Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, C, Vigil

May 7, 2022

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/5.7.22_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a joy for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday.

* The Fourth Sunday of Easter each year is called Good Shepherd Sunday, because on this day the Church focuses on a part of the tenth Chapter of St. John’s Gospel in which Jesus reveals the relationship he has with each of his faithful followers. Jesus says about himself: “I am the Good Shepherd,” and indicates how he shepherds us. His faithful followers respond to him, with the words of Psalm 100 we’ll hear this Sunday, “We are his people, the sheep of his flock!” or with the more famous words of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd. I want, I lack, for nothing!” We mark this truth in the heart of the Easter Season each year, because it is the heart of our Easter joy: with the Risen Lord Jesus as our Shepherd, we truly have it all!

* Throughout the Good Shepherd discourse, Jesus shows us how he seeks to relate to us.

* First, “he calls his own sheep by name” and the sheep hear and recognize his voice. He wants to have a personal relationship with each of us. He knows us. He cares about us. Good sheep of the Good Shepherd enter into this mind-blowing I-thou relationship with him, responding to his call and calling out to him by name in return.

* Second, he guides or leads us. He tells us he “calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. … He goes ahead of them and they follow him.” “He “leads us in right paths for [his] names’ sake.” He takes us “besides the refreshing waters” of baptism and toward the “verdant pastures” of heaven. He wants to lead us on a journey, a true adventure, a life-time pilgrimage. He who is the way doesn’t merely point that path out but accompanies us along it. Good sheep follow the Good Shepherd’s guidance and walk in his ways.

* Third, he feeds us. He “prepares a table for us,” seeking to feed us in every way he knows we need. He feeds us materially as he “gives us today our daily bread” (Mt 6:11). He feeds our souls with his word, for “not on bread alone does man live, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). He feeds us, ultimately, on his own body and blood in the Eucharist, the food of everlasting life. Good sheep are not only grateful for this three-fold nutrition, but hunger for it!

* Fourth, he protects us. Jesus tells us very clearly that there are “thieves and marauders” who are seeking to fleece, milk, kill, cook and consume us. Against those who come “only to steal and kill and destroy,” Jesus sets himself as our protector, as the gate to the sheepfold so that, essentially, in order to get to us they first need to go through Him. He leaves the 99 behind and comes after us when we’re in danger. “No one can take them out of my hand,” he says. Good Sheep of the Good Shepherd stay in those powerful, saving, protective hands.

* Fifth, he freely gives his life for us. “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” he tells us. “No one takes my life from me. … I freely lay it down.” His protection goes so far as to die so that we might live. This is why we can act on his words, “Be not afraid!” That’s why Psalm 23 exclaims, “Even though I walk in the darkest valley I fear no evil, for he is at my side, with his rod and his staff to comfort me.”

* Lastly, he says,