Homily for Fourth Sunday of Easter: May 7, 2006

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

One of our favorite images of Jesus in the Church is the Good Shepherd. I think this is so because we find great consolation in the Lord Jesus as our shepherd. “Come to me…and I will refresh you.” It is a comfort for us to know that our Good Shepherd is personally concerned about our welfare. It is a comfort for us to know that our Good Shepherd knows each of us by name (and can count the number of hairs on our head). It is a comfort for us to know that our Good Shepherd leads us to the green pastures of salvation. But most of all Jesus as the Good Shepherd is the one who laid down his life for us. “Greater love than this no one has than to lay down his life.” We know how impressed we are when we see people risk their lives to help others. Are we not moved when we read about a father who dives into raging waters to save his son, only to lose his own life. Five times it is mentioned in this brief passage that the Good Shepherd is loved by his Father because he lays down his life.

The Church chooses as a sort of a commentary on this passage the image of the rejected stone spoken about in the sermon given by Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. The stone rejected by the builders becomes the cornerstone or the keystone. The keystone was a wedge shaped stone at the top of an arch which locked the other stones in place. Jesus the rejected cornerstone locks in place the living stones of the church because there is, as Peter preached, no other name by which we are saved. Jesus is the one shepherd and there is one flock.

Our response is to listen to the voice of the shepherd because the voice of Jesus is the voice of God. The shepherd calls the sheep and in calling them directs them to where he is leading them. Every word of Jesus, every teaching of the gospel, can be interpreted as the call: COME, FOLLOW ME. Every word of the Good Shepherd is a call to discipleship. Being a Catholic is not just a matter of belonging to some kind of an association or congregation of people who believe in Jesus. Membership in the Church through baptism demands internal commitment, a conviction of heart and mind. Fidelity to Christ is not just one hour a week given to God. Religious conviction and practice of the faith is a twenty-four hour, seven day a week reality.

The fundamental call of Christ the Good Shepherd is to faithfully follow Christ. We must listen to Him. All other vocations in the Church flow from this call. Before one is called to ministry in the Church, before a man and woman are married, before one pursues a career, before all other callings or vocations, we are called through our baptism to follow the Good Shepherd. Being a disciple of Christ is not isolated nor compartmentalized from our other vocations in life. If you are a store clerk, if you are a doctor, if you are a student, if you are a stay-at-home mom, if you are an auto mechanic, if you are an administrative assistant, you are one who believes in Christ and are conformed to Christ in whatever you do.

As Jesus was given the command by his father to lay down his life, so if we wish to conform to Christ, if we truly are to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd then we must surrender our lives to God in love and service of one another.

Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and we pray on this day that all those called by God to the priesthood and religious life will accept this calling to be of service to all the baptized. The apostles were first of all disciples before they were sent forth to preach the risen Christ. A priest or a religious is always first of all a Christian by reason of baptism and then a priest ordained as a shepherd for the service of the people or a consecrated religious for prophetic witness of the gospel.

I would like to conclude with a Prayer for Vocations which I have written:

ABBA, FATHER. YOU LOVED THE WORLD SO MUCH THAT YOU SENT YOUR OWN SON, JESUS THE CHRIST, TO BE OUR LORD AND SAVIOR. HE ESTABLISHED YOUR KINGDOM OF JUSTICE, LOVE AND PEACE.

THROUGH BAPTISM IN TO YOUR CHURCH, YOU HAVE CALLED US TO BE FAITHFUL DISCIPLES OF YOUR SON AND SERVANTS OF THE KINGDOM.

GRANT A GENEROUS HEART TO THOSE YOU ARE CALLING TO BE ORDAINED PRIESTS, DEACONS, CONSECRATED RELIGIOUS, AND LAY MINISTERS.

BY THE POWER OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT MAY WE AS YOUR CHURCH NEVER LOSE CONFIDENCE THAT YOU WILL SEND FORTH LABORERS INTO THE HARVEST. THIS IS OUR PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.

Last Update May 8, 2006