The Good Shepherd
Written for the April/May Newsletter 2025
This year, Good Shepherd Sunday is going to be in May because of how late Easter is. This is a wonderful Sunday which concentrates on one of the most famous parables of Christ. As you all know, it is where I got my inspiration to write about the wanderings and rescue of some lost sheep. I have always been touched by this parable and the other one related to it concerning the Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one lost sheep, but now after being inspired to write this allegory, they are much more meaningful for me. Since there is so much to cover with this topic, I will break down the Gospel of this Sunday into parts and comment on each. I hope at a later date to do the same with the second sheep parable that I mentioned above.
“I am the good shepherd.” — He says it very simply. This is because Christ, being God, is always simple. It is us silly humans who complicate things. It is interesting to note that the closer a soul is to God, the simpler she becomes. To be clear, when I say simple in this context, it does not mean stupid or dull-witted or anything like that. I mean that simplicity which the Saints and other holy people acquired in their ascent to holiness, which is a straightforward resolve to, as Christ said, “hear the word of God and keep it.” When we attempt to see things from God’s point of view, our life begins to loose its complexity, puzzlements, and headaches. If we truly seek God and what He wants, He makes the way clear. He leads us by the hand up toward His Holy Mountain. If we practice the holy virtue of abandonment to God, our life becomes much easier to understand; whereas if we try to figure things out by ourselves, then it gets complicated, and sometimes really complicated!
“The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” — This of course, reminds us of Christ’s Passion and Death whereby He lay down His life so that we could have the chance to get to Heaven.
“But the hireling, who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.” — This next sentence is in stark contrast with its predecessor. The hireling represents ecclesiastical leaders who are only interested in money or power. For this reason, they do not teach the people properly or do not admonish them when they do wrong. Consequently, when wolves, a.k.a., heresies, schisms, or even physical disasters threaten, they do nothing or even abandon the laity. I think a very good example of this was five years ago when the wolves of disease and government tyranny came, many priests and bishops fled to their rectories and refused to say Mass or give sacraments to their people.
“And the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep; but the hireling flees because he is a hireling, and has no concern for the sheep.” — When the spiritual wolves attack the flock and the cowardly or even bad clergy abandon the laity, souls go in all directions, and tragically, some go to Hell and are lost for all eternity. To me, “the wolf snatches” are those souls that the devils “snatch” to eternal perdition; those “the wolf…scatters….” on the other hand, are the people who, because of a spiritual crisis, stop going to Church, lose the faith, become heretics or schismatics, or even become atheists. When spiritual wolves attack the Church, and clergy do not do their job, the lay people go in all directions.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.” — Christ leads us back to the positive with these words. He reiterates that He is the pastor who cares for us, and even went so far in His love for us as to die so that we would be redeemed. He also adds in this sentence:
“And other sheep I have that are not of this fold.” — Here we’re getting to my favorite part of this Gospel. It reminds me of the many people who are outside of the Church, whether they be protestants, schismatics, fallen-away Catholics, agnostics, or even atheists, who Christ longs to rescue and bring into the fold. We all have people that we know who are outside of the Church, and we desperately want them to come in, so they can experience the fullness of the truth.
“Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” — We who have "hearts of stone," as the Scriptures say, can become so zealous for the salvation of souls and in particular, souls who are special to us. How much more is Jesus Christ, who died the ignominious death of the Cross for the love of us, going to desire and bring about the conversion of those who have strayed far from Him. Think of the person whose conversion means the most to you, and feel that desire burn within your heart so that it seems to overpower you. Then realize that Christ feels the same way about that soul. However, He does not merely feel the ardor that you feel; His desire for the salvation of that soul is infinitely more than we could ever desire. Now let it sink in that He feels the same way about all the other souls in the world! However, it is not only every soul living now, but also every single soul that has ever lived and ever will live!! When that sinks in, it blows your mind! Christ wants to give us hope with these words. He makes us realize that He will go to the ends of the earth to save one soul, and that He feels that way about every soul.
