Comments Off on Homily – Fr. Anton – Good Shepherd Sunday 2026
Homily – Fr. Anton – Good Shepherd Sunday 2026
“Sheep are so dumb!” That’s how Fr. Stan at St. Meinrad began,
and we settled back for another story about his childhood on the family farm.
Sheep can get their head stuck in a bucket and not have the sense to back out, they just keep pushing forward. Even worse – they’ll do the same thing again … In the same bucket!
Ewes can walk away from their newborn lamb and leave it to die,
or have a twin, leaving the first one for coyotes and wolves.
Sheep lack self-defense: they can’t bark or growl, they don’t have sharp teeth, no way to scare anybody away. Their one saving protection is just to stick together, find strength in numbers. Yet they do exactly the opposite: wander off, lack a sense of direction, and without other sheep around, they’ll walk in circles, going nowhere, even not eating, until they die.
They can squeeze into a hole in the fence to reach a bit of food, get stuck in the hole, and instead of backing out, keep pushing forward and die there.
If they finally do work their way through that fence, get to the grass on the other side,
they’ll run away from the dogs or a man trying to get them back inside the safety of the pen.
They’ll run right past the open gate, right past the other sheep, run in the opposite direction, away from their mates.
In so many ways, sheep are needy and require help.
Are humans any better?
I’d like to think: I’m smart … I’m not a dumb sheep. I don’t need a Shepherd.
But I’m embarrassed to admit how many times, just like the sheep who won’t back out of the bucket, I’ve kept pushing against the same problem again and again, instead of admitting I was wrong and backing out. Just like the sheep who won’t stick together even though there’s safety in numbers, I have relatives and friends who’ve broken family and social connections because they want to live life on their own.
Just like the sheep who run away from the very people who are trying to help them, haven’t we refused to accept advice and admonishments from peers, friends, even the abbot?
The reason I remember Fr. Stan, he was telling us more than stories about stupid sheep on the family farm. He was telling us about ourselves.
It’s runs all through our family tree.
Remember our Easter story, the Passover, how God sent Moses to lead the chosen people out of Egypt… At the end of their long journey, when they finally made it out of slavery – to safety at Mount Sinai – Moses went up the mountain to talk with God and receive the two stone tablets of the Commandments.
In his absence, without Moses there to lead them, it took just 40 days for the people to lapse back into idolatry, adultery, immorality… to make a golden calf and worship the image of a bull that eats grass.
What happened on Mount Sinai happens whenever we don’t have a shepherd. Sometimes it doesn’t even take 40 days before we forget, turn away from God, turn back to the world and the old ways, and start doing dumb things all over again.
On his deathbed, Moses asked God for a new leader, to ensure that Israel would have a shepherd.
“Lord God,” he prayed, “appoint a man who can lead this people and command them,
so that they will not be like sheep who have no shepherd.”
Whether we like to be compared with sheep or not, the shoe fits, we need a shepherd.
Today we celebrate Jesus Christ, our Shepherd.
“I am the Good Shepherd,” He said, powerfully and deliberately.
The Christian news is: He was born for the job, He’s not giving up! There’s no going back.
The Good Shepherd offers to lead His sheep, lead them to heaven, because He alone is the Way.
He offers to give them guidance, keep them aware of the distractions and pitfalls of the world… because He alone is the Truth.
He offers to feed them the finest, with food for the journey, with the Eucharist … because He is the Bread of Life.
He offers fresh and pure water so that they may live,
he refreshes and restores the grace of baptism where the water has dried up and the power of baptism is forgotten.
He offers safety and salvation, to physically protect the sheep from wolves.
Our banner shows what we believe about our Shepherd,
it’s what they painted in the catacombs: We have a Shepherd who offers to go out and look for the lost and wandering sheep, call them by name, bind up their wounds, carry back the helpless on His shoulders, just as they are, dirty and all.
He wants to care for his followers, mend what is broken, strengthen what is weak, be Medicine to the sick, He even offers to lay down his life for each and every one of them.
“I am the good shepherd” He says.
If we want to stay out of all the trouble we stupid sheep can get ourselves into, it’s not hard.
We know what we have to do: “recognize his voice” – then follow Him.