Homily 4th Sunday in Easter

I'm strong to the finish cause I eats me spinach, I'm Popeye the sailor man.  Popeye had no problem letting us know who he is. 

It's important to know who we are and to be able to clearly communicate that to other folks.  Quite simply, how would you tell others who you are?

As people of faith, we should know who Jesus is.  Do we?

On this 4th Sunday of Easter we leave the post-Resurrection stories and arrive in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John.  We are kind of suspending time, at least chronologically, to hear Jesus tell us who He is.  First of all, Jesus tells us He is the Good Shepherd.  And that tells us all something about who we are.  We are His sheep!  And as our Good Shepherd He is telling us that we are in a relationship with Him.  And what kind of relationship are we talking about here?  It is an intense intimate relationship; about as intimate as the relationship Jesus has with the Father.  He intimately offers to care for us, as a shepherd cares for his flock.  We are the flock of Jesus.  Jesus, in sharing with us that He is our Good Shepherd makes a commitment to us as well: I will lay down my life for my sheep.  Now we already know that Jesus indeed laid His life down for us.  He laid down upon the Cross to die to save each of us.  The Good Shepherd indeed died for His sheep.  As He mentions in today's Gospel, Jesus is no mere hired hand who runs away at the first sign of danger, no, He is the Good Shepherd who places Himself between danger and us, to save us.  And that danger is our own sinfulness.  As a sheep follows their Shepherd, we, who follow the Good Shepherd, can be safe from the danger of sin.

Jesus introduced Himself in today's Gospel with the words, "I Am".  How many times did Jesus use the words "I Am" in reference to Himself?  The answer is approximately 27 times, depending on translations but what is important about this is simply "I Am".  Twice in this Good Shepherd discourse we hear Jesus use these words, "I Am".  Grammatically correct, "I Am" is also theologically correct.  Where did we first hear the words "I Am" in Scripture, in Salvation history?  This is how God referred to Himself at the burning bush with Moses way back in Exodus.  "I Am".  You see, Jesus, as the "I Am" and the Good Shepherd is revealing Himself as God, as in the Son, the 2nd person of the Most Holy Trinity.  Jesus is indicating the fullness of His divine nature.

Finally, in this Gospel we also hear Jesus discuss who is His flock.  He tells us it is His sheep(Israel) and His other sheep(Gentiles).  These other sheep the Good Shepherd too must lead and under His divine Sonship, these flocks will become one(universal; catholic).  For both the Jew and the Gentile there is one Good Shepherd, there is but one "I Am", there is but one God.  And He will lead them, care for them and die for them; die for us!

We take the occasion of this Good Shepherd Sunday to remember shepherds.  We honor vocations on Good Shepherd Sunday and while vocations can include Deacons, Religious, married couples, those living in the single state, today we look at the Priesthood.  We are called to pray for and support diocesan effort to grow the Priesthood.  Here is some good news; our seminaries here in New Orleans are at capacity, young men and not so young men are pursuing the Priesthood.  They deserve our prayers and our financial support!  Also, we remember today our retired Priests.  We now have over 60 retired Archdiocesan Priests, and many of them still help us by offering Mass, visiting hospitals and hearing confessions.  Today we offer a 2nd collection so we can help those who for many years have helped us.  These good shepherds, like those preparing to be good shepherds, need our prayers and financial support.  And all of our Priests need something else too, they need to know we care.  We can do that by our involvement in the parishes and ministries they lead, we can do that by cooking a meal or taking your parish Priest to dinner, we can do that by sending them a card or a note and we can do that by our constant prayers.  Can we do these things, and a dozen other possibilities, for those shepherds who care for us?

Popeye knew who he was, Jesus knows who He is, do we know the Good Shepherd?  Do we know the Great "I Am"?  Do we know who we are?  We are the sheep who follow the Good Shepherd.  Will we?