Author: admin

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Gospel: John 10: 27- 30

Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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While twenty-five of us journeyed to the Holy Land physically two weeks ago, I’m amazed knowing how many of you also participated in our pilgrimage online. Some of the videos of Masses we celebrated have over one-thousand views!

One of the main reasons why I proposed this pilgrimage was to make Jesus real for us. We needed to see where he lived; where he ministered; where he died; and where he rose from the dead. 

Seeing these places in person – or even online – adds color to the Gospels. 

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For example, on the picture located at the top of this sermon, you’ll see a shepherd shepherding his sheep. I took this photo from our tour bus as we journeyed to the Dead Sea.

This single photo brought today’s Gospel to life, giving me a better idea of what the first listeners might’ve thought of when they heard Jesus’ words about being a shepherd shepherding his sheep.

We see the shepherd in front and the sheep huddled behind him.

“I am the Good Shepherd,” Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” We are that flock, the community of disciples, hearing his words, following his lead.

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Today’s short Gospel passage also contains within it the logic of our mission statement. As many of you know, here at St. Pius X we have three pillars: Building Community, Worshiping God, and Making Disciples.

These are, in a sense, the three things that sheep must do.

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Sheep have a natural herding mentality; they stay with their community.

If a sheep gets separated from the flock, it panics; it literally stands in place and shakes, waiting either for its shepherd or for death.

We shouldn’t be any different. Staying tied to our community of faith gives us strength, protection and purpose; we are not meant to journey through life alone. 

At Saint Pius X, we journey together by building community.

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Secondly, we worship God.

Worshiping God means we come here especially on Sundays to listen to His voice. We hear Jesus speak to us in our readings, through the music we sing, through the homily, and through the prayers we offer together.

“My sheep hear my voice,” he says, “I know them and they follow me.”

Sheep are known for their ability to distinguish their shepherd’s voice from others. They will not follow anyone else, only their shepherd. 

Here we try to do the same thing. We sharpen our resolve to tune other voices out, listening only to the voice of God.

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Once we hear the Lord’s voice, then we must make the decision to follow him. In a word, to become his disciple.

Again, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice … and … they follow me.”

It is this unity of hearing and following that bind the sheep to their shepherd, and us to Jesus.

God is here to guide us throughout our lives, to inform our decisions, to fill our hearts with peace, and above all, to lead us along the path to everlasting life.

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This leads us to the very heart of the sheep and shepherd imagery.

Sheep have a “you first” instinct. 

They will not go anywhere their shepherd has not gone before. This instinct is so strong that if the shepherd moves to the back of the flock and calls his sheep, they’ll literally make a U-turn, quickly gathering behind him.

Sheep trust their shepherd implicitly; wherever he is going must be safe.

Think about this in terms of the empty tomb. Following Jesus not only leads us to Good Friday; it also ends with Easter Sunday. 

As we read in the Psalms, “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul… 

… Even when I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Indeed, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

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Here at St. Pius X, we build community. We worship God. And we make disciples. 

Like sheep following their shepherd, we journey together knowing that wherever the Lord leads us, we shall be saved.

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Image credits: (1) Yours truly. (2) Group Bible Study (3) Understanding the Gospel

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Gospel: John 6: 52-29

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” 
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you. 
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink. 
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 
This is the bread that came down from heaven. 
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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John paints a clear picture of Christ, who gives himself to us in the Eucharist.

In today’s Gospel, for example, Jesus says:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. [But] whoever eats my Flesh and Drinks my Blood has eternal life.”

What marvelous news! You and I have received the pledge of eternal life.

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But what do we do with that life we’re given?

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Saint Augustine once wrote, “Become what you consume.”

Become like Christ.

We become like Christ when we feed our neighbors through our parish soup kitchen. We become like Christ when we make the effort to learn our neighbor’s name.

We become like Christ when we forgive others their trespasses. We become like Christ we offer our time.

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“Become what you consume.”

How can you and I become like Christ for others today?

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Image credits: (1) LoveSove.com (2)The Savior with the Eucharist, Juan de Juanes 1550 (3) The Passion Epidemic: Mike Patin

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Acts 8:26-40

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
“Get up and head south on the road
that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.”
So he got up and set out.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,
a court official of the Candace,
that is, the queen of the Ethiopians,
in charge of her entire treasury,
who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.
Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip,
“Go and join up with that chariot.”
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
He replied,
“How can I, unless someone instructs me?”
So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
This was the Scripture passage he was reading:

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.

Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply,
“I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?
About himself, or about someone else?”
Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,
he proclaimed Jesus to him.
As they traveled along the road
they came to some water,
and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water.
What is to prevent my being baptized?”
Then he ordered the chariot to stop,
and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water,
and he baptized him.
When they came out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
but continued on his way rejoicing.
Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news
to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

The Word of the Lord.

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The Acts of the Apostles describes the life and activity of the early Church.

It was a dynamic era filled with both wins and losses. Yesterday, for example, Saint Stephen was stoned to death, becoming the first Christian martyr. 

But today the Church gains a disciple.

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Philip is leaving Jerusalem when he comes across an Ethiopian man reading the prophet Isaiah.

“I beg you,” he says to Philip, “about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself or about someone else?”

Because Philip knows his faith, he’s able to break open the scriptures, explaining to him that Jesus is the Messiah, the one whom the prophets foretold.

The Ethiopian man believes Philip’s testimony and is baptized on the spot.

Tradition tells us this man went on to evangelize Ethiopia, which still has an active Christian community today – and, in fact, one of the oldest Christian communities on earth.

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How many people do we know who are like this Ethiopian man, who are either searching for answers or are on the fringe of religion?

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Even Catholics can fall into this category. We all know someone who’s either drifted from the Church or is hungry to know more.

If we are to bring them to Christ like Philip did, then we must know our faith – and why it matters to us. Hence, the second and third pillars of our mission statement: Worshiping God and Making Disciples.

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If someone like the Ethiopian man asked you, “Who is Jesus? Why do you believe in him?”

What might you say? 

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Image credits: (1) Christian Educational Ministries (2) Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch, Rembrandt (3) FaithSharer.com