Homily for May 12, 2019 - Fourth Sunday of Easter

Homily for May 12, 2019

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Lay Participation in the Mission of the Church

            This is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday” after the very beautiful Gospel we just read. But since the vast majority of us in this Church are called to seek holiness through marriage or the single life, I want to speak about how all of us – both priests and laity - are called to shepherd others by bringing them to Christ, the Good Shepherd.

            You see, the Church has a mission – Jesus gave it that mission in Matthew 28 when He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Trinity, and teaching them to observe all I have commanded you.” That is the Church’s mission. Everything the Church does – running hospitals, starting schools, building churches – is secondary to that one mission of bringing souls to the Lord Jesus. That beautiful image of the second reading today has always impacted me – the huge crowd, so large that no one can count, of souls from every place in the world (including Stamford, Connecticut!) who are saved and made pure by the Blood of Christ. And it is precisely the Church’s mission to increase that

multitude with more and more souls!

            But it’s not just priests and nuns who have that mission! YOU, the laity, play an absolutely critical role in this mission! Priests and bishops and nuns are not “the Church” – all of us, you and I, are equally the Church! We have a different role to play, but our mission is the same.

Back in 1988, Pope John Paul II wrote a powerful encyclical called Christifidelis Laici – on the role of the laity in the mission of the Church. In this encyclical, he makes the point that married people and single people have a mission to bring the Gospel to the secular world, to places that priests and nuns cannot go. I would not be welcome in the halls of Westhill High School; I could not just go into the New York Stock Exchange or the RBS building and start preaching. But you are already there – in your schools, in your neighborhoods, in your businesses – and you have the duty and dignity of bringing Christ there! You can reach souls who would never set foot in a church.

We do that in two ways. Primarily, through our own lives of holiness. Pope St. Paul VI said, “Modern man listens more readily to witnesses than to teachers, and if they listen to teachers, it is because they are first witnesses.” Our lives must reflect Jesus so much that if people had never read the Gospels, they would know what the Christian life is by the way we live.

But our example is not enough. People often misquote St. Francis of Assisi as saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words” (he never actually said that, and it is quite the opposite of how he lived, as he spent his life preaching with words!). Very few of us are so holy that our mere example is enough to lead others to Christ. We need to use our words to speak about our relationship with Him and to invite others to find Him.

How do we do that? First, by inviting others to Church with you. Have you ever done that? I know a young man, a college student at a large public university, who is one of the best evangelizers I’ve ever met. When he was home over break, he called up his friend one night and said, “Hey, do you want to go to JC’s party?” She said, “Who is JC?” He responded, “Oh, you know JC!” “No, I’m sure that I’ve never met anyone named JC.” “Come on! You guys are tight. You’ve known him practically since you were born. He’s in your school, and he’s having a great party tonight, you’ve got to come.” “Oh, I don’t know. I still don’t know who you’re talking about,” she said. So he responded, “Would it help if I sent you a picture?” He texted her a picture of the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance – JC was Jesus Christ, and His party was Adoration. They ended up going to Adoration that night together.

Have you ever invited someone to come to Church, or Adoration with you? Even if they turn you down, they’d be honored that you asked, I’m sure!

Second, we must not be afraid to speak about our relationship with the Lord Jesus. When a friend is going through a tough time, instead of saying, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” we should say, “I’ll pray for you.” When our coworker asks what we did over the weekend, we can say, “Man, we had the best Mass at St. John’s this weekend! It was so uplifting!”

We might find it initially awkward to talk about Jesus, but if we love Him, why would we not want to speak of Him? Imagine that you discovered the Fountain of Youth, which promised life everlasting and no more suffering. Wouldn’t it be a selfish thing to keep that a secret? Wouldn’t we want everyone to experience it – especially those we love? In Christ, we have something greater than the Fountain of Youth – we’ve found everlasting love, salvation, a real relationship with God!

I want to lay down a challenge. As this is Good Shepherd Sunday, I encourage you to pick three or four or five people in your life to “shepherd”. People who you think have an openness to God’s grace. Shepherd them through building relationships with them. Share with them your own spiritual journey and your relationship with the Lord. When the time is right, invite them to come to Church with you and to begin living a real Christian life.

As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “To convert someone, take them by the hand and guide them.” I challenge you to select three to five people in your life who you can take by the hand, and like a good shepherd, lead them to the Church and to Christ.