Journey's Weekly Homilies

Homily by Sam

JOURNEY CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A
APRIL 21, 2002

ACTS 2:14,36-41
I PETER 2:20-25
JOHN 10:11-18
‘GOD ALONE MAY LEAD MY SPIRIT’

My 10 am client is recovering from a mental illness and now he’s ready to graduate from college.  I ask him how he has accomplished this and he says, "Faith".  When I inquire further his whole theology spills out.

He has learned to believe that God will take care of him no matter where he is or how bad things seem.  He is grateful to God for the simplest of things: soundness of mind; friends who help him; and a woman who loves him.  And with his whole heart he wants to express his gratitude to God for this grace.

This man is a walking, breathing version of the twenty-third psalm for me.  "God alone may lead my spirit far away from want and fear.  For the Lord is my true shepherd and I know my God is near."

Today is ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ and there are four things for us to remember about shepherds:  They gather the flock together with particular concern for the strays; they tend their sheep with compassion, as a mother with child; they govern justly ensuring food and safety for all; and they daily forsake food, shelter, and comfort to tend the flock.

Today, in the clear light of resurrection, we can see God as the Good Shepherd: a God who gathers us in, a God of compassion, a God of justice, a God who leaves everything to join with us on our way.  Because our God is the Good Shepherd we never walk  alone, as my client knows so well.

In the first reading from Acts we see how God has gathered the exiles into one people.  According to Acts Jews from every nation on earth, the scattered sheep,  gather in Jerusalem.  They see the wind and feel the fire of Pentecost.  Each has heard the disciples in their native tongue and they all wonder how this can be.  So Peter tells the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and offers an abundance of mercy from the shepherd of Israel.  Their hearts are stirred and these scattered sheep rejoin the flock in prayer, study of the scriptures, and sharing their wealth.  This remarkable scene is, as the story goes, the fulfillment of prophecy: "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh all people, and all who call on my name will be saved".

The letter of Peter invokes the image of the shepherd as well:  "For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls."  In this letter the shepherd who calls us together suffers injustice rather than inflict it on others.  And in this we see the compassionate nature of our God who is compassionate and giving of self.  And we are called to do the same.

In the Gospel we find that God is more just than the human shepherds we sometimes look to.  The passage we have today is a kind of homily on the story of the man born blind, which precedes it.  As you recall Jesus the good shepherd, exercises compassion and justice, takes pity on this man and heals him.  The leaders of Israel, the false shepherds, deny the miracle, accuse the man, and reject him.

But this man, born with a serious illness, has found new life and courageously bears witness to what has happened to him.  And for the Gospel of John this is a true disciple:  one who encounters Jesus, experiences healing, and tells the story.  Like my client.

Many of us today can see ourselves as wandering sheep, longing for compassion, justice, guidance, and community as we face important decisions or even hardship.  Five couples in this community are preparing to join their lives together in hope and love.  A number of us face serious, even life threatening challenges to our own health or the health of loved ones.  As war presses upon us with its fear and desperation we wonder how to be witnesses of justice and healing.  We hear the stories of exploitation and abuse by shepherds of the Church and we struggle to trust.

We pray for the faith to say to our God, ‘Though I wander the valley of dying I shall know that I walk in your sight with your staff that is ever before me and your rod to guard at my right.’
Joe reminded us a few weeks ago of the four basic prayers: ‘I’m sorry.’  ‘Help me.’  ‘Thank you.’ And ‘What’s next?’
These days our friends from Jesuit Volunteer Corps pray, ‘What’s next?’  They all face decisions about the direction of their lives for the next year.

To discern that path they gather on retreat.  They pray together in their homes and study the scripture.  They continue to serve the poor with justice and live without luxury.  And they believe that when they do these things God will refresh their lives and guard their souls.

The rest of us could do well to learn from them.  We can pray the readings every week, study the rich homilies and commentary about them on the Journey web-site, do the work of justice in our community, and gather at table to offer thanks.

Though we grope and stumble, we may also gather to sing, ‘Be here among us.  Come to our rescue’.  And we know that the Shepherd of Israel, the Shepherd of all people, will awaken us, bring us to life.