Homily

Sunday, April 13, 2008, Forth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Assumption Grotto Parish, Detroit

An Army of Sheep in Battle Array

Today’s passage from the Gospel of St. John (Jn 10:1-10) has many levels of symbolism, and has been the subject of much commentary by Church Fathers and Doctors. Many of the symbols overlap, and many diverse interpretations can all be both true and unrelated at the same time. Christ is both the door and the shepherd. He is the shepherd here, but his also the sheep; nay, a lamb, the Lamb of God. The porter or gatekeeper could be Sacred Scripture or the Holy Spirit. I wish I could have all the clergy of our Archdiocese here to speak to them about being good shepherds, but that message is for them and not for you.

Therefore, among the many possible interpretations, today I wish to focus only on one aspect, so that you can return to homes today after Mass with a simple and clear fruit. It is this: Christ is the Savior, and there is no other Savior but him. I wish to underscore this by reflecting on the mysterious assertion of the Lord, when he says, “He leads them out” (v. 3).

This is a mystery, because, well, didn’t the shepherd wish to gather his sheep into the safety and abundance of his own sheepfold? Did he not say that outside the sheepfold there are thieves and robbers, strangers from whom to flee? Isn’t it unsafe outside the sheepfold? Why would he lead them out, and where would he be leading them to? Whatever is the case, one thing is clear; the sheep have to keep moving, and so it is, that we who are Christ’s sheep, need to make progress in our spiritual lives to follow Christ, or we will get lost in many a dark valley.

He leads them out; indeed, he “drives” them out (Vulgage: “putteth forth”). The sheep go forward into a very frightening and dangerous world. The dangers are perilous, the horrors are grave. We look around us, and we see the problems of our world, so many problems, both material and spiritual, which seem to us little sheep to be hopeless. They appear as situations which rob us of a peaceful confidence in a good future. Lord, we may ask, are you sure you really want us to go out there? Look how many of the sheep are ravished by wolves. See how many sheep are slaughtered by the mercenary shepherds, those wicked pastors who ravish the sheep with their own greed, their own heresies, their own pride and sensuality. Lord, please don’t make us go out there, we beg him, for we are defenseless sheep, and very weak.

And the Lord anticipates our fears, for these are not childish fears, but existential ones and very reasonable ones. And he has pity on us. For listen to what he says next: He walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him. St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Catena Aurea, citing the Glossa ordinaria of the school of Laon (Northeastern France), opens up for us the meaning of this (cf. section on Jn 10:3). For he explains how this was foretold already in the scriptures, in the pillar of cloud and fire.

We find it written, “The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people” (Ex 13:21-22). Again the prophet Nehemiah writes a prayer in which he speaks to Yahweh, “You, in Your great compassion, did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, to guide them on their way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go” (Neh 9:19).

And so the Lord walks ahead of us, and we follow him, even up the royal road of the Cross. In the dark night of our trials and purifications, he is a burning furnace of love. In the daytime when all is clear, we still follow him as a mystery and as an awesome wonder. But in the daytime or night, in the winter or summer of the soul, God’s compassion never fails. He is always there, and he does not leave the sheep whom he leads out.

But he does not only lead us in our spiritual lives; he leads us in the life and history of the whole world. The Lord says, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (Jn 15:9). This is the world into which Christ leads us. This is the world to which you will go back home after Mass today. This is the world in which you live and study, shop and vote, travel and eat and work.

In the midst of these things, do you hear his voice? To you follow him? Or does the noise of the television drown out his voice? Do you hear him? Do the appetites for money and food and pleasure lure you off the path, or do you follow him? Are you afraid of where Christ is going to bring you? Do you resist your own progress in holiness, following Christ.

As Moses led the people out of Egypt, and God himself guided them with power and might in the miraculous pillar of smoke and fire, so too Christ the Good Shepherd leads you out of the slavery to your sins, and shows his spiritual power in the Church. Let him lead you out, and let us march behind him as an army in battle array, to the fear and astonishment of those who serve demons. What a wonder: an army of sheep! Yet that is what God makes of humble souls in his Catholic Church. Yes, let the Lord lead you, even to where you’d rather not go (cf. Jn 21:18). For he will never abandon you, even should he lead you to the crucifix on Calvary itself. Amen.