Prayer
Jesus, you have so many adversaries out there demanding our allegiance. They never stop tempting us to work for them…to work for whatever pay they have. Sometimes it is gold that tempts us with lottery tickets and Las Vegas. Sometimes it is the power of politics or economics. And sometimes these adversaries appeal to our ego through fancy clothes, cars or drugs to make us thinner, younger, and stronger. How can we turn them all back?
We will fail often but in faith, God, you will not fail us. We shall never stop asking you for help and praising you in thanksgiving when you send us your help.
Jesus, you have taught us well that we can’t do this on our own. We need a rock to stand on…a rock that will turn away this tide of adversaries. We need your real presence in our lives at all times. Please send forth your spirit this Resurrection Season to give us faith. Strengthen our faith in you to inspire our world and our work through you Christ, our Eucharist. Then, Jesus, help us to do the work that our faith requires – to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with you. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/050706.shtml
“The stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” Acts 4:11
“I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
Two of the most famous descriptions of Jesus are given to us in the readings for Mass today. Who has not wanted to build her house on the rock of Jesus, the rock of ages? Who has not stumbled over His commandments? Who doesn’t need to be rescued by the good shepherd?
Jesus gives us the answer today -- The one who “works for pay.”
Good works emanate from faith…like the healing and saving of the crippled man in the reading from Acts. That good deed (read “action” Cursillista) was borne from faith in Jesus the Nazorean. Faith comes first but faith requires us to love our neighbor.
If there is no faith, then someone or something else is our master and commander. We can do good work for pay, not for passion. So when the wolf comes around, when times get tough, there is no one to protect us. Ah, but in faith, Jesus the Good Shepherd will put us on his big shoulders and carry us back to unity with the rest of the flock.
If we do good works for pay, then our house is built on shifting sand, not on rocks. If we do good works in faith, then our house is built around the cornerstone, the stone the builders rejected.
When our job is done, the Master Builder will not reject us. The Shepherd will take us back to His flock. Yesterday, the Lord invited me to attend to the funeral of Rev. George Parrish of Pilgrim Baptist Church in Silver Spring. Jesus brought George’s wife Edith into my life many years ago through my various jobs and I now work with her every day. George Parrish was a good and faithful servant. Edith and George built their house on the Rock of Faith. When George’s body gave out, his faith did not and people came from all over to pray him home. You could see Jesus in every face, young and old, yesterday in Pilgrim Baptist Church. Jesus was there in the face of his wife Edith – the comforter being comforted and comforting others right back. Jesus was there in the tears of his son Ken. Jesus was there in the melodious voice of his son Eric, singing his father’s favorite songs. Jesus was there in the inspiring the poem written by his son Gregory. Jesus was there in the preaching and the crying, in the singing and the praising, in the loving and the dying, in the living and praying.
You could just see the ushers -- looking like angels in white dresses with white gloves and white hats -- opening wide the doors of the church to allow the Good Shepherd in. With tears of sadness in His eyes for the Parrish family, Jesus reached down and picked up the frail body and strong spirit of George. He put George on his shoulders and carried him home…good and faithful servant.
Action
What adversary do you need to turn away? Can you help the Good Shepherd by carrying someone on your shoulders today? How can you be a good and faithful servant today?
Maybe the answer lies in the next person you encounter today.
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