…From your Pastor’s Desk
SHEPHERD SUNDAY
During Jesus’ time, shepherds protected their flocks with their own bodies. Many of the sheep pens were merely a wall of loosely connected rocks with a single entrance. At night the shepherds slept across the entrance so that their bodies became a protection for the sheep from their own straying or from marauders. The body of the shepherds kept the sheep from wandering out and getting hurt as well as keeping predator animals and bandits from entering the pen and attacking or stealing the sheep.
Jesus speaks of this in the Gospel for today when He says that He is the gate for the sheep. He is the sheep-gate and we are the sheep. He is the guardrail keeping others from hurting us and keeping us from hurting ourselves. He is our protector. He is alive for us today, keeping us from hurting ourselves and from being hurt by others – IF WE LET HIM!
The Body of Christ protects us. From, dare I say, EVIL. Yes folks, evil does exist in the world and it is once again raising its ugly head! The early Church was very much aware that the establishment of the Kingdom of God entailed a great war against the forces of evil.
The Book of Revelation speaks about this in grasping, emotion-laden terminology. In vivid imagery Armageddon would be the place of the final defeat of the devil by the Army of the Lord.
To the first Christians each liturgy, each celebration of the Breaking of the Bread, each ‘Mass’, to use our terminology, was seen as one of the victories of the power of the Lord over the onslaught of the devil.
Yes – The Body of Christ protects us from the forces of evil.
And – This evil extends further than our own concepts of the devil.
The Body of Christ also protects us from the evil of our society.
By receiving the Eucharist in a sincere manner, we are impowered to put up a fight against all the evils of our society that are continually assaulting us. The abuse of God’s freely given gifts, the worship of materialism, the plunge into the abyss of selfishness…assault us every day.
When we receive the Eucharist, we are seeking protection from our spiritual enemies. We are seeking protection from the worst aspects in our own lives.
Again – The Body of Christ protects us. If we let Him. We need to put our faith in the Sheepgate, our Lord, and not always believe what we hear, read or see in the media.
We have the Divine Protector with us. Christ is more powerful than the devil.
Just as He won’t let us stray out of the sheepfold and hurt ourselves, He won’t let the devil come in and hurt us. NO WAY!
The Body of Christ, the Eucharist is our defense.
The theme of Scripture yesterday and today is simple: Jesus is the sheep gate who continually protects us, both from intruders and, if need be – from ourselves.
Father Ron
