May Jesus Christ be
praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.
See
what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called children of God.
Yet so we are. What we shall be has not yet been revealed, but we know that
when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
There are always so
many things to say. There are always so many things to think about. There are
always some many things that take up our time. And there are always so many
things that I could preach about each week. There are always so many things.
We have three powerful
readings today. We have three powerful proclamations of the Word of God to us
today. There are so many things that we could think about, that we could talk
about, and that we could pray about. But dear brothers and sisters, there is
really only one thing. There has always been only one thing. And for that
matter, there will always only be one thing: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called
children of God. Yet so we are.
God our Father has
loved us and he continues to pour out his love for us. Through the power of his
love he invites us closer to him, both in this life and in the life in the
kingdom that never ends. He has made us his children in Christ Jesus. Through
the Sacrament of Baptism we were claimed for Christ our Savior by the sign of
his holy cross. We were reborn in the waters of the font, cleansed of original
sin, and made members of the flock of the Good Shepherd. This is our Christian
dignity. This is our first and fundamental vocation: to be children of God and
sheep of his flock.
We can see the love the
Father has bestowed on us when we look to Jesus the Good Shepherd. Our Lord
tells us in the Gospel that he is the Good Shepherd. He knows the sheep of his
flock and the sheep of his flock know him. Think about that for a moment, dear
brothers and sisters. Think for a moment about what that statement really
means. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Eternal Father, born of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, the one who healed the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead,
suffered, died and rose again, knows and loves YOU. And I do not mean you in
the plural sense, you individually. Just like Jesus called Mary Magdalene by
name, and he called us by name in the waters of baptism, he loves us by name,
individually. The heart of the Good Shepherd is so filled with love that what
he has done for all of us, he would have lovingly and willingly done for each
of us. Jesus loves us, and he knows us better than anyone else. Jesus knows our
gifts, because he gave them. But he also knows our weaknesses. He knows our
wounds, and he knows our sins, and he continues to love us and to call us
closer to himself.
See
what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of
God.
Amen.
Preached
at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
