The Shepherds Adore

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author. 

“When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go then to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” The shepherds would have seemed like maybe you could call them vups, not VIPs, but very unimportant people. It would have seemed they were poor, uneducated, and they were. So, there wasn’t a prestigious job to be a shepherd. And so there they were that ordinary, dull routine. Night may be worse because of the cold and not realizing that their lives were about to change. And this reminds us that God can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, and with whomever He chooses. He can manifest, He can act in surprising ways. And also tonight, in a little place like this, with simple, ordinary people like ourselves. And this, Christmas season, I’ve been sharing a lot of passages from Maria Valtorta, ‘The Gospel as It was Revealed to Me,’ and the shepherds, in that account the shepherds play an important part, because this was a life changing event for them, and they began sharing it with all the people that they could speak to. And so, when the slaughter of the little children happened by order of King Herod, which was a terrible suffering. And the Holy Family had just escaped, but the shepherds were blamed for that, and so a lot of people hated them and persecuted them, and they had to flee. But according to her account, all those 30 years in which they didn’t know, was Jesus still alive or dead? What had happened to him? But they remained faithful to Him, in spite of the persecution that was so hard for their lives, that affected their lives so much. But they remained faithful to Jesus all those years, all those 30 years until His public life, they persevered. And in her account, they’re one of the first persons that Jesus seeks when He begins his public ministry. And all of them, according to our account, all of them, there were 12 of them, one passed away, but his son followed, but all of them remained faithful despite all those long years of persecution. And so, as I said, they might have seemed like very unimportant persons, but I think in God’s eyes, they became very important. And I wanted to share with you another passage from her work tonight, the passage that corresponds to this gospel, because I think that it helps us to see the reality of these events, that this is not a fairy tale. These are real people. These are real historical events. And so, in her account, there are about a dozen of them, and from various ages. The youngest are still boys and then men of different ages. And one of them had, the day before, encountered Joseph and Mary as they were arriving in Bethlehem, and had given them milk, and even told them about this poor stable because he was doubting whether they would be able to find any place to stay in Bethlehem. And so,there’s a beautiful description, very beautiful, of the angels appearing to them and singing the glory. I won’t, I won’t to not make it too long, I won’t read that part, but you can read it yourselves. But so, then afterwards, as they’re coming, after, the angels leave, and then this is what happens afterwards. “The shepherds come back to reality, different ones speak. “Did you hear? Should we go and see and what about the animals?” “Oh, don’t worry, nothing will happen to them. We are going to obey God’s will. But where do we go?” “Didn’t he say that He was born today and that they did not find lodgings in Bethlehem?” It’s the shepherd who gave the milk to Mary earlier who is speaking now. “Come with me. I know where He is. I saw the woman, and I felt sorry for her. I told them where to go, for her sake, because I thought they might not find lodgings, and I gave the man some milk for her. She is so young and beautiful, she must be as good and kind as the angel who spoke to us. Come on, let us go and get some milk, some cheese, lambs and tanned hides. They must be very poor, and I wonder how cold He must be, whose name I dare not mention, and imagine I spoke to the mother as I would have spoken to a poor wife.” They go into the rustic shed, and they come out shortly afterwards with some little flask of milk, some little nets containing small, whole round cheeses, some with baskets, each containing a little bleeding lamb and some with tanned hides. “I am taking them a sheep. She lambed a month ago. Her milk is very good. It will be useful if the woman should have no milk, she seemed a young girl to me, and so pale,” says the shepherd who gave the milk, and he leads them. They set off in the moonlight, aided by their torches, they go round Bethlehem. They reach the stable.They go near the entrance. “Go in.” “I wouldn’t dare you go in.” “No, at least have a look. You, Levi, who saw the angel first. Obviously, because you are better than we are. Look in.” Levi is the youngest before they had said he was mad, but now it suits them if he dare what they do not. The boy hesitates, but then he makes up his mind. He goes near the hole, pulls the mantle a little to one side, looks and remains enraptured. “What can you see?” they ask him anxiously. “I can see a beautiful young woman and a man bending over a manger, and I can hear, I can hear a little baby crying, and a woman is speaking to him in a voice. Oh, what a voice.” “What’s she saying?” “She is saying, Jesus, little one, Jesus, love of your mommy. Don’t cry, little son.” She is saying, “Oh, if I could only say to you, take some milk, little one, but I don’t have any yet.” She says, “You are so cold, my love and the hay is stinging you. How painful it is to your mommy to hear you crying so, without being able to help you.” She says, “sleep, Soul of mine, because it breaks my heart to hear you crying and see your tears,” and she is kissing him, and she must be warming his little feet with her hands, because she is bent with her arms In the manger. “Well, call her, let them hear you.” “I won’t, you call her because you brought us here and you know her.”The shepherd opens his mouth, but he only utters a faint moaning noise. Joseph turns round and comes to the door. “Who are you? Shepherds?”  “We brought you some food and some wool. We have come here to worship the Savior.” “Come in.” They go in, and the stable becomes brighter because of the light of the torches. The older men push the younger ones in front of them. Mary turns round and smiles, “come.” She says, “Come.” And she invites them with her hand and her smile, and she takes the boy who saw the angel, and she draws him to herself against the manger, and the boy looks and is happy. The others, invited also by Joseph, move forward with their gifts, and they place them at Mary’s feet with few deep-felt words. Then they look at the baby, who is weeping a little, and they smile, moved and happy. One of them somewhat bolder than the rest, says “mother, take this wool. It’s soft and clean. I prepared it for my child, who is about to be born, but I offer it to you. Lay your son in this wool. It will be soft and warm.” And he offers the sheep hide, a beautiful hide, well covered with soft, white wool. Mary lifts Jesus and puts it around him, and she shows him to the shepherds who kneeling on the hay on the ground look at Him ecstatically. They give him milk from one of the sheep. Then they say, “but you can’t stay here. It’s so cold and damp and there is such a strong smell of animals. It’s not good. It’s not good for the Savior.”  “ I know,” replies, Mary with a sigh, “but there is no room for us in Bethlehem.” “Take heart, woman, we will look for a house for you. I will tell my mistress,” says Elias, “she is good. She will receive you, even if she had to give you her own room. As soon as it is daylight, I will tell her. Her house is full of people, but she will find room for you.” “For my child, at least.Joseph and I can lie on the floor, but for the little one.”  “Don’t worry, woman, I will see to it, and we will tell many people what we were told. You will lack nothing. For the time being, take what our poverty can give you. We are shepherds, and we’re poor too.”“We cannot reward you,” says Joseph. “Oh, we don’t want it. Even if you could afford it, we would not want it. The Lord has already rewarded us. He promised peace to everybody. The angel said peace to men of good will, but he has already given it to us because the angel said that this child is the Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. We are poor and ignorant, but we know that the prophets say that the Savior will be the Prince of Peace, and he told us to come and adore Him. That is why He gave us his peace. Glory be to God in the most high heaven, and glory to His Christ here. And you are blessed women who gave birth to Him. You are holy because you deserve to bear Him. Give us orders as our queen, because we will be happy to serve you. What can we do for you?”  “You can love my son and always cherish the same thoughts as you have now.” A little later, as they are leaving, Mary, says, “May God reward you. I will remember you, Elias, and every one of you.” “Will you tell your baby about us?” “I certainly will.” “I’m Elias,” “and I’m Levi,” “and I’m Samuel,” “and I am Jonah,”  “and I Isaac,” “and I Tobias,” “and I Jonathan,” “and I Daniel,” “and I Simeon.” “My name is John,” “and I am Joseph, and my brother Benjamin, we’re twins.”  “I will remember your names.” “We have to go, but we will come back, and we will bring others to worship Him. But how can we go back to the sheep fold, leaving the child? Glory be to God, who has shown Him to us.” “Will you let us kiss His gown,” asks Levi with an angelic smile. And Mary lifts Jesus slowly and sitting on the hay, wraps the tiny little feet in linen and offers them to be kissed. And the shepherds bow down to the ground and kiss the tiny feet veiled by the linen. Those with the beard clean at first, almost everyone is crying, and when they have to go, they walk out backwards, leaving their hearts there. And so, this account reminds us that Jesus wants to come to ordinary people like us, and invites us to welcome Him in this Mass. One of the two women who I knew in Monterey, who shared their messages with me, one of them had a teaching on adoration. It’s actually a teaching on adoration that we’ve often used in the ‘Encounters with Jesus’ that we gave, and when it’s talking about adoration, adoration of the Holy Eucharist, it offers as an example the shepherds. It says the shepherds can teach us. It speaks of the importance of this powerful act of adoring Jesus, which draws so many graces from heaven; and it says the shepherds are like our models for adoration. And one of the things that highlights is their faith. For adoration, we need faith. And as they believed what the angel told them, they didn’t doubt, they believed, they acted on what the angel told them. I don’t want to say for some of you, I’ve been sharing what John of the Cross said. It’s a good thing they hadn’t read John the cross at that point, but the shepherds believed what the angel said and responded and went. And so the Lord invites us in the darkness of our time to accept the gifts and the graces, the light, the messages that He is sharing in our times, And, just like the shepherds, it’s the humble who recognize God speaking. many times, the educated become proud arrogant, and sometimes also the uneducated are proud and arrogant and not open to God. And so the shepherds give an example of humility to make an act of faith. Remember what Jesus said, “Father, I give you thanks, because what you have hidden from the wise and the learned you have revealed to the child like.” And so, the shepherds are humble. They make an act of faith, and also, they are not focused on themselves. Adoration draws us out of ourselves. It helps us to escape our self-centeredness’, our ego, and turn to God. And also. the shepherds gave. They gave. They were poor, but they gave from their poverty. And we can give from our own poverty. Give our time to God like you are doing right now this evening, give our trust, give Him our adoration, give Him our love, the sacrifices and the suffering in our lives. Give Him the desire to be a better person. And we can do all of that tonight, as Jesus comes in the Holy Eucharist with these shepherds of Bethlehem, these humble and great shepherds of Bethlehem, with the angels who appeared to them that night, with our Blessed Mother and Joseph. And we know every Mass, well, every Sunday Mass, we chant the Gloria. And the Gloria is rooted in the angels, revealing that to the shepherds on that great night of the birth of our Savior.  And so, with the angels and the shepherds, we also can say and can say in our hearts, in a spirit of adoration, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men of goodwill. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, for you alone are the Holy One. You alone are the Lord. You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father.” O come, let us adore Him. Amen. 

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Luke 2:15-20