The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Today we see the Good Shepherd in the Gospel. We read of the qualities of this Good Shepherd and those of the hireling. And we see that there is a striking difference. But, today I would like to draw our attention to the qualities of the flock of Christ.

The sheep know the voice of the Shepherd. So also the true sheep of Christ are known by their eagerness to hear the word of God. They love to go to church, where the Word of God is preached, they take to heart what they hear, apply it to themselves and put it into practice. Christ made this a particular sign whereby the sheep can be known from those that are not of his fold: "My sheep hear My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand." Again He says: "he that is of God, hears the words of God.", and he upbraids the Jews with their incredulity, telling them that they are not of God, because they will not hear Him; but of the devil, who is a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies. According to these words the elect are easily discerned from the reprobate. They who love to hear the word of God and keep it are of God; others are not. Let lukewarm Christians who despise the Word of God and disregard the obligation to hear it, judge themselves by this divine standard: "he that is of God, hears the Word of God."

Sheep fly from the wolf. They fear the wolf and all beasts of prey and take flight at the least appearance of danger. The true sheep of Christ are also known by their holy dread of falling into sin, nay, they fly even at "the appearance of evil," according to the Council of St. Paul. "Blessed is the man that is always fearful." We have all reason to be fearful, for we are weak and frail, and great are the dangers to salvation, which encompass us on all sides. David, the man according to the heart of God, becomes a murderer and an adulterer; Solomon, the wisest of kings an idolater; Judas, the apostle a traitor and suicide. "He that stands, let him take heed lest he fall." And how great are the dangers to salvation! The devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The flesh, that domestic foe, is always watching to betray us into his hands, and the world studies to impose upon us by false maxims, and to decoy us by stratagem into its snares. Must we not with fear and trembling work out our salvation?

We often wonder how priests, bishops, theologians and religions could have been deceived into following the heresies of the Novus Ordo. It is truly shocking to see such great intellects and minds deceived — or even worse yet turned into the hirelings and wolves that they truly showed themselves to be. This in itself is surely a mark the great apostasy. But what is even more astonishing, perhaps, is that the majority of the flock followed such deceivers -- such hirelings.

If the sheep were truly members of the flock of Christ, they would have recognized that the voice of these hirelings and wolves was not the voice of the true shepherd. There should have been a massive outcry, as soon as it was recognized that the voice they were hearing was not that of the true Master. Their ears should have pricked up immediately, at this new doctrine, this new sound, which was not that of the Master. After all, have we not been warned by St. Paul not to accept those who preach to us a doctrine different than that which he has revealed to us? The ears of the sheep should have been in tune searching for that familiar voice, for that familiar doctrine, which is certainly that of the Master.

The sad fact is that just as those who were placed in charge of the flock turned out to be either hirelings are wolves in sheep's clothing; so too the flock, which was supposed to be the flock of Christ, turned out not to be His flock, because they did not hear His voice, but instead heard the voice of Satan, the voice of the world and consequently they are the flock of the Devils.

When the Shepherd was struck the sheep scattered. We saw this take place when our Lord was turned over to the Jews and was scourged and tortured and crucified until death. The disciples scattered. We saw it again when the Mystical Body of Christ was struck, the faithful scattered.

A few were found faithful enough to remain with our Lord beneath His cross and a few more repented of their cowardice in fleeing from their Master. So too in the attack of the Novus Ordo upon the Mystical Body of Christ we witnessed a few who stood by faithfully to the true Master even though He now appeared as the outsider, the reprobate, and foolish One, and there were a few who soon after realized that they were deceived and returned to the True Shepherd even though He was no longer popular or even recognized by the majority.

Not all the blame is to be laid at the feet of the false shepherds who led away and scattered the flock. It is just to lay some of the blame also at the feet of the flock itself, who should have recognized the deception immediately and gone in search of the true Shepherd.

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?