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Jn 10:1-10
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
1	Amen, amen, I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber.	amen amen dico vobis qui non intrat per ostium in ovile ovium sed ascendit aliunde ille fur est et latro
2	But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.	qui autem intrat per ostium pastor est ovium
3	To him the porter openeth: and the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.	huic ostiarius aperit et oves vocem eius audiunt et proprias oves vocat nominatim et educit eas
4	And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them: and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.	et cum proprias oves emiserit ante eas vadit et oves illum sequuntur quia sciunt vocem eius
5	But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.	alienum autem non sequuntur sed fugient ab eo quia non noverunt vocem alienorum
6	This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they understood not what he spoke.	hoc proverbium dixit eis Iesus illi autem non cognoverunt quid loqueretur eis
7	Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.	dixit ergo eis iterum Iesus amen amen dico vobis quia ego sum ostium ovium
8	All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not.	omnes quotquot venerunt fures sunt et latrones sed non audierunt eos oves
9	I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures.	ego sum ostium per me si quis introierit salvabitur et ingredietur et egredietur et pascua inveniet
10	The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they may have life and may have it more abundantly.	fur non venit nisi ut furetur et mactet et perdat ego veni ut vitam habeant et abundantius habeant

My pastor (St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church, VA) had a super homily on Sunday, April 17. Here is the text for those who are interested:

Vision
by Fr. Cornelius O'Brien, Pastor

The mind is the eye of the soul. Like the lens of the camera, it can focus on the very near or the infinite. St. Thomas teaches that the mind is "capax infiniti"—capable of reaching the Infinite. In this he was translating the words of Aristotle. He was expressing a fundamental principle of the philosophy of the West.

Led by the Vienna School of Logical Positivism, the West has largely lost the conviction that the mind reaches for the Infinite. Knowledge is now confined to what the scientist discovers by his methodology. All else is faith or dream. Positivism, in fact, insists that nothing beyond the reach of science exists—a position that cannot be established by Positivism's limited methodology!

To place limits arbitrarily on the power of the mind is evil. It is evil because it limits man to the mere making and using of things, no matter how impressive this achievement. IT is evil especially because it is itself a fabrication, a lie. Like all logical fabrications, it diminishes the significance of the person.

It is not a meaningless and casual thing that each of us is, visually, the center of the universe. It is the first great symbol that catches the attention of the mind. For man, as man, not as rich or genius or powerful, but as man, is the center of the universe and if he is not, it has no center. Nothing else suffices. He alone can grasp with his mind the totality of the universe, while he looks for something worthy of his full attention.

The above lines were written before the Holy Father's death. Let them stand. They serve as an introduction to what I now wish to express.

The world-wide response to the Holy Father's death gives evidence of a world-wide recognition that he was an extraordinarily complete man. The he loved his fellow human beings has become a refrain among commentators. I approve of that refrain if it is seen against the background of what Agathon says of Socrates in Plato's symposium: that Socrates is the greatest lover because he was wise, just, brave and chaste, i.e., that he has mastered the great Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.

St. Thomas' anthropology, as expressed in the second part of the second volume of the Summa, can be summarized as follows: man has achieved his full maturity when he knows and loves perfectly, i.e., when mind, will and life are guided by the Theological and Cardinal Virtues.

The wisdom of the West has always rejoiced in Agathon's perceptive powers—for unaided reason can reach depths beyond measure. Thomas is cherished because he shows the heights which reach can reach, when aided by the Light of Faith. Credulity insults reason; faith enlightens it.

I am convinced that from the moment of his conception, John Paul II was destined to understand the problems of the 20th Century, to solve them and to exemplify their solution in his life. He was blessed by God and nature with exceptional intelligence, a strong will and many natural gifts. With poetic and dramatic force, he displayed from his early years a wonderful ability to plumb the depths of things and to convey his knowledge to others with bright words.

In his childhood and youth, he experienced the Mystery of the Cross. He lost his mother, his brother and his father. He was alone. Such suffering can wound or strengthen the victim. It deepened and strengthened him. There developed in him "an adamantine sense of his own self" as Robert Bolt says of Thomas More in the introduction to "A Man for all Seasons." As with More, this sense of self deepened John Paul's bond with Christ "in Whom all things Exist," and naturally flowed into its necessary consequence, namely, that every "self" has unassailable value.

