Preached on Sunday, May 7, 2017.

Back in Gardendale, my next-door neighbor kept their dog in their backyard.

It’s a Labrador with shiny black fur and a little patch of white fur on his neck.

That dog is a pretty good watch dog because any time he heard a noise or

saw someone he didn’t know, he’d start barking aggressively.

I befriended him by stopping regularly to pet him over the fence or even pass him

a dog-bone through the fence.

But there were times when this dog would bark at me and that’s when he didn’t know it was me. For example, when he would see me in the distance ...

Wearing a hat and walking across the back lawn from Church, or

walking up my driveway late at night after locking up the Church,

he would bark at me.

But the moment I would speak and say, “Hey my buddy, it’s OK … it’s me.”

The dog would immediately stop barking and begin wagging his tail!

At the sound of my voice, he relaxed and instead of trying to keep me away,

he couldn’t wait till I came over to pet him.

His tail started wagging like crazy and he put his front paws up on the fence so I can reach him!

What happened?

All he did was hear my voice and he identified me …

to be not as foe ... but a friend ... and he came right over to me.

Other animals act the same way ... as we heard in our Gospel today.

There, Jesus speaks about how sheep follow their shepherd.

You see, back in his day, there were many shepherds of sheep ...

and it was customary for several shepherds to let their flocks

share the same pen with other flocks during the night …

and then take their own sheep out to graze for food on the hillsides the next day.

But shepherds never had to worry about their flock getting mixed up with other flocks ... because sheep will only follow the voice of their own shepherd.

Jesus says, “When (the shepherd) has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them,

and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.”

This is true  ... and so amazing!

Now if animals can determine who is their friend and who they will follow,

how much more should we human beings be able to determine

who is our friend and who we will follow.

Our human intellect and our human soul far exceed that of animals.

So, we have the ability to determine whether those around us are friend or foe. 

Having just celebrated Easter ...

where we recalled all that Jesus did to show His love for us ...

we know Jesus is our friend!

The question is: do we recognize His voice?

And if we do, the next question is: are we listening to Him and following Him?

In our Second reading today, Peter stood up and proclaimed,

“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain

that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Who is Jesus?      Peter declares Him to be both Lord and Christ!

As Lord, Jesus is God … as “Christ”, Jesus is anointed of the Father!

So if there’s one voice we need to listen to … it’s His … Jesus our Lord and Savior.

And why is that?   Because He wants to guide us to Eternal Life in Heaven.

You see, unless we listen to the voice of our Savior and Lord, we can lose our way

and run the risk of being eternally separated from Him in the fires of Hell.

Peter passionately warns everyone saying,

“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

Peter is warning us that there are many voices clamoring for our attention today.

Some are good, like the voices of:

your Parents, Grandparents, Godparents, Teachers, Coaches, and Priests.

But, Peter warns us that many are not good … like the voices of a corrupt generation … meaning those who don’t know God or deliberately go against God.

Sadly there’s a growing movement in society to seek to live without God.

For example, people who call themselves Atheists are working to remove every reference to God from our land … silencing His name in our school classrooms, and trying to remove His name from our Buildings, our Money,

and from our Pledge of Allegiance!

Jesus has a name for these people.   He calls them thieves and robbers.

He says, “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;

I came so that you might have life and have it more abundantly.”

The voice of the world is trying to steal you away from God, while

The voice of the Lord is trying to unite you with God ... now and forever!

Peter refers to Jesus as, “the shepherd and guardian of your soul.”

So, who are you going to listen to?    The world ... or the Lord?

We know who to listen to … and yet in our human weakness we get deceived.

So what are we to do?

That’s the very question that the people asked Peter in our reading today!

After Peter accused them of killing Jesus the Lord ...

The people were cut to the heart and asked the Apostles:

“What are we to do?”

And Peter told them exactly what to do. He said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you … and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Many listened to Peter and took that first step and were baptized.

Scripture says that “about 3,000 persons were (baptized) that day!”

And it’s still happening to this day! Last week we baptized 3 children and ...

over the next month we’ll baptize another 10 children!

Baptism is essential to receiving the Gift of God’s Holy Spirit, but then how do we sustain all the goodness and grace that we receive on the day of our Baptism?

How do we continue to live in a world that is so opposed to God?

How do we continue to live in the midst of a corrupt generation?

How do we hear the voice of Our Lord, Jesus amidst all the noise of the world?

We do it by partaking of the repeatable Sacraments ...

 that Jesus established to help us.

In the Sacrament of Confession we wash our souls from the stain of sin

enabling us to once again hear clearly the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

In the Sacrament of Communion we nourish our souls with The Bread of Life,

The Body and Blood of Jesus ...

enabling us to grow stronger in the love and wisdom of God.  

Over the past month 21 of our children, mostly 2^nd graders,

 made their First Confession and

today they will receive their First Holy Communion!

What a glorious day it is for them!            How happy and special!

But their parents need to realize that ... it’s just the beginning!

It’s the beginning of a brand new intimacy with Jesus ...

an intimacy that will need to be guarded and sustained for the rest of their lives.

Saying it’s their First Confession and their First Communion implies that more will follow ... hopefully many more as their Parents bring their Children to Church each week to attend Mass and partake of the Sacraments.

How sad it is to hear our grade school children admit in Confession ...

that they’re not going to Sunday Mass.  why? “Mom’s sleeping or Dad’s working.”

It’s through the Sacraments that your children have the best chance

of hearing the voice of Jesus and having the courage to follow His voice.

And one of the greatest things they need to hear is God’s plan for their life ...

It’s called “their vocation” ... God’s call to be single, be married or be a Priest/Sister.

It’s especially good to think of this on Good Shepherd Sunday because we need more Priests and Sisters to serve the Church.     Please listen for his call!   i

Just as my neighbor’s dog was elated when he heard my voice

Just as sheep find their way by following the voice of their shepherd

We too will be happy and safe if we follow the voice of the Good Shepherd.

He is not a thief or robber.

No, as Psalm 23 declared … the Lord is my Shepherd… he guides me in right paths.

Let’s listen to the voice of Jesus

in Daily Prayer, Weekly Mass and Monthly Confession

for He will surely lead us to safe pasture ... in our Eternal Home ... in Heaven .