Welcome to Finding God in Our Hearts. The following production, Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher, is a weekly program of deep spiritual insight on Scripture, revealing the indwelling presence of God. We appreciate your listenership and if you find this program valuable, please subscribe and share with your friends. Share this program is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. Make your donation@pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com Today we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Easter. The opening prayer Almighty ever living God, lead us to a share in the joys of heaven set the humble flock may reach where the brave shepherd has gone before, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen. A reading from the Acts of the apostles second chapter, 14th verse, and then the 36th through the 41st. Then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and proclaimed, let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Then when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and they asked Peter and the other disciples, what are we to do, my brothers? Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is made to you and your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.

He testified with many other arguments and this exhorting them, save yourselves from the corrupt generation. Those who accept this message were baptized and about 3,000 persons were added that day. The Word of the Lord the Lord is my shepherd, there’s nothing I shall want. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose beside restful waters he leads me he refreshes my soul. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

He guides me in right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil, for you are at my side, with your rod and your staff that give me courage. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. You shred the table before me in the sight of my foes. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. A reading from 1st Peter 2:20th to the 25th verse beloved, if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he returned no insult.

When he suffered, he did not threaten. Instead he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live in righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed, for you had gone astray like sheep. But you now have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. The word of the Lord.

Hallelujah. Verse I am the good shepherd, says the Lord. I know my sheep, and mine know me. The gospel for this Sunday is taken from St. John 10. Jesus said, Amen.

Amen. I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold to through the gate, but climbs over elsewhere, is a thief and robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice as a shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all of them, he walks ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger.

They will run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers. Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, amen. Amen. I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers.

But the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly. The Gospel of the Lord.

Take the next few moments as we listen to this music to ponder the images and the thoughts that come to you as you listen to these readings. Ram the words of Peter in this first reading are addressed to a group of people that have just had an experience. The experience they’ve had is the one that in a sense, ushers in a new age, a new level of awareness on the part of human beings as to the fullness of God’s plan. The reason Jesus came into the world, the reason he died for us and removed the obstacle of sin as a wedge between ourselves and God, brought the two of us Together, and then said the most amazing thing. I will come and dwell within you. Just as the Father is in me, I am in the Father.

And if I enter into you and the Father is in me, then the Father’s in you. And this whole notion of an indwelling presence of God is the heart of my ministry and I think the heart of the Gospel. And what these people have just experienced is the manifestation of that inner presence. It was a moment, it’s called Pentecost. In that very moment, there was this overwhelming sense of something entering into them that was like enlightenment, like the purification of fire, and there was wind. It’s talked about, that mentioned.

I mean, that obviously led them to think, there’s something really powerful here. And then they all began to speak. And the thing they must have been saying was, in some response to recognizing that God was truly in us. And what it is, to me, a manifestation of what happens when God dwells in human beings. There is a unity of understanding and there’s an acceptance of a fundamental truth. And so the miracle seemed to be that all these people from different places, all different languages, and yet whatever they were saying, they all understood.

Because I think the image is that what they were saying was the same truth. They were saying, God is in me. God is in me. God is in me. And they understood it not because they heard the words and could interpret them, but because they felt it. And it underscores the mystery of when God enters into a human being, it isn’t just a relationship with you and God, but it’s you, God, and everyone around you.

The union is a union with creation, with the whole world, with everyone. And what we long for and what we move for is being in a community of people called a church, that leads us through its guidance and direction to understand this and to be living it. And yet, you know it’s true, that you can see. And in the second reading, there’s a line that says, you know, but, you know, you lose your way. You sometimes don’t focus on what’s really important. You lose sight of the shepherd guiding you, because the shepherd guiding you in the gospel passage is important to understand how that all works.

And unfortunately for the church, there’s been a sense of the shepherd role is a role to make sure that people all do what they’re told. There is an obligation to follow the shepherd’s rules and regulations. And if you don’t do that, then you’re considered not to be part of the flock. It’s like the flock is determined in terms of what they do by the shepherd. And he also is the kind of shepherd that casts you out. And Jesus said, you know, be careful.

That’s not the authority that I’m giving to my church. The authority I’m giving to my church is something quite different. I’m inviting those who are called to lead. And in a way, that’s everyone, but some in a very formal way, in charge of a community or whatever, overseeing doctrine and making sure it’s clear and it doesn’t get changed by a whim of a particular culture, but having something at its core. And it’s the connection between the leadership of the church and the individual. And what we see in the image that Jesus is giving us is so beautiful.

He’s saying, look, the only way that you can maybe understand this mystery is for me to give you some images to ponder and to work with. Now, they all knew about shepherding. They all knew what that was like. So they were asked to ponder this image that there is such a thing that God has created called the church. It’s a kind of sheepfold. A sheepfold is a place of protection from darkness, the darkness of night in the sense of wolves coming and attacking the sheep.

So in a way, the church is a kind of place, a holding place that is safe. But then when it comes to the role of the leadership of the church, it’s very important to look at what the model is. The model is Jesus himself. And there’s a role that God has, and there’s a role about the spirit living in us has. And I think it’s all in this beautiful image, this story, this thing that Jesus offers his disciples is something to ponder. God is the one in charge of opening and closing the gate.

He’s the ultimate authority thing. He’s the father of it all. He’s the force in all of it. This creative, loving, intimate force. And he took the form of a human being, and he’s invited human beings to live in a way with him in such intimacy that they will continue to do the work that he intended to be done with his people. And so Jesus is then the opening.

