4th Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday
St. John the Evangelist Parish, Westminster
April 25, 2026
I. Introduction
A. Nearly 50 years ago, when I was on the cusp of priestly ordination, a relative said to me:
“It’s a nice business you’re getting into! You only have to work on Sundays!”
In those days, to be sure, I had a lot to learn about being a priest,
but I was pretty sure that my relative’s comment missed the mark.
After all, I was a fan of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
whose books and television shows had a big influence on my life.
In his book, “The Priest Is Not His Own”, Archbishop Sheen spoke of priestly zeal.
He said, “Love begins when duty finishes . . . . It is walking the extra mile.”
B. And Archbishop Fulton Sheen wasn’t the only influence on my life.
My vocation director was a tremendous influence.
When I met him he was Msgr. William G. Curlin (later he was Bishop of Charlotte).
Not only was he vocations director but also pastor of an inner-city parish.
You couldn’t help but notice how much he loved being a priest.
He preached like Fulton Sheen himself – which is to say he was really good!
But the thing that stuck with me was his love for the sick.
He’d drop everything to anoint a sick person and to attend to the dying.
His retreat conferences were full of stories about people dying in his arms.
When I got sick and was hospitalized, he was the first to visit me.
When he came into my hospital room, I said,
“Please leave! I don’t want to die in your arms!”
Truth to tell, there were no better arms to die in.”
C. Since I’m taking you on a trip down memory lane, let me add one more to the list.
It was my rector at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary, right up the road from here,
then Father Harry J. Flynn, later, Archbishop Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Father Flynn was beloved by the seminary community, and why?
Because he knew us, cared about us, and thought enough of us to tell us the truth.
We also respected him because he was a man of prayer –
every day, one hour, from four to five, in St. Bernard Chapel at the Seminary.
Besides all that he had good common sense and could cut through nonsense…
and he never forgot a name or a face.
Three great priests who had a huge influence
not only on my life but on the lives of many priests.
II. Pointing to Christ
A. What did these three priests have in common?
They lived their priesthood in the love of the Good Shepherd.
St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, famously said,
“The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus!”
This is what I saw in life and example of these priests.
And all of us, whether we are priests, seminarians, or members of the laity –
all of us can spot a priestly priest a mile away.
Why? Because he radiates the love of Jesus.
B. This doesn’t mean that every priest is an extrovert,
that he has theatrical, public speaking, or public relations skills.
Priest have differing personalities and differing gifts.
What we look for most is a priest who is authentic
because, in his life of prayer, worship, and service,
he is on intimate terms with Jesus, the Good Shepherd –
He can say with St. Paul, “Scio cui credidi” – “I know in whom I have trusted.”
C. How beautifully today’s readings portray the Good Shepherd.
In the first reading, Peter courageously testifies to Jesus crucified,
proclaiming him to be “both Lord and Christ.”
Later, in our second reading, he adds, “By his wounds you were healed.
For you had all gone astray like sheep,
but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
In response, we sang Psalm 23 with joy,
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want! . . . He guides me in right paths!
“He spreads a table before me” . . . ‘His goodness overflows!’
All of this prepared us to listen as Christ speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd,
who opens the door to eternal life for us and who is himself the way,
the One who knows us and loves us, who calls us by name,
the One whose voice we hear in the Scriptures, in the liturgy,
and in the life and ministry of the holy priests he raises up in our midst.
III. Pastores Dabo Vobis
A. We, your priests, ask you, the members of the laity, to pray for us –
that we will be priests after the mind and heart of Jesus Christ,
that we will be priests whom the Church and world needs,
that we will serve the Lord and you with all that is within us.
B. Continue to pray that the Lord will fulfill his promise in our midst
when, through the prophet Jeremiah, he said,
“I will give you shepherds after my own my own heart” (3:15).
In recent years, thanks to your prayers and encouragement,
and to the tireless work of Father Roth, now assisted by Father Lenin,
many young men have answered the call to the holy priesthood.
Currently, in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, we have nearly 60 men in formation
and many more are in application to enter the seminary in August.
In God’s grace, I will ordain five new priests in June
and next month twelve transitional deacons.
It’s not about the numbers though we do need a sufficiency of priests
to sustain the ministry of the Good Shepherd in our local church.
Since I meet with our seminaries twice a year, I can attest to their goodness.
God is granting us quantity and quality, if I might put it that way.
C. Now, you’ve heard the phrase, “Many hands make light work.”
That is not what we’re aiming for with this God-given increase in vocations.
Surely the newly and recently ordained help those of us already in the vineyard,
but we are also looking to expand priestly ministry for the sake of evangelization –
having priests as high school chaplains, strengthening campus ministry,
engaging in outreach to the unchurched and disaffiliated,
helping parishes to follow up with recently married couples,
with couples who have their children baptized
or families grieving the loss of loved ones –
in these and many other ways we are seek to extend the love of the Good Shepherd.
For that reason, we need to continue to pray for priestly vocations –
we have no laurels on which to rest!
D. On this, Good Shepherd Sunday, let us give God thanks and praise
for the priests whom he has sent to minister in our midst
and for the priestly vocations which he is raising up in our midst.
And may Jesus the Good Shepherd lead and guides us
through the highways and byways of life,
until we reach that Heavenly Kingdom where he lives and reigns
with the God Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.