Sun., 8am
Sat., 5pm
On this 4th Sunday of Easter, why does the
Church give us these Scripture readings on Jesus as the Good Shepherd and shepherding
halfway in the middle of the Easter season?
Well, on the one hand, we reflect on the Easter mysteries we celebrated a few
weeks ago and, on the other hand, at the end of Easter we also prepare for Jesus’s resurrected and glorified body to ascend
into Heaven. After that, we will then celebrate
the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost upon Mary and the
Eleven Apostles.
[I briefly departed from the prepared text to apply to
parish events.]
Jesus the Good Shepherd does not leave us alone like stray sheep to be eaten by wolves that
are thieves and robbers today. Before
his crucifixion on Good Friday, the Twelve Apostles were ordained and consecrated
(high) priests of Jesus Christ on Holy Thursday. These Apostles share in the person of Christ,
and they in turned passed that along
to others who they ordained as their replacement-- or successors.
This
is the first of two main points: We hear Jesus’ voice through office of Peter
and Peter’s Successors (the Popes) over the Church’s 2,000-year history. The Apostles and the bishops who replaced the Apostles through the laying on
of hands at ordination officially teach,
govern & sanctify us as our pastors until the end of time.
In the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
Peter the first Pope, exercises his role as head of the Church after the
Resurrection. Peter “stood with the
Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed”
a message. Peter’s voice “cut to the
heart” of his listeners. This official teaching office of Peter is a
sign of the unity of Christians. There have been 265 Successors of Peter from Peter 2,000 years ago to
Pope Francis today.
When Christ called the Twelve Apostles, he made Simon
Peter the visible head of the Church. The
Second Vatican Council, in its Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, also taught, “The office of binding and loosing
which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to
[Peter] its head” (LG 22).
Jesus’s voice is heard through the official teachings
of the Pope and bishops united together.
From those Twelve Shepherds, we
today have 5,000 bishops united in a common teaching on love, faith and
morality, teachings which are protected from error.
At Holy Mass, when the priest says, “The Lord be with you,” there is deep theological
meaning to this. It means that Jesus is
sacramentally with us in the Sacrament of Holy Orders; it recalls the priest’s ordination by the bishop through the laying
on of hands, and the bishop who ordained that bishop, and the bishop that
ordained that bishop, and so on and so forth all the way back (unbroken) to the
Twelve Apostles.
None
of the other 40,000 Protestant denomination boldly claims this unbroken line
of succession that the Catholic Church does.
Jesus remains with us through these shepherds. She is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Without this Apostolic Succession, you and I will
be drowned out in the many confusing voices of the world by what the Gospel
calls thieves and robbers. We will be cut
off from the original 12 Apostles. We do
not hear Jesus’ voice through strangers, but through Apostolic successors, the bishops. Yes, they are weak, sinful men with their own
personalities, but they are still called by the Good Shepherd to govern the Church. That’s the first main point: Jesus gives us
shepherds.
The second main point in this homily is that, as we enter the month of May and the 100th Anniversary of Mary’s apparitions at Fatima in Portugal, we see God working through 3 children who were also shepherds. They were shepherds not through sacred ordination but shepherds to call humanity to repentance and conversion. Pope Francis will canonize two of them as some of the youngest saints in the Church.
On May 13, 1917, one hundred years ago this Saturday,
while they were out shepherding their flock, the Blessed Mother appeared to
them. She called for the praying of the daily rosary. She said that we must focus on penance and
prayer to avert global war [and at the time World War One was raging]. The children of Fatima were as young as 7 and
9 years old, so even 7 year-olds can pray the rosary!
After showing the children a vision of Hell, Mary
said, “You have seen a vision of Hell where poor sinners go. To rescue them, God wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” Mary also asked the Pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary to stop war. I invite us to be
consecrated to Jesus through Mary. Consecration
means to set a person or thing for a holy purpose.
Auxiliary Bishop Myron Cotta will consecrate our
Sacramento Diocese this May 13, and I have heard of other bishops doing the
same. In my preaching today, with the
media reporting global unrest and the world threatened by World War III, I want
to spread the message of Fatima and call us to the First Saturday Devotions and
consecration to Mary. I invite us to pick
any 5 consecutive First Saturdays, attend Mass on those Saturdays, go to Confession,
and pray the rosary. Let us, too, be
like the three shepherd children. Peace
in today’s unstable world will come only through prayer & penance.
In summary, we saw two post-Resurrection figures: Peter & Mary. Let us this Easter season listen to the voice
of the Good Shepherd through the Successor of Peter, the Popes, and the
successors of the Apostles, the bishops.
And let us reflect on Mary’s role in calling her children back to the
voice of her Son. Jesus said, “My sheep hear
my voice.” Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.
I know my sheep and they know me.”
The Shepherd Office of Peter & His Successors (Popes); Consecration to Mary
Homily #87 (May 6-7, 2017)
Homily #87 (May 6-7, 2017)
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