Host: Welcome to Saint Patrick Catholic Community podcast. We're glad you're with us.
Fr. Stephan: How many here, I wonder, have some kind of gate at their home or in their neighborhood? The gated community have a gate to come in. Some people have gates to the before the front door. Our community at the Crozer Village, we have three gates to come into the campus. Not you can you can drive in the parking lot, but to get into the campus, you have to open the gates.
And then and, it's my job every morning to open the three gates. There's someone else they there's to close it, but mine is to open it early in the morning. And the idea, close and open, is that when it's closed, it protects those who are in the inside the campus. When it's open, you're more than welcome to come in. I'm not sure that's really true.
You can just jump over the gate, but okay. That's that's the idea that we have. There's some kind of protection. But I wanna use that image of the gate because Jesus says he's the gate. I'm the gate, he says.
In time of Jesus, the sheep or the shepherds will make sure that sheep would gather into the in this enclosure, usually by rocks so they could get the sheepfold in there. And there wasn't there was an opening, though, but there was no gate. So the shepherd would be the gate, would lay across the opening to know who could come in, that she would come in, or she would go out. It was the shepherd who did that. So he was the gate.
So when Jesus says, I am the gate, he's telling us he's the one not to control us, the sheep, we're a sheep, but to help us realize he's there to protect us, To help us to help make sure dang danger does not come in where we're at. He wants to protect us. He wants to make sure we're safe. He wants to save us from anything that could harm us. That's why he uses the image, I'm the gate.
I'm here to protect you. Do you realize that? He's come to protect us. I'm always wondering how parents think that of their children. I'm here to protect you.
My parents had to protect 16 of us. I'm not sure they did a good job, but they know they're trying to protect us. And and some people who only have one child, boy, are they protected. Sometimes I thought to my own family that, yeah, my parents wanted to protect us, but they shouldn't they didn't always protect us from their older brothers and sisters. I I'm glad that parents have brought their children to be baptized today.
Because for me, this is the best thing of protection they could they could know, the life in Christ, the good shepherd. And it this we may do a ritual of of baptism. They walk him into the church, bring bring new, but it's your lives. They see who this good shepherd is, caring being cared for and protected. When Jesus uses these images, he speaks about also being a good, a good shepherd who his sheep listen to his voice.
So how well do we listen to the voice of the shepherd? Because he does say, there are thieves and robbers who are gonna try to tell you other things. They may promise you good things, but they're actually drained your way and even kill you. So what are some of the voices are we hearing? Because I think the thieves are robbers.
This this that's his image. Avadep, they're very loud and consistent, and make sure you unbelievable. And some of these voices are outside of us. Some voice are within us. I remember when I a friend of mine, so a voice outside of me, told me you should be a priest.
And after laughing, I said, okay. But then the voice within me said, you could never do that. You're a sinner. You can't do that. You're not good enough.
Who would even wanna listen to you? Now I'm the twelfth child. Who'd wanna listen to you? All these thoughts, the voices are saying, I'm not good enough. I couldn't do it.
That's the voice of, I would say, the thieves and robbers. And sometimes we hear the voice with among us too. You're not good enough. What do you do what do you do to really earn the love that God has for you? Come on.
Or sometimes the voice says, if you want to be successful, then you have to have a lot of things. And people better know who you are. You have better have power over people. We hear all these voices and those are voices are not life giving at all. But the voice of the shepherd is different.
The voice of the shepherd is compassionate. And for unfortunately, sometimes the voice of the shepherd is quiet, not so loud. So we have to quiet our hearts to hear what the good shepherd is saying to us. Remember, it's competing against the loud noise, the loud voices. But the quiet our hearts, we hear the good shepherd saying, I love you.
You belong to me. You can do nothing to separate your love, your your who you are from me. I love you that much, and I'll be there for you. Even in difficult times, I am there. I love you.
That's the good shepherd's voice. I'm here to protect you. But my question is, what is it that we stop listening to that voice? It's so easy to listen to the bigger voice. That's the question for us.
Jesus says that this voice he offers is to give life. Life to the full, our abundant life. Not just life as existence. Just making it through. I remember someone just told me yesterday, he she knows a person who just retired, and he is bored as can be.
Almost just like this existing. And I thought, what does it mean for us? If we're existing, it means nothing much. But if we realize we've been given a whole new life in Christ, abundant life. What does abundant life look like?
Well, it's not about having everything you need. That's an abundant life. That mean that people will listen to you and you have to take control of your family, you have to control over things. That's an abundant life. The abundant life that Christ offers is the peace that no one can give to us.
The joy that only comes from the spirit among us. It's that love that moves us to be compassionate when everyone else says don't be compassionate. They deserve what they get. And that life begins to change us. The life in Christ begins to change us.
I'm hoping that the children here who baptized will see this abundant life already in their families and how we share our faith. The, in the first reading, the Peter is out there, you know, preaching the good news about Jesus Christ, he's the savior. You guys, you try to kill him, but he raised raise him, and he changed everything. And the people would just have started what he was saying. It's amazing what he said.
And they came and said they they cut him to the heart. They realized what he was saying was powerful. So they're saying, what can I do? What can I do to to be a part of this? They said, he says two simple things.
Repent or change your life and be baptized. Change your life and be baptized. In other words, he's really saying change the voice you're listening to. Today, children will be will be baptized and their life is turned around. As we baptize them, I'm hoping the parents and all of us see how it's calling us to change our life again.
Be fully in Christ. It's a challenge for us, but the deepest challenge of the gospel is what what big challenge of gospel is who we listen who are we listening to? But the biggest good news of the gospel is Christ is with us, loves us, guards us like a shepherd, good shepherd, and protects us like a gate. This is the good shepherd. May we not just believe it, but live the life he offers us in Christ Jesus.
Host: This has been a Saint Patrick Catholic Community podcast. For more of our shows, go to our website and click Saint Patrick's Studio.