Acts 11:19-26; John 10:23-30
Today’s Gospel reading brings consolation and comfort to the disciples of Christ especially during these trying times. Jesus assures us that there will never be any “sheep snatcher” to steal us from Him. What can we consider a “sheep snatcher” that tends to steal us from the Lord’s care and protection? Christ assures us that He is one with His sheep. He knows each by their name. Unity between Christ and His Father is the cause of His unity with His disciples. He came to hand His life down for the sake of His sheep who in return, are expected to follow the Shepherd.
In the present world that is ours, “sheep snatchers” can take different shapes and forms. They can be human beings, thoughts, as well as things and situations. “Sheep snatchers” can be represented by people who actively proselytize and try to take us from our faith by mirroring to us different teachings that seem to offer cheap salvation where everything is linked to false happiness. “Sheep snatchers” could also be those who sow discouragement and hopelessness in us as we face difficult situations, feeding us with the belief that everything is meaningless and falling apart. “Sheep snatchers” can indeed be things and situations which push us to run away from God and to find solace in and with ourselves in illusory peace and comfort. “Sheep snatchers” represent everything that mirrors to us true life outside of Jesus Christ. This is the very reason Christ calls them “thieves,” those who have no other purpose than to deceive the followers of Jesus Christ and to take them from Him.
How then do we secure ourselves in Christ’s hand?
We secure ourselves in Christ’s hand by knowing our faith, praying it, living it through a parish, and practicing it. First of all, we have to know our faith. Learning from Him and taking advantage of the many teaching programs offered to strengthen our faith is very important. We are invited to have an “intentional faith” instead of an “inherited faith.” Intentional faith is the one that enables us to justify the reason for our belief. Intentional faith leads us to respond to the call to “Courageously Live the Gospel” as missionary disciples. Inherited faith remains at the level of feeling. Inherited faith keeps us at the level of being simply “church consumers.” We also secure ourselves in Christ’s hand through personal relationship with Him. This is realized through prayer and spending time in adoration before the tabernacle. We secure ourselves in Christ’s hand through membership and involvement in the parish, which is the very Body of Christ, of which each of us is a cell. We secure ourselves in Christ’s hand when we are consistent in the practice of our faith; when we bear witness to our Catholic faith and demonstrate in the face of the world that we are proud of it.
Let us continue to pray for one another, for our parish family and for the world.
Fr. Emery