My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord

Our Lord. In this gospel, he instructs his apostles who have been working to come and spend some time away, to come and spend some time just with the Lord alone and in his presence. And there's one more privileged moment where we see the interior life of the Son of God. What is the Son of God think about? How does he behave? One more moment. In Mark's gospel, the Lord's into your life is moved with pity. He sees the need of the crowd and he's moved with pity. God is moved with pity for them. So, he goes. And he teaches them many, many things.

The next four Sundays we'll be speaking on the Eucharist. The Lord will give the crowd the teaching on that most precious gift that he gives us his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. But today he prepares them to receive it. One early Christian writer wrote. The Lord placed before them first the food of the Word of God. And then after that he gave them the multitude food for their bodies. Leading up to his teaching on the Eucharist, our Lord provides for our every need. He is the good Shepherd in contrast to those in our first reading. Jeremiah calls out all of the prophets and the leaders who had led the people astray that led them not to God, but they led them to their selves and away from the Lord. But even in that God the Father has this plan where he says, he'll raise up this righteous shoot from the house of David. And he raises up this righteous shoot in our Lord.

Who is that good shepherd who always is looking after our souls? Let's call to mind a bit what he has done. The magnificence of what he has done. And our second reading from Ephesians, Saint Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes, and Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have become near by the blood of Christ. He broke down that dividing wall of enmity. Before our Lord's incarnation, we were separated by God by this wall of enmity. Due to our sins. After that first sin of Adam and Eve, there's this unbridgeable gap between God and man. We have no access to God and to the father, and our Lord changes all that. There's a dramatic way where that's represented in our worship and the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

There is this place of pardon in the innermost sanctuary of the temple called the Holy of Holies, separated by this large curtain which represented the infinite holiness of God separate from the sins of the people and our sinfulness. And then there's that curtain that's torn in two from top to bottom at the end of Matthew's gospel. As soon as our Lord expires on the cross, that curtain is torn in two.  We relive that. We don't just replay it, we relive that. And every single mass, when that priest or a decan lifts up that chalice veil. Once again, we're calling to mind when that curtain is torn from top to bottom. Why do we do it? We do it because God's about to come present on the altar. God's about to give himself to you.

 

In Christ, he has destroyed that dividing line between God and man. And now he wants to share with you his very life, his eternal life. To be ready for that. We must be purified. Psalm 24 asks the question, who may ascend that mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart.

 

We need to be purified. And there are three beautiful moments in the liturgy that purify us. One started before mass. When you come in, we should genuflect or about to our Lord's presence in the Eucharist. But then you probably blessed yourself with holy water. Venial sins gone. If you're aware of that venial sins cleansed, then the consider I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, when the priest gives that absolution, may Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Venial sins God venial sins purified from mortal. We need confession, but for venial. Purified. There's one more most powerful moment. The most important thing we will ever do in our lives. The most important thing we'll do this morning is that reception of our Lord and Holy Communion. You receive the Lord in a state of grace. All of those sins, venial sins.

All of those faults are cleansed. Every single virtue. Faith, hope. Charity. Justice. Fortitude. Prudence. All of those are elevated because God's sharing is very self is very life with you. There's one last thing I want to speak about to help prepare us in this mass, to receive the Lord and to listen to what he wants us to do. And that is this interior silence, this interior silence. There's this book recently written by the Dominican, pardon me, by the Benedictine Father, Father Boniface Six, that I've been reading through. What is this? Interior silence. We all know that silence can take many forms. You might have an exterior silence, but you're into your life. Might be very busy. It might be very loud on the inside. In contrast, you might be in the city. You might be in Charlotte. So much busyness around you. And then you have a moment where the Lord touch your heart. This moment of silence, where the Lord really touches you and moves you. This moment of clarity and purity on the inside. How do we have that sort of a silence when we're in the mass? What can we do? Try to create this space inside you. Father Boniface Hicks calls it an esthetic silence. This space inside you. An emptiness that's waiting to be filled. So, your interior gaze is focused upon the Lord. It's focus upon the Lord waiting for his presence. And you were, in a sense, just waiting for him. And in that stance, in that spiritual stance, what then have the reading said to you? What are the gestures of the mass saying to you? What is the homily? The prayers? What is God saying to you through those? How is he touching your heart? I had one example from my prayer. Hopefully it's not too silly, but it is meaningful for me. When I was driving on my day off in the country and I knew I had probably mentioned this because I found this book so powerful, this interior silence.

 

So, I said, well, I must practice that, and I'm going to preach as the Lord has asked us to do. And so, I tried to simply be quiet for a little bit, create the space on the inside, and really listen for the Lord as absolutely, marvelously beautiful day as I create this space. Those words from the Psalm come to mind after a time. Those words of the Psalm come to mind from the rising of the sun to its setting. May the name of the Lord be praised. And I was nearly laughing in my vehicle and just smiling. I could not stop smiling. And there's the Psalm. Continue going in my heart from the rising, the sun to its setting. May the name of the Lord be praised. There's just a moment where the Lord touched my heart. Friends let's attempt to. Let's create just a little bit of space as we're moving into this liturgy of the Eucharist. Create a little bit of that space so that the Lord himself can fill it.