IV Sunday of Easter

Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

If you remember the Gospel from last week, it was Jesus appeared to the disciples but they didn’t recognize him, until they followed his directions and threw the net over the side of the right side of the boat and they caught 153 large fish.  I said that the first step in being a disciple of Jesus is that we have to recognize him. We have to know that he is in the midst of our lives, concerned about everything we are doing and what is happening. Then we have to listen to him.

The gospel for today continues this message. Jesus calls us, his sheep, we have to listen to his voice and then follow him. It is the path of eternal life. As I have said sometimes it is difficult to recognize Jesus, Jesus is always here but like the disciples in the gospel at times we are not aware of his presence, sometimes we can lose sight of Jesus in our lives. It's the same with his voice. Of course if we do not recognize him we will not recognize his voice either.

In the icon of our Mother of Perpetual Help the Virgin Mary can teach us how to listen. If you notice your ear is very small. It is very small because she does not want to hear other voices, all the back ground noise, and she just wants to hear her son's voice nothing more. We follow her example and listen to the voice of Jesus.  We have to focus on the voice of Jesus, we have to remove all the distractions, all the other voices and listen only to him.

But where? Where can we hear the voice of God? How can we listen to him? In the word of God! of course! Listening to your voice in the bible, reading the Bible, is the best way. Also in the sacraments, but as I said last week, we not only have to recognize Christ in the church, but also at work, at school, and especially at home. Jesus speaks there, too.

For me as a Redemptorist I have to listen to the voice of Jesus in you. Like Saint Alphonsus, I have to listen to the voice of Jesus and the poor and most abandoned. In the confessional, and the other sacraments, when I have the opportunity to speak with you like in the RCIA, preparation for other sacraments. When I hear you asking for God's blessing in sickness, in concern for your children, in immigration, for us Redemptorists is the voice of Jesus, calling, speaking.

How about for all of you? How can you hear the voice of God? Well also in the poor, in those who have needs, but you should be able to hear the voice of God in the family. Not in yelling, “why did you do that!” Why did you spend the money! No, not in those words but in words of love and compassion. "I love you." "I'm scared when you're not around." Words that come from the heart. When we hear the words of people who love us we can hear the voice of God. That's why we honor our mothers today:  their love for us brings us closer to God.

But this is only the first step; the second is to follow him. As it says in the gospel, they know my voice and they follow me. As our mothers have taught us, it is not enough to simply listen; we also have to do something. But what? How is it that we follow in the footsteps of our God?

A few years ago I could get bracelets with the letters WWJD what would Jesus do, As a way of following Jesus. It was supposed to help us in given situations to think and to try and do what it was that Jesus would do in that specific situation. Because following the steps of Jesus means following him, doing what Jesus did. A good example is the washing of the feet. The path of the disciples of Jesus is always of service, and always begins with service to the people we love most. Listening to Jesus, we follow his foot steps.