us. Not only do they guide us to his eternal home but they also guide us to a happy life while we are here on earth. The commandments are not too difficult to understand if we think of each commandment and then ask the question, "Would I like someone taking that action against me or to someone I loved. Would I be happy is someone killed me, robbed me or lied to me. No I wouldn't. I wouldn't like it if anyone in my family or any of my friends was guilty of murder, robbery or sins against the 6th commandment. Expressed in those terms it seems the commandments are really quite reasonable.
Each of us will be tempted to forget our God and join the masses of people in our society who have are ignoring His teachings. One might say, "There seems to be so much evil in the world how can anyone be worthy to eventually be in Heaven? Well, we recently celebrated the reason why we can look forward to Heaven even though we have sinned during our lifetime. Jesus Christ Himself came to this earth to open the gates of Heaven for us. He suffered cruel tortures and He died for our sins. The movie, "The Passion of Christ" depicted in graphic detail just how much Jesus suffered for us.
And so, as we consider the concept of Heaven and the prospect of each of us someday being there, it sounds almost too good to be true... but it is true because Jesus made it possible for all of us.
So, today, as we come to communion, spend a few minutes seriously thinking of the promises God has made to each of us. He offers us a reward that is unbelievable, a reward for which His son Jesus has died so that we might be allowed to spend an eternity with our maker. Are most of us planning a vacation this summer? Will we spend time in preparation and will we make some sacrifices to make sure we have an enjoyable time? If the answer is "Yes" shouldn't we also spend time seriously considering whether are not we are making all the correct preparations to be sure we will someday be with God and enjoy the life He has promised us today? It really does make sense to do just that.

Here are links for the 10 Commandments (the 10 really boil down to just 2). After clicking on the links, click on the Article for each Commandment for a full description of how each Commandment applies to our daily lives. You may be surprised at how many decisions we each make on a daily basis that relate directly back to the Commandments:
The first three Commandments: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt1ind.htm "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"
Commandments 4 through 10: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt2ind.htm "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF"

posted by Mike Young @ 12:08 PM