4th Sunday of Easter - Good Sheperd Sunday "Mother's Day"

“The Lamb who is the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water..”

This weekend, we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday and Mother’s Day. What a beautiful image: Jesus as a loving shepherd who cares for us and leads us to good pasture and safety. It’s also comforting to know we are the sheep of His flock; He knows each of us by name and calls out to us. And we, His sheep, hear His voice and follow Him.

In the second reading from the book of Revelation, John had a vision in which he saw a great multitude in heaven who stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding branches. They had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And they worshiped God, the Lamb, on the throne, who will shepherd them to springs of life-giving water. Jesus is the lamb and the Shepherd, whom was slain and who they worship. And Mary is the Mother of the Lamb and the Mother of the Good Shepherd.

At every Mass, Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world becomes present on the altar. As Catholics we believe that the one sacrifice of Calvary that occurred 2000 yrs ago is re-presented on the altar when the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus. The lamb who was slain, our Good Shepherd becomes present on the altar and we are able to receive the flesh and blood of the Lamb in Holy Communion.

Did you know sheep recognize their master’s voice and even can be called by their own particular name? So when Jesus said, “My sheep, hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” He was using a familiar example to shepherds and farmers who knew sheep follow their shepherd. Shepherds can use specific names to get sheep to do what he wants. He can also use horns or to holler to get their attention to follow him.

I am sure you are aware dogs, pigs and sheep can all come to know their specific name and will follow their master who calls them by name.

When I was a child about the age of 8 yrs old, at our pig farm, we had a pet pig by the name of Frank. I don't know if my uncle liked that since that was also his name. But we would call Frank and he would come to the fence and he would let us sit on top of his back and grab his ears and we would run around the pen with us on the back. Then he would stop by the gate and have my next brother or sister get on his back until he would give each of us a ride in the pen. He was a smart pig and he knew is name.

How much more tenderly does God love us and know us by each of our names? God calls us individually by name.

Jesus used analogies of sheep to help His disciples and us today to come to understand that as our Shepherd, there are things He wants us to do and some things He does not want us to do. For example, He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Jesus wants us to not sin, to be faithful to God. He wanted the early Christians to listen to the apostles and do what they would tell the Christians to do, as He said, “He who hears you, hears me.” (Luke 8:13). Our Lord also declared to His apostles, “he who receives you, receives Me, and he who rejects you, rejects Me and the One who sent Me.” (Matthew 10:1-40).” With these words, Jesus gave His authority to the apostles and their successors, who were bishops and priests so we would hear His voice through the Church in every generation.

We call the Church, “Mother Church”. As a mother, the Church wants us to follow Her teachings, because Her teachings will help us to get to heaven, to respect others, to love God and to live a life of grace and virtue. She tenderly cares for our eternal salvation by giving us moral teachings to help us choose between right and wrong. For example, she helps us to know cloning, embryonic stem research, abortion, contraception, euthanasia are wrong. She wants to protect our soul from sin and our lives from evil, so as to direct us to heaven.

Did you know Mother's Day began almost two thousand years ago? It all began due to the people who realized the Church was their mother, at the baptismal font, where they were born into a life of grace, when they first became Christian. Years later, the converts returned to the church of their baptism to celebrate their faith and life in the church they were baptized and then also decided to celebrate a day dedicated to their natural mother. They said, "If we are going to be able to celebrate the supernatural life that we have through Holy Mother Church, then it is also fitting that on this day we should visit our mothers (our natural mothers) from whom we have natural life."

We celebrate Mother’s day this weekend. And every Christian has three mothers. Their natural mother, holy Mother Church and our spiritual Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. What a joy it is to baptize Marli Kay Neufeld after Mass on Sunday and how special to have her baptism on Mother’s Day.

With regard to our own natural mother, George Washington once said this about his mother, "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her." Surely, all of us can say the same about our mother. Our mother cooperated with God in giving us physical life. But mothers do more than just give us life, they teach us to love, especially through their difficulty and suffering, as they care for their children. We come to know some of God’s love, by the love of our mother. Our mother loves us unconditionally and during her whole life, she reveals God’s love for us as she lays down her life for her children sacrificially, in many hidden ways. Do we take for granted sacrifices our mother made for us?

For example: Mothers had to endure morning sickness in pregnancy, pain in giving birth, sleepless nights rocking us due to our irregular sleeping habits, or teething or sickness. In public, we humiliated her with our smelly diapers. We embarrassed her by screaming when we wanted candy, or a toy. What about the times, we threw food on the floor? She taught us to walk, to tie our shoes, and good manners. What grief we caused her by fighting with our brothers and sisters? And as teens, what about the time, we made her worry, by not calling, or when we came home late? How many times did she soften Dad’s response as she stood between us and our father, helping us to receive a lesser punishment, than we deserved.

We also have a spiritual mother. Last week we crowned the Virgin Mary with a wreathe of crowns. The children gave her flowers and we sang beautiful hymns. Avery read to us the beautiful poem by Bishop Fulton Sheen, “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue” We do these things because we want to love Her as Jesus loved His Mother. We received Mary as our spiritual Mother at the Cross, when Jesus said to John, “Behold thy Mother!” At this moment, She embraced us all and took all of us into Her Heart, as our Mother. As John took Her into His home, Jesus wants us to do likewise, to take Her into our home.

Mary never had labor pains when She gave birth to Him, that’s why its called the miraculous birth. But Mary had spiritual and emotional labor pains when She stood at the foot of the Cross and give birth to the mystical body the Church through the agony of seeing Him suffer and die on the Cross. The Mother of the Lamb, the Good Shepherd, had a sorrowful Heart when Jesus was slain on the Cross.

When Jesus was an unborn Infant, He heard Mary’s heart beat for love of Him. After His birth, He felt Her tender love for Him as She pressed Him to Her cheeks. And He would have experienced Her love day by day during the 30 yrs. of His hidden life. She was there for Him as He carried His Cross, stood and watched Him die on Calvary, held Her dead Son in Her arms, and helped place Him in His tomb. Because of Jesus’ love for His Mother, many believe She was the first to whom Our Lord appeared after His resurrection.

As our spiritual Mother, She stands between us and the Father and therefore protects us from the punishment we deserve. She takes the few little good things we do and makes them appear to God as though we have done something great and wonderful. When we err in our ways, She gently corrects us. She comforts and consoles us, when we are sad or lonely. She teaches us to love Jesus as She loved Him. She protects us from our enemies (the devil and the evil spirits). And She helps us to practice virtue.

The Blessed Virgin is often portrayed in art tenderly caring for Jesus. For example, in the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Jesus jumps into the arms of His Mother, so quickly, that one of His shoes is dangling. In Guadalupe Mexico, Mary told Juan Diego, “Let not your heart be disturbed. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Are you not within my fold?”

As the Mother of the true God, and our mother, She desires to give us Her compassion. She wants us to seek Her help in our sorrows. She sees our tears, consoles us, and gives us peace. And through Her intercession, She keeps us close to Jesus, especially in our sufferings.

On Mother’s day, let us honor and give thanks to God, for our three mothers, our mother the Church, our natural mother and our Blessed Mother. May we always remember we have three mothers and may we love them, cherish them and turn to them, in all our needs, because all three of them help us to get to heaven, where we will experience the fullness of God’s love, which was partially revealed to us by our mothers here on earth.