Fr. Dom's Homs: The Good Shepherd Is Still Running After You...Stop Running From Him

James Caldwell: This is the Manly Catholic, the podcast that calls you out of the shadows and into the fight. Here we forge men into warriors for Christ, husbands, fathers and leaders who refuse to kneel to the modern world's lies. No more passivity, no more excuses, no more lukewarm faith. This is your battle cry, your call to arms. The time for weakness is over. It's time to fight. Welcome to the Manly Catholic. Let's get to work. In the of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Will our three readings today reveal something to us that still allows us to enter into the power of the resurrection, for we still are in the Easter time. Our gospel reading is all about following the Good Shepherd, hearing the Shepherd's voice, knowing that he is a Good Shepherd. He is not a wolf. He is not a thief. He's here to show us the path to salvation. is our good and loving God. In our second reading from our first pope, Pope Peter, we hear the beauty and the grace of suffering. And in our first reading, we see how to live your life with and in and through this good shepherd. So let us look at our first reading today. We hear Peter, our first pope, continuing to be filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaiming Christ crucified and resurrected. He is no longer one who is of cowardice or weakness, but one of courage, bravery. and strength. He has entered into the power of the resurrection and filled with the Holy Spirit and he's proclaiming Christ so much so that the people he's speaking to are what? They're cut to the heart. The Holy Spirit is speaking through him. And people who hear these words from Christ through Peter are cut to the heart. There have been many historical figures throughout the annals of history who demonstrate themselves to be excellent orators. You may be able to think of some. Two that come to my mind are Cicero, a Roman statesman, and Domestinis, a Greek military leader. When the great Roman senator and orator Cicero spoke, everyone said, how beautiful he speaks. But when the great Greek warrior, Demetzenes spoke, his soldiers leapt up, struck their shields with their swords and said, let us march. Cicero speaks in such a way, people say, it's beautiful, teaching us how to think. When the Greek warrior speaks, people are ready for battle. Peter. is that Greek warrior. When he speaks, the people are cut to the heart and you will notice what they say after that, they're convicted. They say, brothers, tell us what we are to do, not think, but to do. So in our first reading, Peter is showing us when we're filled with the Holy Spirit, the power of the resurrection, when we repent and we're baptized, now Christ is working through us and we go out and we do. Thinking is highly important, there's no doubt about that. Illumination of the intellect, knowing philosophy and theology and the catechism and the Catholic Church's teachings. We know those things because we're called to teach those to the world as well too. But God is always going after the heart. And when we're cut to the heart, the only thing we can do is talk about the good shepherd. So in our first reading, Peter shows us the power of the resurrection to go to the world and to bring Jesus. In our second reading, we continue to hear from our strong leader, our first Pope, Pope Peter. He talks about suffering. And when we suffer with a shepherd, that is good. He says in our second reading that that is grace given to us from God. We know that Peter was being persecuted, him and John, the first couple chapters of Acts. They were being persecuted by the Sanhedrin. They were being flogged. They were thrown in jail. They didn't stop. And when they suffered for the Lord, they were happy. Thank you for allowing us to suffer for the name of the Lord. Why? Because Jesus allows us to enter into his most holy passion, experience his suffering for the world. And in redemptive suffering, we can help save souls. That's the meaning of Christian suffering. And Peter in our second reading is reminding us of that. To suffer for Christ is a good thing. We don't avoid it. In fact, if you live your Christian life in the world today, it's just gonna come to you. Rejoice. Remember, we're soldiers. We go out and we do. One of the most worst things in this world is a Christian who is not engaged, a fully initiated Christian, baptized, reconciliation, Eucharist, confirmation, and then they're not engaged with the world. They do not have a fulfilled life, but to have a fulfilled life is having Jesus and going to the world and bringing love and peace, defending the faith. That is a good thing to suffer for our Lord in that way, says our first Pope. And then in our gospel today, the Lord reveals us to us who he is. He is the good shepherd who protects the flock, who leads the flock, who shelters the flock, who feeds the flock, and the flock is us. And Jesus is that good shepherd. We're called to hear his voice. How do we hear the voice of the Lord? Well, we know that every single human being is created in the image and likeness of God. That means something. That means we're hardwired to know God, love God and serve God. It doesn't matter who you are or what you think. If you're an atheist or if you're none. We're called to pray. That's how we hear the Lord's voice. How do you pray? When do you pray? We're called to pray all the time. In the life that God calls us to, in every act, every thought, every look, we're called to pray. We're hardwired to pray. In fact, neuroscientists, when they would analyze a brain of someone who's in prayer, they discovered something very interesting. They discovered that in prayer, your brain quieted. Certain parts of your brain were engaged, others were turned off. Especially the area of the brain that causes anxiety. Your heart rate lowered. Your blood vessels expanded, pumping more blood and oxygen through your body. You were relaxed. Your breathing was slower. The power of prayer cannot be underestimated. God created our bodies. Body, soul, composite. And so we pray to the Lord. That is language. That's how we know the Lord, just like you communicate with your best friend or your spouse. You know them because you have a relationship with them, which means religion. Everybody's religious because religion is relationship. That's the etymology of the word. So to have a religion is to pray with the Lord first and foremost. That is how we know the Lord's voice so that when we go out into the craziness of the world, we'll be able to navigate all the craziness that we come in contact with. We'll know the truth, not the lies. We'll know the light, not the darkness. And that's why it's important for parents to teach your children how to pray so that they know God first, so that when they're older, they'll be able to navigate the world and follow the Lord's voice, the good shepherd. As we celebrate this Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday, definitely as a priest, this hits home for me, but I'm also reminded of a story. I've shared this before, maybe you remember it or not, but when we were in seminary, getting close to being ordained, getting close to graduating, the seminary would always send that class to the Holy Land for about three months. It was a wonderful gift, traveling and experiencing this pilgrimage and all the places that Jesus was at. And there was one part of this experience where, We all went to this pasture area and there were many sheep and then there were a handful of shepherds. And so what they demonstrated to us is that when all the sheep are together in one big group and all the shepherds stood at a distance, how did the sheep know where to go? Well, each shepherd had a distinct voice that the sheep under his protection knew. So when they made that call, all the sheep separated and all the sheep that belonged to the shepherds went to their protector. And they came running because the sheep know that they're going to get fed, they're going to be sheltered, they're going to be protected against the thieves and the wolves because those are good shepherds. Do you remember seeing a picture of the Good Shepherd of Jesus with that nice, perfect, white, delicate lamb laying across his shoulders? I'm sure you have. If you haven't, trust me, there's one. Well, we're seminarians studying to be priests, and so we're thinking to ourselves, wouldn't it be great if one of us had a picture of that lamb, one of the lambs, on our shoulders? Blast it all over social media. It'd be great. It'd be perfect. Just like that picture, this perfect, clean little sheep laying across your shoulders. almost like it's sleeping, like it wants to be there. So we asked the shepherds if we could do this and they could barely speak English, but they knew what we were saying. And they said, yeah, go ahead. Kind of like a good luck kind of thing. And then they started speaking in their native tongue. I don't know what they said, but they probably said, ⁓ you stupid, crazy Americans. So we picked out a sheet and we thought we were going to go over to it and it just lay down and we could pick it up. What do think it did? It bolted, it ran. And so we're chasing it. There's three of us. We're chasing it. And finally, kind of get it cornered and we have to force it to lay down because it doesn't want to lay down. It's like who are these three strangers? And I had to grab one pair of legs and the other guy had to grab the other pair. And the one who decided to have the lamb set on his shoulders had to kind of crouch down. He was all a six foot, plus some. And so when we picked up the lamb, what do you think the lamb did? It started shaking. It didn't want to be picked up. What do you think the lamb did once it was set on this guy's shoulders and he stood up high in the air? it peed. a lot. It's like it drank a whole liter of Mountain Dew. Just kidding. Lambs don't drink Mountain Dew. So these are pasture sheep. And I know those who are like in 4H, like you can clean up a lamb. looks like a beautiful animal for sure. But these are pasture sheep. They're like feral. So it was dirty. And I'm not just talking about mud. So here's this future priest with this dirty lamb kicking with pee all over him with a big smile. as we took his picture. A good, soon-to-be priest, he did not drop the lamb, he held onto it. Finally the lamb figured out that it's not going anywhere and then it rested. Isn't that us sometimes? We wanna live our life our own way without Jesus, because we think we have it all figured out. Jesus comes running after us and we run. He comes running after us and we run. Finally we're so tired we give in and he wants to heal us and clean us and cleanse us and bring us into a life. with him as a good shepherd wants to protect us. And then when he picks us up symbolically, sometimes we get Jesus dirty by our sins. But the good shepherd does not let us go. This is the good shepherd in our gospel today. Power of the resurrection allows Peter to proclaim and be persecuted. Power of resurrection allows Peter to suffer well. The power of the resurrection gives us the strength to finally give in and let Jesus into our hearts. And I'd like to end with this reflection that I received from a friend of mine, a permanent deacon in the Ukrainian Catholic Church. His priest wrote this about Easter and how it just doesn't end on Sunday and how it's supposed to change us every single day, just like it did Peter. He says this, we rush through Holy Week. We weep at the cross. We rejoice at midnight. We say, Christ is risen. And then almost quietly, we return to our routines as if something beautiful has just simply passed, as if the Easter celebration and the resurrection were the conclusion of just a sacred story rather than the beginning of a new life. The Holy Gospel does not begin with an ending, but it begins from the very first page with the holy resurrection. In the life of the church, everything flows from the empty tomb. Every Sunday, is the Easter celebration. Every divine liturgy of the sacred sacrifice of the mass is a living encounter with the risen Christ. The church does not say it is finished at the end of mass and then just walk away. She proclaims Christ is risen and invites us to begin again and bring Christ to the world. And yet, how often do we treat the Easter celebration and the resurrection as the closing chapter of our traditions, lighting our candles, exchanging greetings, attending the services, but leaving unchanged? We hold on to our fears, our habits, our brokenness, as if the stone of the tomb were never rolled away. We celebrate the resurrection outwardly, but inwardly, we remain in our own dark tomb. The truth is this, the resurrection is not the end of something, it is the beginning of everything. Christ rises not simply to be remembered, but to be lived. He rises so that our despair may become hope, our wounds may become healing, our darkness may be filled with light. He rises so that we may also rise with him with new thoughts, new choices, new beginnings. Easter and the power of the resurrection is not behind us, but it is always before us. Every day is now an invitation to live as resurrected people, to forgive when it is difficult to love, when it is inconvenient to trust, when it feels impossible. Friends, let us not leave the joy of the resurrection at the doors of the church. Let us carry it into our homes. our struggles, our daily lives to the world. Because in the risen Christ, nothing is over. Everything has begun. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Brothers, thank you so much for listening to this episode. If the shows add value to your life, I'm going to ask you to do three things. Share with a brother who needs it, leave us a review, and finally support the show so we can keep fighting. Links are in the show notes. We'll see you next week.