THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Second Sunday after Easter

14 April 2024

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends,

In today's Gospel reading (St. John 10. 11-16), Jesus tells us that He is The Good Shepherd and lays down His Life for His sheep. We see the bitter reality of this in His Sacrifice on the Cross. He shed His Blood so that He can give His Body as food for His sheep. He laid down His Life so that we may eat His Flesh and have His Life in us.

There is great joy in our hearts to know that Jesus loves us so much that He suffered and died upon the cross in reparation for our sins and that He offers Himself to be food for our souls in The Holy Eucharist. Still, His love and grace for us place obligations upon ourselves in return. It is said that His greatest suffering is that, for many, His Sacrifice is in vain. Despite all He does for us and all that He gives us, many refuse Him and turn away and enter the eternal torments of Hell rather than follow Him.

Jesus gives us Himself in the Holy Eucharist, not so that we can ignore Him or abuse Him further, but so that we can receive eternal life. In the Gospel reading for today, He says that He knows His sheep and that His sheep know Him, hear His voice, and follow Him.

He is The Good Shepherd. Many bad shepherds in the world deceive and cannot be trusted, yet many follow them. The bad shepherds are either demonic or worldly. The demonic shepherds want to lead us away from Jesus and eternal life. Their goal is to lead us into hell through denial or forgetfulness of God. They teach a false doctrine of self-pleasure or self-gratification regardless of laws, doctrine, propriety, fitness, or proper order. The voice of these bad shepherds can be heard when they tell us that "if it feels good, then we should do it." Some bad shepherds are worldly and teach a false doctrine of compromise. They want to bend the teachings of Jesus to make them more conforming to the ways of the world. They often want to reduce the teachings of Jesus to a democratic vote. Like politicians seeking out the polls to see what people want so that they can promise to give them what they want, these bad shepherds are unconcerned with what is best for the flock but only seek to provide the flock with what the flock wants (right or wrong).

These false shepherds tell us that God wants us to be happy, so it is okay for us to divorce and remarry if that will make us happy. Or that it is OK to abuse our reproductive organs for the sake of pleasure while frustrating the very nature of reproduction. Or that it is okay to murder our unwanted children within the womb. Or that it is OK to seek unnatural means to have children and discard any "extra" children that we don't want or are not up to our standards.

These false shepherds will tell us that we do not need to confess our sins to the priest, that we do not need to receive Him in The Holy Eucharist, that we do not have to control our thoughts and desires, that we do not need to mortify ourselves or do penance; etc.

They will abandon us to die in the decisive battle because they do not love us; they only love themselves. We are disposable tools in their pursuit of their own self-service or in their demonic hatred and desire to rob God of the love of His children. These are wolves in sheep's clothing; these are false shepherds, and these are hirelings.

Jesus, The Good Shepherd, lays down His Life and gives us His Body to nourish us, but He also calls us and leads us through the gates of Heaven. We must attune our ears, hearts, and minds to hear and follow His voice. The Good Shepherd Who loves us speaks clearly. If we want to be His disciples, we must deny ourselves daily, take up our cross, and follow Him. The only real joy we can find in The Good Shepherd is if we are indeed His sheep, hear His Voice, and follow Him.

We must first follow Him to Calvary in self-denial as we die to the world and ourselves, and then rise from our sins as He rose from the tomb to follow Him through the doors to eternal life in Heaven.

We must beware of the false prophets and the false shepherds and turn away from them, focusing our hearts and minds only on The Good Shepherd, Who teaches us and guides us through His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church where we can hear, love, and fulfill all that He teaches us.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us!