“I am the good shepherd.” — He says it very simply. This is because Christ, being God, is always simple. It is us silly humans who complicate things. It is interesting to note that the closer a soul is to God, the simpler she becomes. To be clear, when I say simple in this context, it does not mean stupid or dull-witted or anything like that. I mean that simplicity which the Saints and other holy people acquired in their ascent to holiness, which is a straightforward resolve to, as Christ said, “hear the word of God and keep it.” When we attempt to see things from God’s point of view, our life begins to loose its complexity, puzzlements, and headaches. If we truly seek God and what He wants, He makes the way clear. He leads us by the hand up toward His Holy Mountain. If we practice the holy virtue of abandonment to God, our life becomes much easier to understand; whereas if we try to figure things out by ourselves, then it gets complicated, and sometimes really complicated!
“The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” — This of course, reminds us of Christ’s Passion and Death whereby He lay down His life so that we could have the chance to get to Heaven.
“But the hireling, who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.” — This next sentence is in stark contrast with its predecessor. The hireling represents ecclesiastical leaders who are only interested in money or power. For this reason, they do not teach the people properly or do not admonish them when they do wrong. Consequently, when wolves, a.k.a., heresies, schisms, or even physical disasters threaten, they do nothing or even abandon the laity. I think a very good example of this was five years ago when the wolves of disease and government tyranny came, many priests and bishops fled to their rectories and refused to say Mass or give sacraments to their people.
“And the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep; but the hireling flees because he is a hireling, and has no concern for the sheep.” — When the spiritual wolves attack the flock and the cowardly or even bad clergy abandon the laity, souls go in all directions, and tragically, some go to Hell and are lost for all eternity. To me, “the wolf snatches” are those souls that the devils “snatch” to eternal perdition; those “the wolf…scatters….” on the other hand, are the people who, because of a spiritual crisis, stop going to Church, lose the faith, become heretics or schismatics, or even become atheists. When spiritual wolves attack the Church, and clergy do not do their job, the lay people go in all directions.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.” — Christ leads us back to the positive with these words. He reiterates that He is the pastor who cares for us, and even went so far in His love for us as to die so that we would be redeemed. He also adds in this sentence:
“And other sheep I have that are not of this fold.” — Here we’re getting to my favorite part of this Gospel. It reminds me of the many people who are outside of the Church, whether they be protestants, schismatics, fallen-away Catholics, agnostics, or even atheists, who Christ longs to rescue and bring into the fold. We all have people that we know who are outside of the Church, and we desperately want them to come in, so they can experience the fullness of the truth.
“Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” — We who have "hearts of stone," as the Scriptures say, can become so zealous for the salvation of souls and in particular, souls who are special to us. How much more is Jesus Christ, who died the ignominious death of the Cross for the love of us, going to desire and bring about the conversion of those who have strayed far from Him. Think of the person whose conversion means the most to you, and feel that desire burn within your heart so that it seems to overpower you. Then realize that Christ feels the same way about that soul. However, He does not merely feel the ardor that you feel; His desire for the salvation of that soul is infinitely more than we could ever desire. Now let it sink in that He feels the same way about all the other souls in the world! However, it is not only every soul living now, but also every single soul that has ever lived and ever will live!! When that sinks in, it blows your mind! Christ wants to give us hope with these words. He makes us realize that He will go to the ends of the earth to save one soul, and that He feels that way about every soul.
Sts. Anastasia and Basilissa
Written for the April/May Newsletter in 2024
These two early Christian women, who were featured in our first novel, are great saints that Our Holy Mother the Church sets before us in this Easter season. Their feast April 15th, depending on the year, can fall in Lent or in Eastertime. This is appropriate because in the time in which they lived, the two women experienced the pain of death and the glory of God in themselves and their neighbors because of the persecution of Christians under Emperor Nero. They saw death that looked like a defeat but actually was an enormous victory, just like Christ on Calvary looked like he was defeated, but actually he triumphed over sin, opening Heaven’s gate which had been shut since the Fall of Adam and Eve. The martyrs triumphed when they died for their Master and their bodies will rise gloriously on the Last Day to go to Heaven, but their souls have been enjoying God’s glory in Heaven for many years now…almost 2,000 years in fact. Anastasia and Basilissa actually were the ones who assisted in the burials of Sts. Peter and Paul in the year 67. In the year 68, Anastasia and her companion emulated these great apostles and died for Christ.
Let us ask Sts. Anastasia and Basilissa to help us to deal with death as a good Catholic should. A certain percentage of the people they knew went straight to Heaven when they died because they shed their blood for their dear Master. Our loved ones, on the other hand, who served Our Lord in life, might still have some faults to have taken away in Purgatory so that pure of any stain, they might appear before the court of Heaven. Let us remember our dead in our prayers and they will be so grateful!