The four tyrannies under whose dark shadow he lived only served to strengthen his vision of the inviolability of the person. First, he saw the savagery of Hitler who would establish a "superior race" on the dead bodies of millions; secondly, the communist regime which would establish an "Earthly Paradise" in a bath of human blood; thirdly, and perhaps most insidiously, atheistic evolution, which would reduce the existing human person to a mere momentary moiety in the production of some future superman; and finally, the reign of the pleasure principle, which reduces life to mere sensuousness, and blinds the soul to the things above. All these he saw and against them he taught and exemplified the "Splendor of the Truth."

"I die His Majesty's good servant but God's first." St. Thomas More's dying words express well the splendor of the human person. Man may serve, but he is slave to no man. His service to his fellows must not conflict with what he owes God. He is the "direct and proper effect of God's creative act," and the subject of God's special providence. He is the one for whom Christ lived among us, died and rose from the dead. Our pope frequently referred to the dual purpose of Christ's presence in our human world: to reveal to us the Father's love for us, and to reveal us to ourselves. "To which of the Angels did God say 'you are my Son, this day I have begotten you?" He said it to one of us, to the God-man Christ. Listening to Christ as He speaks of the love of the Father for us, as He does so eloquently in the discourse and prayer at the Last Supper, we are deeply moved to return love for love, unless we have become completely de-natured. If we truly listen, we will be led to understand with our mind, and to respond with strong will and so be led to live nobly, as He would have us do.

Freedom lies at the heart of our redemption by Our Lord. We are not saved by a victim helpless in the hands of his enemies. We are saved and taught by the majesty of His human mind's and will's submission to the Will of His Father. "Not my will but thine be done." "No man takes my life from me. It is I who will willingly lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again." To Peter: "Put up your sword. Do you not know that, even now, I could ask the Father and He would send twelve legions of angels?" And finally, to His Father from the Cross: "Father, into thy hands I give my Spirit." In the glorious freedom of His perfect humanity, He chooses to die and to rise for us, so that we might be able to choose and achieve freedom.

Humanity is a general term which, like many such terms, is needed because of the weakness of our minds. Humanity, strictly speaking, has existence only in the reality of the existing person. Christ did not die for humanity. He doesn’t speak to humanity. He speaks to the human person. He wishes communion with each of us directly. If you have not seen this in your reading of the Gospels, you have not really read them. His words, His actions as told in the Gospels have the quality of personal encounter. See his encounter with Nathaniel, with Peter, with tree-climbing Zachaeus, with the woman at the well, etc., etc. Even when addressing large groups, one has the impression that His eyes are looking into the eyes of each of His listeners. It is to you and to me that he speaks. It is for you and for me that He dies. We are His audience; we are the ones He would save.

"Simon, son of John, are you my friend? Lord you know all things; you know that I am your friend." In a very real way His relationship with Peter is paradigmatic. He waited for no introduction. He gave Simon a new name—part nickname, I think. He transformed a middle-aged Galilean fisherman completely—to be the Rock on which His Church would be built. He restored a youthfulness in Peter—how else explain the walking on the water? His warning and prayer enabled Peter to survive the agony of denial, and produced in him a spiritual maturity suggested, at least, in Peter's response to Our Lord's "feed my sheep": "but what of this man?" "This man" was John, scarcely twenty years old, who had stood at the foot of the Cross, and therefore more worthy of the honor bestowed on Peter. Is this not evidence in Peter of profound self knowledge, of deep unworthiness and of gigantic humility? It is wise to know Peter well.

In His encounters with all those He met, it is clear that He deals with each of us reverently, and with sublime condescension, He seeks our friendship. Surely here the special glory of the human person is found. St. Thomas says that friendship demands some sense of equality. Is it to be wondered at, then, that Our Holy Father, with his brilliance and his holiness, brought before our minds so frequently, the centrality and preeminence of the human person? With clarity he saw the implications of the Incarnation: that God so loved us that He gave us His beloved son, Who in His love gave His life for us—for each of us personally. In consequence of this Love no relativizing of the human person can in any way be justified. It is clear that the inviolability of the person is honored by God Himself. He will teach us the infinitude of His love, but He will respect our freedom to choose. He will encourage it, He will enable it, be He will not force it.

In God's dealing with Mary, Our Holy Father saw the delicacy of God's respect for us. Needing a way to slip unobtrusively into our world, He asked her for her cooperation. She consented and became Mother of God and later Queen of Heaven and Earth in her glorified state. She is the perfect expression of the glory of the human person. John Paul chose to be her devoted son. Let us imitate his wisdom.

April 20, 2005 in 1 - Parish News | Permalink