Homily outline:

• Animals fear human voices
  • Animals in the wild tend to be more afraid of humans than lions. Lions are considered the “king of the jungle,” yet humans pose more threats to wildlife species. Animals can recognize human voices that they associate with danger. Upon hearing human voices, they are overwhelmed by fear and run to find safety.
  • Animals have been victims of human destruction and greed. Poaching is a prevalent activity that threatens the lives of wildlife species. Ultimately, this is harming human-animal relations.
• The loving voice of the Shepherd
  • Animals can sense danger from a distance. Because of the destructive ways of humans toward the environment, human voices ignite fear in wildlife species.
  • Jesus’ voice as a shepherd is different. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
  • The shepherd and the sheep share a special bond. The sheep know that the shepherd cares about them and will not hurt them. It takes great trust on the part of the sheep to feel comfortable with the shepherd.
  • The shepherd is loving and trustworthy making his voice non-threatening and inviting to the sheep when they hear it. Hearing the shepherd call them, they are drawn to trust and follow him.
  • Similarly, in our relationship with Jesus, we can recognize his voice of love expressed in different ways: experiencing the kindness of people, receiving a reassuring response in our prayer, or being led to our life vocation.
• Discerning the voice of Jesus, our Shepherd
  • There are times when we hear many voices in the crowd. It might be hard to distinguish the voice of Jesus from the rest when other voices drown it. These voices are seemingly inviting but will lead us to danger.
  • An excerpt from the poem “The Good Shepherd” by Stanley Moss perfectly describes the thin line between the good shepherd and the butcher:

          Still, I knew there was only a thin line
          between the good shepherd and the butcher.
          How many lambs had put their heads between the shepherd’s knees,
          closed their eyes, offering their neck to the knife?
          Familiar – the quick thuds of the club doing its work.
          More than once at night I saw the halo coming.
          I ran like a deer and hid among rocks,
          or I crawled under a bush, my heart in thorns.

  • The voice of temptations surrounds us and gives us false promises or temporary happiness. How do we discern then the voice of Jesus, our Shepherd?
  • To help us discern the voice of Jesus, we need to cultivate our relationship with him through prayer, scripture reading, and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Doing this will help us become more familiar with his voice.
  • We then discover that Jesus, as our Shepherd, does not promise fleeting moments of happiness or satisfaction. His promise is not just temporal but eternal.
  • Jesus, our Shepherd, promises us eternal life, “I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.” If we trust Jesus and follow him, we can experience a meaningful life that transcends the material world. It entails a life of love, peace, compassion, and joy lived with other sheep in the flock of Jesus.
• Imitating the voice of Jesus, our Shepherd
  • The Jesus example invites us to modulate our voices, our speech, so that we do not ignite fear in our listeners, our friends, our families. In an era of so much divisive and demeaning rhetoric, this Sunday calls us to imitate the voice of the Shepherd, so that everyone is invited into and feels safe in his fold.