Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily from the fourth Sunday of Easter.

May 3, 2020

Twice in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus warns against “thieves and robbers” who falsely present themselves as shepherds of the flock. The Lord says, “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy.” In contrast, He says, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

We are engaged in a great battle, against an adversary far more lethal than the Coronavirus. “Many deceivers,” the Lord says (2 Jn 7), “have gone out into the world.” By deceivers, He means the Evil One and his legions, those who would lead us away from what is good and true, away from the Lord and the “abundant life” that He won for us on the Cross.

Unlike COVID-19 that attacks our physical health through contaminated saliva, Jesus warns of those who attack our spiritual health through unclean thoughts and disordered passions. They seek entry into our souls through unchecked desires that persuade us it’s okay to use others rather than to love them; that its fine to pursue our own wants without regard for the needs of others; that its fashionable to have earthly attachments that distract us from loving our neighbor and from worshiping the God who made us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.

To win the battle against the deceivers, that is, to escape being enslaved by our own selfishness, we need to remember that our enemy’s main tools are flattery and lies. St. John Paul wrote in The Gospel of Life (#58),

Given such a grave situation, we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to convenient compromises or to the temptation of self-deception. In this regard the reproach of the Prophet is extremely straightforward: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20).

On many fronts today, we are surrounded by lies and distortions aimed at justifying the unjustifiable. Remember Jesus’ warning (Jn 10:9), “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy.”

This thief comes dressed like a gentleman, said C.S. Lewis, disguised as an angel of light. But his aim is to slaughter the conscience that is attuned to God’s voice. He comes to steal purity from the innocent, to plant greed in place of generosity, to entice us to taste fruit that looks delicious but is more deadly than COVID-19. Despite all the dark deeds of our opponent, however, they are nothing compared to the mercy of the Good Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.

In our beautiful Responsorial Psalm for this Mass, Psalm 23, we prayed with joyful hearts: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”

Those words are true: when we invite Jesus to be the shepherd of our life, there is nothing we shall want. When we embrace Him with childlike trust, we possess the greatest blessing we can receive from God: namely, the gift of faith; or as St. Peter says, in our Second Reading today, “…know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.”

When Peter first spoke these glorious words, they were seen as a threat to the Roman Emperor, who insisted that he was the one and only Lord. To confess Jesus as Lord was considered an act of treason in the Roman Empire. But for those with Jesus as their Lord, those in the Kingdom of God, it was freedom, freedom from tyranny, freedom of conscience. For religious freedom and freedom of conscience are not things given to us by the state; they are human rights given us by God. To Jesus alone, not Caesar, Peter pledged His ultimate loyalty and submission. This unswerving allegiance had social and cultural consequences that freed Peter from worrying about public opinion and gave him courage to stand up for what is just and true, not matter the dangerous threats from earthly leaders. Through faith and the Holy Spirit, Peter was free to remain loyal to Jesus even unto death on a cross.

St. Paul said of the gift of faith (Phil 3:8), “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Saul of Tarsus had learned the hard way that faith in Jesus as Lord was not the product of his own intellect and not something produced by his strong will. It can only come as a gift of God. The great blessing of confessing Jesus as Lord is that it opens our heart to trust Him, to believe Him, to love Him. No longer do we think of Him as an abstract personage of the past. No, as Lord, He is the very center of our life, the One to whom we give all our heart and mind and strength.

Jesus tells us, “…the sheep hear His voice, as the shepherd calls His own sheep by name and leads them out… and the sheep follow Him because they recognize His voice.”

Each of us is created with a keen desire to hear His voice, and with deep longing to taste and see His goodness in the Eucharist. We gladly make the words of Psalm 63 our own, “O God, my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you like a dry weary land without water.” Fight the good fight of faith, St. Paul exhorted Timothy. Good advice. Be proud and grateful to say, “Jesus is the Lord and Shepherd of my life.”