Do You Know the Lord?

“I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

John 10:14-15a

On the Fourth Sunday of Easter the Church celebrates “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because we hear the Gospel in which the Lord says He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. There exists between the shepherd and the sheep a unique bond and relationship. The sheep relies entirely on the shepherd. They know the shepherd will be there to protect them. The shepherd loves his sheep. As Christians, we are the sheep of the flock of the Good Shepherd. Do we know Him?

Jesus says that He knows His [sheep] and they know Him, but do we really know Him? Do we really know the voice of the Good Shepherd? Perhaps the more important question is do we see ourselves as the sheep of the Good Shepherd? Only when we see ourselves as sheep will we acknowledge the need for a shepherd. As Christians we are called to follow the Lord, to walk in His footsteps, and to live out our lives so that others might come to encounter Him in us. We must bear the face of Christ in our lives. We must remember that who we are and who we are called to be is rooted in Jesus, the Christ, the Good Shepherd. How well do our lives reflect Jesus Christ?

In order to follow the Good Shepherd we must learn to hear His voice. There are many voices that call out to us in our daily lives — the voice of God, our own voice, the voices of those whom we love, the voices that lead us to sin. In today’s world the voices that tell us to seek what gives us pleasure and to do what we please is quite loud, drowning out not just the voice of reason in our hearts, but also the Voice of the Good Shepherd that seeks to bring us peace. When we attune our hearts to the frequency of this world and its fleeting pleasures, we forget who we are, that we are the sheep of the One who cries out to us.

The voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the world do not exist on the same wavelength. We must choose to turn the dial to the frequency that speaks truth and love and peace. Only then will we be able to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. When we finally hear His voice, we will be able to know Him more and more intimately. When we hear His Voice, we will be led to His Word; when we come to read His Word, we will come to know Him, and when we know Him, He will lead us to His heart, which beats for love of us. The Good Shepherd calls out to you. He knows you. Do you know Him?

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.

Liars and Hypocrites

“Those who say, ‘I know him,’ but do not keep his commandments
are liars, and the truth is not in them.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.”

1 John 2:4-5a

On the Third Sunday of Easter we are once again presented with the account of Jesus appearing to the Apostles (Lukan account). Last Sunday we heard John’s account of Jesus appearing to the Apostles and saying, “Peace be with you.” It seems as if John’s account has a more sacramental touch to it, whereas Luke presents this encounter between Jesus and the Apostles from a more pastoral approach. John speaks of Jesus breathing on them, sending them forth as He has been sent, and forgiving and retaining sins, reminiscent of the sacraments. In Luke’s account, Jesus appears to the Apostles and He tries so hard to convince the Apostles that it is truly Him, not a ghost or a mirage. Perhaps Luke wants to convey to the reader (predominantly Gentiles) that Jesus is who He says He is and we have every reason to believe so.

In Luke’s account, we hear Jesus ask the Apostles why they are troubled and why they are raising questions in their hearts. To prove that He is not a ghost, Jesus asks the Apostles for some food so that they can see it does not go through Him! In some ways, Jesus is saying, “It is me! I’m not lying to you!” Before His passion, Jesus predicted His passion three times and shared with the Apostles that He must suffer and die, but will rise. And, He did. Jesus reminds them, “You are witnesses of these things” so they ought to bear witness to this truth, knowing that sin and death have no power of Jesus and those who follow Him. St. John also similarly reminds the followers of Christ that to follow Him, we must follow His commands. Otherwise, we’d be liars.

St. John encourages us to keep Jesus’s word. Jesus is the Word made flesh, so it makes complete sense that to say we know Him is to know His word. If we profess to know Jesus and to be a Christian, and we do not follow His word or His commandments, then we are being hypocrites and liars. Yet, even if we find ourselves being duplicitous or hypocritical, like with the Apostles, Jesus still comes to us and offers us His peace and mercy. Even when we find ourselves lying and being untruthful and unfaithful to the Lord, He seeks to not shame but to love and forgive. We only need to want to seek it and receive it.

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.

Overshadowing You

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.”

Luke 1:35

It is quite weird celebrating the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord on April 8th this year instead of the March 25th, exactly 9 months before Christmas. It is so this year because March 25th landed during Holy Week and so the celebration is transferred to the Monday after the Octave of Easter (today). How interesting it is that on the day we celebrate the Annunciation, the day our Lord was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, a total solar eclipse will move across North America. On the day of the Annunciation the “power of the Most High” overshadowed Mary, and today the moon will overshadow the sun (or the earth depending on how you want to see it). The overshadowing of Mary revealed the Son of God to man and the overshadowing of the moon will hide the sun.

On the day of the Annunciation, Mary was living her ordinary day, doing chores and praying when behold an Angel appeared before her, addressing her as full of grace, and telling her that she will bear the Son of God. She was troubled because she did not understand how that would be possible since she was not yet married to Joseph. Then the Angel told her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and that the “power of the Most High” will overshadow her, pointing to the Child as “holy, the Son of God.” This overshadowing reminds us of the mountaintop where there was a cloud overshadowing the place where God encountered Moses and of the Holy of Holies in the Temple where the Shekhinah or the “presence of God” is made known by a cloud.

When the power of the Most High overshadows, holiness enters. As baptized Christians, we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and have been overshadowed by the power of the Most High, setting us apart, being made holy. By virtue of our baptism, we have been brought into the very presence of God. Do we realize this? Do we live our lives knowing this reality? Perhaps we have allowed other powers to overshadow us.

What are the things we have allowed into our lives that overshadow us, that keep us from experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit and receiving the gift of God’s grace and mercy? Let us find the courage to ask the power of the Most High to overshadow us, dispelling the clouds that darken our spirits so that like Mary, we too may say “yes” to God and live in His presence, always mindful that we are indeed His beloved sons and daughters.

As those of us who are in North America gaze upon the sky this afternoon to see the wonder of the solar eclipse, let us never cease to be amazed by God’s creation. Yes, the moon may try to obstruct the sun so that we here on earth will see a shadow over the sun, but even at its totality, a ring of light remains. Brothers and sisters, no matter how much darkness we may have allowed to penetrate our hearts or how much power we have allowed other things to overshadow us, the Son can never be totally obscured — His light will always shine through.

Blessed Annunciation and Happy Solar Eclipse to you!