THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Second Sunday after Easter

19 April 2026

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends in Christ,

In today's Gospel reading (St. John 10,11-16), Jesus tells the Pharisees that He is the Good Shepherd and that He gives His life for His sheep. And He says this, distinguishing Himself from the hireling that is not a shepherd, who does not own the flock. The Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep, but the hireling runs away at the sight of the wolf or any danger, leaving the sheep to be destroyed by the danger.

Our pastors should be one with Jesus, as St. Paul says: "It is no longer I, but Christ Jesus living in me." True shepherds are united with Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Jesus has not left us orphans but has given us the Church through the Apostles and their successors. History is replete with examples of Christ-like bishops and priests, but we also find many who proved to be hirelings rather than shepherds. The real shepherds who have died to themselves, allowing Jesus to live and reign in them and through them, are proven to be good, or one with The Good Shepherd, in moments of trials and tribulations. The test is how much do they love God and the flock entrusted to them? The degree of love is measured by what is willingly sacrificed for the person or objects of our love. For our love to be perfect, we must imitate the love Jesus has for us — we must be willing to die for Him as He was willing to die for us. If we are not willing to die as martyrs for Jesus, we do not love Him completely as we ought to. For those who have been placed in the place of God over others, the question is, do they love these souls entrusted to them as they love their own souls? Are they willing to suffer and even die in protecting and returning their souls to God?

This is the distinguishing mark between good pastors and hirelings. The hireling looks good and says some very good things, as long as there is no danger to him or to the things he loves. The problem is that he does not love God or the flock entrusted to him as much as he loves his comfort, material advantages, or other temporal things. It is easier for the hireling to allow danger, harm, or injury to the flock than to himself or the temporal things he loves.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and He insinuates that the Pharisees are hirelings. Good bishops and priests are shepherds, while rebellious, protesting Protestant ministers are hirelings. Roman Catholic bishops and priests sacrifice themselves in their vows to God for the flock of the Church. Religious bishops and priests give even more through their religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Sadly, we also see that many of these are hirelings and do not love the flock entrusted to them enough to be willing to suffer and die for them.

In opposition to the Good Shepherd and those shepherds in union with Him are the wolves and devils seeking to destroy the flock. The hirelings find a place more or less in the middle of these two. The hirelings do not actively seek death and destruction, but they ignore or turn away from the destruction that they see. The hirelings sometimes prove themselves useful to God in preaching the truth, and they sometimes prove themselves useful to devils or wolves in that they do not sound the alarm or protect the flock. It seems that the hirelings are lukewarm and as God has said, He wishes they were either hot or cold, but because they are lukewarm, He will vomit them out of His mouth (Apocalypse 3,15-16).

The tragedy is not the anti-Christian, atheists, Satanists, Jews, Pagans, Islamists, etc., these are wolves and devils. Their motives are clear, and as such, the flock (sheep) can be warned and protected from them. There are sadly many "Christians" who profess a love for God but are rather hirelings. These not only flee in the face of danger but also seek to diminish the appearance of danger and suggest that we need to love our enemies and express this love by embracing them in their evil. There is no doubt that, materially or worldly speaking, there are many non-Christian or non-Catholic people who are "good" or at least not actively seeking the destruction of Catholics.

Condoning evil is not loving the human enemy. It is quite the opposite. Leaving a person in danger of losing their immortal soul in spiritual darkness is not loving them. If we love them, we shine the light of truth for them to see the error of their ways and to see the path to grace and salvation. Humanism is the name given to this indifference to spiritual evils. It is this humanism that creates and sustains the spiritual indifferentism in our world today. It is this spiritual indifference that gives rise to the innumerable hirelings in our current world.

We should be on our guard against the many catch phrases in use today. We do not all believe in the same God! There are not many different paths to Heaven! It does make a difference in what you believe and how you live! Our eternal lives are at stake; let us not be enticed or coddled into a false security of indifferentism by the demonic wolves or the hirelings who do not even care about their own souls, and much less ours.

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