God opens it. But Jesus is the opening of human beings awareness of what they are, who they are, what they’re here for. So he comes in and he is the one who has forgiven everything and wants to do something for the sheep that are there. And the interesting thing about the sheep is the sheep will respond. There are all kinds of sheep in there. I mean, and they have different shepherds.

But when their own shepherd comes, they Follow him, because they recognize his voice. Now, that’s such an interesting thing. I mean, you know what it’s like to be in a restaurant and all of a sudden you hear a voice, you say, I know that. I mean, that’s so and so. You know, our voice is a very unique thing about us. And so when they recognize his voice, it means they have some kind of connection.

There is something familiar about the way in which they feel at that time that this is somebody that’s been with me, that’s there for me, that I trust. You know, it’s. To me, that is the image that inside of every human being there is born the truth. And it is not necessarily always nurtured and developed like it should. And some people, most of us, have some kind of damage, and we work through all that, but still we know that truth. And sometimes we hear it and we go, yes, that’s right.

Whatever that person said, that is so right, I recognize it. And what is it? It’s that thing in you and me that is so like the God that created us, but is in a constant struggle to discover it and to be nurtured by a. A community. And so we need to think very clearly about what the role of any kind of authority is in our life, particularly religious authority. And when I think about what it is, I think about the words then that were spoken to Jesus by Peter, who represents the authority of the church.

And he asks the question of Peter, do you love me? Now, why would that be so important? Because he asked it three times and everyone believes. Well, the reason he asked it three times is because there were three times that Peter denied him. But three times in the Bible usually just means this is really important. Listen to this.

Do you love me? Do you have a relationship with me? Do you understand my voice? Do you feel me? Do you sense my presence? If you do, then you have the right to do some things for me.

The first, feed my lambs. Second, tend my sheep. The third time, feed my sheep. What strikes me about this as a command to the church to rule, guide, nurture their people is really significant because the first and foremost thing is you’ve got to know God if you’re going to lead anyone into a relationship with him. If you don’t do that, it seems like the only thing you can do is use your authority, the position of power, to make them stop doing the things that you think are bad for them. And then that just never becomes.

Church becomes kind of a control. So let’s look at these three things. What does it mean to feed lambs? Well, the lambs are different than the sheep because they’re the children. They’re wide open. They listen to anything that they’re told and believe it.

So he said, feed them the truth. And the truth is the food that God asked Jesus to bring to the world. Remember, when he was tempted, he said, it’s what I live for, is the truth. That’s my food. Every word that comes from God is my food. So here we are, telling the church, or Jesus telling the church, I want you to be someone who feeds the Word to young minds, the truth, and then as they get older, turn into sheep, tend them.

Tending is so different than controlling because one of the core meanings of tending is to move toward, to get closer to, to become one with, and then to nurture and then to guide. But it’s about moving in a direction toward them. Know their life, teach them when they’re young, pay attention to them as they grow older, and then you’ll see and watch them and you’ll see their things. They need to continue to be fed, and then you feed them more. The feeding never ends. You always are offering people truth.

That’s the role of the church. One of the things that happened in the history of the Church that so impressed me and so infused life into me was the Vatican Council. And if you look at the council overview of it all, it is an incredible council in one or two major themes that it went over and over again. One was to open the church to truth, make sure that all the windows are open and the Spirit enters, and the other is this truth that you are given. It is not just yours, it is everyone’s. And so you need to work with people in discovering new insights into the truth.

It’s called collegiality. And the Church began to open its ears to the life of the people they were serving and realizing we’ve come to a time when we need to reevaluate so many of the things that we ask of people to make sure that. That they are truly tending their needs. Such a beautiful image and such a different image. And yet I hear so many people now more than ever, it seems, you know, resisting the Vatican Council for the very reason that it exists. And they kept saying, well, the Church is being watered down.

We have to go back to it as a. As a strong, strict authority. But you’re watering it down by listening to the needs of people or asking their advice. The people advising the Church, are you kidding? It doesn’t fit the old model, but it’s perfect in line with the Good Shepherd. What a beautiful image for us to ponder and to wonder about and to recognize that if you look at the culture we’re living in, you can see this same thing happening.

People are opening up and telling people about the kind of abuse they’ve received, and there’s abuse in every institution, and the abuse can take awful, terrible forms. But the overall abuse is never to recognize the beauty of the individual and their right to have their opinions about what is best and for that to be pondered and wondered about and guided by people who truly care about the individual. It’s a wonderful time in the church, the tension between these two, because there is something about when tension increases that means the work is really, really working. It’s a time to hope and not to be worried. Amen. The Closing Prayer Father, you have listened to the needs of your people and over and over again you created an environment in which they grew and they learned more and more until the final times when we now see more clearly than ever before your intention.

By loving us, forgiving us and empowering us, you’re leading us into a new and wonderful world that is run and guided by such a simple truth. Love and we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. The music in our program was composed and produced by Ryan Harner for this show. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. You can make a one time or recurring tax deductible donation on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com we thank you for your listenership and your continued support. Without it, this program would not be possible.

Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a production of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a NonProfit in Dallas, Texas dedicated to enriching your spiritual journey. Executive Producer Lady Monsignor Don Fisher produced by Kyle Cross and recorded in Pastoral Reflections Institute Studios Copyright 2023.