The Good Shepherd
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| John 10:1-10 |
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”
As Christians we believe that being faithful to the laws of God do not limit us but free us to be the most happy we can be. Imagine a playground on the edge of a mountain. If there was a wall there it would allow the kids to play more not less. In the final line of today’s Gospel Jesus promises us (as He does multiple times!) that He came into the world that we might have abundant life! Jesus did not say “I came that they might have less fun than others”, or, “I came that I may make sure they don’t get to do certain things”.
As the Archbishop of San Francisco, George Niederauer, told our community at the Confirmation Liturgy last week, Jesus took bread and blessed it saying “take and eat this is my body, do this in remembrance of me”, not, “play soccer in remembrance of me or “have every minute of your life scheduled in remembrance of me”. Sports, money, work, popularity, school, and the things we fill our days with are not bad things but if we expect them to make us abundantly happy we are fooling ourselves. I think our best bet is to listen and follow the guide of the Person who made us. As one of my favorite Christian songs says “You created nothing to give us more pleasure than you”. It makes perfect sense theoretically, but when we translate that into going to Mass each Sunday or loving our enemies we tend to lose confidence because it does not fit into schedule or our will.
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