RECOGNIZING HIS VOICE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily  for this 4^th Monday of Easter is, “Recognizing His Voice.”

Last Thursday evening - give or take a day - on the evening news they showed a scene from the front lawn of some house in the United States. A soldier was just back from Afghanistan and the family is waiting for him to get out of a car. He does and the family dog breaks loose and runs towards the soldier and he gets down on his knee and the two embrace.

As I watched that I wondered how long is a dog’s memory?

I also wondered do we have voice memory - and how does that work? We get a phone call and the other doesn’t tell their name. They know whom they are calling  - but we don’t know the caller - but the voice we know from the past.

We don’t want to ask, “Is this Tricia?” or “Penelope?” or “Horatio?” Yet the voice sounds familiar and we probe our memory till we find out whom this voice belongs to.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel, John 10:1-10, Jesus talks about sheep recognizing the voice of the Shepherd.  Where did Jesus learn that? 

I love to picture Jesus from 12 to 30 wandering and wondering in fields and marketplaces, in synagogues and vineyards. I like to read the gospels and try to picture when Jesus observed and came up with his parables and images and pictures.

I remember hearing in a talk about a Jesuit priest who taught at Creighton University in Omaha. He went up one summer to Montana to work on a sheep ranch. Then he told his students in Scripture Classes what he learned about sheep and shepherding from his experience. He said that the image is very much part of our Scriptures.

When sheep are born they end up on the ground - unable to stand. They bleat till someone hears them and helps them to stand for the first time. He said the first voice the new born sheep hears is that of the shepherd. Later on they’ll hear the sounds of the shearers and then the sound of the ones who lead them to slaughter.

The Jesuit talked about how fragile newborn sheep legs are. The  shepherd has to be very careful in standing them aright. One little sheep’s leg broke and the shepherd took him in the front seat of his truck to the vet to set it right. He didn’t mention if he used a seat belt. But then the Jesuit teacher said he noticed that sheep always came running right towards the voice of the shepherd they knew. They would rub up against his lets with affection for his shepherd.

CONCLUSION: THE VOICE OF JESUS

Obviously, we who come to church - when we’re playful or when we are broken - we get to know Jesus and his voice. That’s prayer.

Beginning prayer is talking prayer - saying prayers.

Deeper prayer is quiet prayer - listening prayer.

Those of you who come here to this 12:10 Noon Mass might come early because it’s nice and quiet in here. You might feel blessed - because nobody has pushed to say the rosary before or after Mass. We all need to be aware that some people want talking prayers and some people want quiet prayers.

May our “baa’s” be authentic - and from the heart - and not just baaaaaaaable from our lips.

May we know the Master’s Voice - may we learn to hear his calls.