Today's Gospel

Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”
http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/10:18

Today's Gospel is the familiar one of the Good Shepard. Now the metaphor of the shepherd is obviously more appropriate to the more agricultural rural times but it is an easy enough concept for the modern person to grasp. 

What make a Good Shepard? One who keeps his flock safe from harm? Who leads them out of harms way?  I think that is a reasonable definition. How are our leaders acting as shepherds?

My local parish priest is a very good Shepard. He tends his flock diligently. Always around to help and give good advice. We met him in the street the other day and had a chance to chat which we never get to do on Sunday. He was telling me about the renovation. It seem they are spending about $4 million to redo the church and the parish hall. That is a heck of a lot of money but it is really good news. That means they will not be so quick to close this parish. They have invested too much to do that so it is a great relief. The reason why the parish is strong is because of Father Chris. He is very family friendly and parents come from other parishes just because of the way he treats the kids. Some live next door to a church and still come to St Mary's. It is because of the shepherd.

My question has long been what kind of shepherd will Pope Francis turn out to be when it is all said and done? His recent pronouncements about economics and the upcoming ones about global warming trouble me. We are currently facing the greatest challenge for Christians in many a long year. Christians are being slaughtered all over the world. In Paris they just arrested a gunman who planned to go to a church to murder Catholics. ISIS cut off the heads of Coptic Christians in Egypt. Muslim refugees throw Christians into the Sea and the President wouldn't even mention it in his Press Conference. The Italian Prime Minister said it was no big deal. Why should he when the Pope is not leading his flock? Pope Francis has spoken out but no where nearly enough. He should call a prime time news conference to denounce these murders. He should be shouting from the rooftops. He needs to be the shepherd that protects his flock. Even the other Christians who are not in his flock but still need his leadership.

"These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice." 

I don't think that Obama is a Christian. He is not a member of the flock but the Pope needs to make him hear his voice. The Pope needs to speak out loudly and vehemently and clearly that this situation can not stand! He needs to put the politically correct nonsense aside and lead his flock out of danger.

Where is our Shepherd?
.

It is time for my favorite Gospel once again

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me."
At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?"
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

So Father Chris was rushed to the hospital this week for surgery. He is fine Thank God but we had to have a substitute Priest from Visitation Parish in Red Hook. Now the problem is that the guy is Polish and almost incomprehensible. The rhythm of the whole Mass was off. He would talk over the organist and mutter under the music. He read different passages then normal. Everybody was messed up and all over the place.

I was at a big disadvantage as I had forgotten my glasses so I couldn't even read the missal. But I did know the Gospel since as you know it is my favorite.

Then the organist decided he was Protestant because he kept playing Protestant hymns. He played "Now We Gather at the River" and "Amazing Grace" and I thought I was in a Western or something.

The Archdiocese of New York just announced that is was closing about 30 churches and merging about 100 others. Now this is the Archdiocese that covers Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and Westchester. We are in the Archdiocese of Brooklyn which covers Brooklyn and Queens.

They are shutting down most of the churches in Manhattan because only about 12% of the Catholics in the diocese live in Manhattan. At one time these churches were packed with the Irish on the West Side and the Italians in the Lower East Side and in Harlem. But now most if not all of the immigrant Catholics are gone. The Hispanics don't live in Manhattan anymore and are mostly found in Queens of all places. So these churches are only for funerals or weddings and are very sparsely attended under normal conditions.

The church has a bunch of expensive properties that the real estate moguls have their eyes on and I bet the princes of the Church will be selling them off piece by piece. Money changing by selling the Temple.

Sometimes I feel like todays Gospel is in Response to my Musing

You see I was sitting in church today thinking about Donkey Chocolate. Well that is not exactly true. It was after the first reading I started to think about Donkey Chocolate.

Thus says the LORD:
Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.

Now I wondered. Did they make chocolate form that ass's milk? Did they even have chocolate back then? Where does chocolate come from? The colt was the foal of the ass but is the candy bar the tasty treat from an ass? Am I being an ass? Should I pay more attention instead of thinking about chocolate?

The answer to the the last question was yes.

Today was the first Sunday in Ordinary Time. Father Chris spoke about Ordinary Time and how he had to wear the same vestments all through it until November. He had worn Red last Sunday and someone said he should wear that color more often. He talked about Ordinary time and how it was a long stretch until Advent.

When Mass was over everyone lines up to say thank you and goodbye. It is your chance to interact with Father. So when it was my turn I said "I love ordinary time. Now every thing is back to ordinary. I can go to Mass and do the normal things I do on a normal Sunday. Don't knock ordinary time until you lose it. Then you will really miss it."

Today's Gospel as always is right on point.

I have been going to church every Sunday since I was old enough to remember what was going on. I very seldom miss Mass on Sunday. I love the ritual and the familiarity. The prayers. The sense of contentment and repose and renewal I get during the mass. The spirit of love that I get when I take Communion.

And I really like the stories.

They are always right on point.

This week was the gospel where Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. He turned his ribbons  into whips and scourge the evil degenerates out of the Temple. Turning over tables. Throwing them out on the street with their money rolling down the street. Getting the evil and corrupt people away from his family and friends.

I kept elbowing Lisa and going "Are you paying attention?"

Father Chris said in his homily that we have to remember all the aspects of Jesus. The Jesus who sat with the children and the lambs. The Jesus who suffered and died on the cross. But there was also the angry Jesus. The Jesus who went out looking for fight. The Jesus who let his righteous anger let him unleash his power to defend his faith.

Father Chris said it was his favorite Gospel. When we were walking out and I shook his hand I said "That's my favorite Gospel too."

It might be at cockcrow!

Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"

Because there might be fighting. Just sayn'

By their hair we shall know them!

When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

It is amazing to me how the gospel is always relevant to what happens to you that day.

Goat.

In which I answer two comments with the same photo!

Who doesn't love Rocky?

And the little baby Jesus who gave her two talents.

She made the most of them just like in Sunday's gospel. Just sayn'

Do not Molest an Alien

Thus says the LORD:"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,for you were once aliens yourselves in the land."