I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock
from all the lands to which I have driven them
and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply.

God promised the people of Israel that He would take care of them. He would care for them like a shepherd cares for his sheep.

At the appropriate moment in time God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to us as a man of flesh and blood —“ and as God.

God himself walked among us. He ate with us. He listened to us. He had great empathy for us. He used beautiful language, as the Father had used through His prophets of old. He was the shepherd for the lost sheep.

Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus and His apostles were looking for a quiet place to go off and rest and pray, a place to reflect on what had happened on their missions to the cities, towns, and villages of Israel.

They couldn’t do it. No, the poor, the seekers, the sinners, the weak and the lame, the questioners, they all followed Him.

His heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and He began to teach them many things.

We love this beautiful language, the gentle loving shepherd looking after his sheep. We love the soft and mellow Jesus, the Jesus of our imaginations, the Jesus we paint for our children in Sunday school.

Brothers and sisters,

We’ve somehow misplaced the shepherd Jesus —“ Jesus, the man who could save sheep with the crook of His staff. Jesus who could pull His sheep out of the jaws of the wolf, Jesus, the man, who was strong enough to guide and teach His sheep.

He began to teach them many things.

But did they learn, have we learned, from our shepherd?

The words of today’s psalm give us a powerful sense of confidence, if we believe they are true, if we trust God’s word.

Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.

Do we take up that courage? Are we a people who fear no evil or pain? Do we see ourselves clothed in white garments washed in the blood of the lamb, protected by His rod and staff? Or are we faint at the thought of standing up to wrong?

This week’s press has been full of articles that call for Christian witness. They call on us to be strong in our faith, in the face of great evil.

Reflect on the alleged stem cell debate. The world calls us ignorant. The world says that we bring condemnation and death upon the sick.

Reflect on the Churches that support abortion and stem cell research on embryos. Kill the babies so we don’t have to suffer. We want our lives to be better, so get rid of the weak sheep; they’re only getting in our way. Their parts are more useful to us than they are.

Reflect on events in the Middle East. The war in Iraq, the war Israel has undertaken against Lebanon, and the stacks of civilian bodies piling up. Those civilians, many of whom are children, those civilian Christians, Muslims, and Druze who lived together in peace, are blood witnesses against our inaction, our buying in. We Christians are woefully silent.

Reflect on the Churches that buy-in to that war. The Evangelical Christians who think the war in the Middle East is the best thing to happen since Jesus. They think the wars there will hasten the coming of Jesus. Come-on, hurry up Lord, the bodies are piling up for you.

Reflect on recent events in so many so called Christian Churches. Those events call on us to be strong. They call on us to be strong witness to the faith that is being jettisoned by so many.

The numbers are stacking up against us. Our witness, true Catholic Christianity is a laughing stock and an object of derision in the world, even among alleged Christians.

Have we gotten that soft? Have we condemned ourselves to a life of ease by sins of laziness (remember the old term sloth) and greed?

Have we forgotten who we are, or are we afraid to witness against evil? Have we forgotten that Jesus taught us many things, the first and foremost being that we must love God and our neighbor, and that we must be willing to lay down our lives for each other?

Where are the true Churches? The Churches that hold true to historic Catholic Christianity. The Churches that still remember that the world is not all there is, the Churches that remember that we are to take up our crosses and join our sacrifices to the One, to Jesus Christ who sacrificed all for us.

In Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have become near by the blood of Christ.

We have been drawn near to God by Jesus’ blood. We have been washed in the blood of Christ. Now is the time to get on the road and complete the journey.

God has kept His promises to us. He cares for us, watches over us, and protects us. We need only believe. We need only be strong enough to take that first step toward the Kingdom. We need only remember the many things He taught us.

Take up the courage of Christ Jesus! Go today! Bear witness; bear the truth of Christ to the world.

Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.

Amen.

[dels]homilies, sermons[/dels]