Homily for 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 19, 2015

Homily for July 19, 2015

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Against the Sheep

 

            The Word of God calls us “sheep without a shepherd.” Sheep are animals who tend to flock together. They do this for safety – a lone sheep is likely to be lost, and therefore devoured by a hungry wolf or bear. The flock is strongest when they all stick together – if one member sticks out for some reason, they are all in danger.

            So a good shepherd tries to keep them all in line, together, to protect them. But what if the shepherd isn’t good? What if the shepherd is only caring for the sheep so that he can get rich off the wool and the milk?

            It’s okay to “fit in with the crowd” – as long as it’s a good crowd. It’s okay to be a part of the flock – so long as it’s God’s flock. Because there are many shepherds out there who are not willing to lead us to holiness.

            We need to ask ourselves – who is our Shepherd? Whose lead do we follow? What forms our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs? For many Americans, their shepherd is the Media – they follow unquestioningly anything that their newspaper or the internet says is true. For others, their shepherd is popular opinion – they will only believe what the crowd believes, without thinking critically about modern-day issues.  For some, their shepherd is science or politics – if a scientist or politician says it is true, then they follow them completely.

            And for others, their Shepherd is Jesus and His Church. To follow Him is to follow the path to life. But we must allow Him to be our shepherd in everything – if we say, “Oh, I will follow Jesus only when it’s easy or when I agree with Church teaching,” then we are not letting Him do what he did in the Gospel – teach us the way to holiness. As Catholics who claim to have Jesus as our shepherd, we must follow Him and His Church completely, not only when it’s convenient or when we agree with the teachings.

St. Paul tells us in Romans 12 to “be transformed by the renewal of our minds so that we might know what is the will of God, what is good, pleasing, and perfect.” We should look at our lives and our world through the lens of the Gospel, not looking at the Gospel through the lens of the world. As CS Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity like I believe that the sun has risen; not only do I see it, but I see everything else by it.”

There are a lot of errors that we can be easily led into believing. What do the worldly shepherds tell us? That this life is all there is; that money and pleasure are the highest goods; that God does not exist and that religion is for fools; that there is no such thing as truth; that we human beings can redefine anything we want, because we are the masters of our own destiny. These errors ultimately lead us into misery, because we were made for more: we were made for love, for self-giving and sacrifice, for a life that never ends.

            Jesus wants to lead us to that life. We must believe this! His teachings are not burdens but the pathway to becoming saints. He wants abundant life for us! What does the media want from us? To buy their product. What does popular opinion want from us? Conformity.

            You see, these other worldly shepherds don’t lead us to find true life in God, which comes from a life of holiness as we seek to live out our personal relationship with Christ and follow His commands. So, we ought not to just be sheep and follow the rest of the modern culture as they proceed down the path towards destruction. No, we need to break free from that conformity and make sure we are in the flock of God, with Jesus as our Shepherd.