April and May are the months when all of our deceased grandparents passed away. On our mother’s side of the family, her father died on April 2nd and her mother on May 8th, and on our father’s side, his dad died on May 29th. One more person we want to add is Mr. Del Latham, who died on April 1st of 2017. It was the day before our maternal grandfather died. This man is very important to us because he founded the company we work for, namely Roll Products, Inc. If you would, could you say a prayer for these souls that they might see Sts. Anastasia and Basilissa and Our Lord for whom they died in Heaven?
- Saints To Remember from January to December is the book that we used when writing this article, and the book that inspired us to put Sts. Anastasia and Basilissa in Charity Versus Tyranny
Let us ask Sts. Anastasia and Basilissa to help us to deal with death as a good Catholic should. A certain percentage of the people they knew went straight to Heaven when they died because they shed their blood for their dear Master. Our loved ones, on the other hand, who served Our Lord in life, might still have some faults to have taken away in Purgatory so that pure of any stain, they might appear before the court of Heaven. Let us remember our dead in our prayers and they will be so grateful!
April and May are the months when all of our deceased grandparents passed away. On our mother’s side of the family, her father died on April 2nd and her mother on May 8th, and on our father’s side, his dad died on May 29th. One more person we want to add is Mr. Del Latham, who died on April 1st of 2017. It was the day before our maternal grandfather died. This man is very important to us because he founded the company we work for, namely Roll Products, Inc. If you would, could you say a prayer for these souls that they might see Sts. Anastasia and Basilissa and Our Lord for whom they died in Heaven?
- Saints To Remember from January to December is the book that we used when writing this article, and the book that inspired us to put Sts. Anastasia and Basilissa in Charity Versus Tyranny
Sts. Peter and Paul
Written for the June/July Newsletter in 2024
Part of an altar for the month of June in Therese's room in 2024
These great apostles were very much present in our first book, particularly St. Paul who is vitally important in the lives of two of the time-travelers especially. He was someone who was not afraid to publicly confess the truth even when it was not popular. (Remember all the screaming Ephesians that yelled for hours in honor of their pagan goddess Diana because he was drawing people away from that false divinity).
The truth is funny. Sometimes saying what’s true is fun when you have entertaining news. Sometimes it’s exhilarating when you having truly good news like the birth of a new member of the family, or that a person you know did a really good deed of which you are very proud. There are countless examples of what it can feel like to tell the truth to others. The part where we all tremble is when we realize that we are going to have to explain to one of our friends that we can’t do what they are doing because it’s wrong, or explaining the truths of the Catholic Faith to someone. “What if I say the wrong thing?” “Will they think that I’m uncharitable?” There are so many questions that can go through your mind. It is at times such as those when a prayer to St. Paul is in order. Even just a prayer like, “Dear St. Paul, I don’t know how to say this right. Please help me!” will do a lot of good if you ask with faith. God is never going to leave you alone when you’re in difficult spots. You won’t always feel God there, but He is with you and He will provide you with the help that you need. St. Paul, just like his Master, will not abandon you either if you ask for help in need. St. Paul, help us to be courageous even when we feel anything but brave! He is truly a saint for our times.
The feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul are June 29th and 30th. Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us!
The truth is funny. Sometimes saying what’s true is fun when you have entertaining news. Sometimes it’s exhilarating when you having truly good news like the birth of a new member of the family, or that a person you know did a really good deed of which you are very proud. There are countless examples of what it can feel like to tell the truth to others. The part where we all tremble is when we realize that we are going to have to explain to one of our friends that we can’t do what they are doing because it’s wrong, or explaining the truths of the Catholic Faith to someone. “What if I say the wrong thing?” “Will they think that I’m uncharitable?” There are so many questions that can go through your mind. It is at times such as those when a prayer to St. Paul is in order. Even just a prayer like, “Dear St. Paul, I don’t know how to say this right. Please help me!” will do a lot of good if you ask with faith. God is never going to leave you alone when you’re in difficult spots. You won’t always feel God there, but He is with you and He will provide you with the help that you need. St. Paul, just like his Master, will not abandon you either if you ask for help in need. St. Paul, help us to be courageous even when we feel anything but brave! He is truly a saint for our times.
The feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul are June 29th and 30th. Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us!