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b'(Acts 2:14a,36-41;\\xa0\\xa0 Ps.23:1-6;\\xa0\\xa0 1Pt.2:20b-25;\\xa0\\xa0 Jn.10:1-10) \\xa0 \\u201cWhoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.\\u201d \\xa0 Jesus says in earnest to the Pharisees, \\u201cI am the gate for the sheep\\u2026\\xa0 Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.\\u201d\\xa0 But they are as the thief who \\u201ccomes only to steal and slaughter and destroy.\\u201d Today, too, brothers and sisters, the thief is among us, those teachers who do \\u201cnot enter a sheepfold through the gate but climb over elsewhere.\\u201d\\xa0 For neither seeing nor caring to seek the wholeness of Scripture, that it is here that God speaks, they attempt to enter another way, relying on their own devices.\\xa0 So it says in the commentary of the missal I read: \\u201cthe author of the First Letter of Peter\\u201d and \\u201cthe author of John\\u2019s gospel,\\u201d for the author here shows he knows not the Word of God.\\xa0 Like the Pharisees who were so preoccupied with the words of the law that they could not see the Author of Life standing before them, so these are blind to the voice of Jesus and His apostles speaking in this Holy Book.\\xa0 As they piece together the fragments of supposed facts gleaned by their fanciful imaginations, the wholeness of the Word, holiness itself, entirely escapes them.\\xa0 How can they hear His silence amongst such chatter? And so the false shepherds strip the \\u201cverdant pastures\\u201d and pollute the \\u201crestful waters\\u201d of Holy Scripture.\\xa0 On wrong paths for their own sakes they lead others into the \\u201cdark valley\\u201d with no \\u201crod\\u201d or \\u201cstaff\\u201d of the Lord to give \\u201ccourage.\\u201d\\xa0 Only coming before the Word of God as children will they \\u201creceive the gift of the Holy Spirit\\u201d and so see the truth of prophecy \\u2013 but this is entirely too shameful to their pride.\\xa0 By their own minds must they live; in their reason alone they seek their refuge, caring not to \\u201cdwell in the house of the Lord\\u201d and have His \\u201cgoodness and kindness follow\\u201d them.\\xa0 They need this not \\u2013 they are quite self-sufficient. Brothers and sisters, my prayer is that you \\u201csave yourselves from this corrupt generation,\\u201d that you \\u201crun away\\u201d like sheep at the \\u201cvoice of strangers,\\u201d saying, \\u201cThe Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.\\u201d\\xa0 And as for these blind guides, I pray that they shall cease their vain effort to crucify the Lord again by making Him and His Word into a metaphor, a symbol \\u2013 an empty construct of the human imagination \\u2013 rather than the flesh and blood of God He Is.\\xa0 May they be \\u201ccut to the heart\\u201d as those at Peter\\u2019s preaching, and like the rest of the faithful who \\u201chad gone astray like sheep\\u201d now return \\u201cto the shepherd and guardian of our souls.\\u201d\\xa0 Entering through the gate that is Jesus, may they recognize the voice of God as He speaks through His Rock and His Beloved. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Lose the Pretense, How Do We?" from\\xa0Remove the Mask of Lies, second album of\\xa0Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, the innocent Lamb is Himself our Shepherd; may we find salvation at His side.\\xa0 YHWH, let us enter into your presence through your only Son, who is the true Shepherd guiding us to you.\\xa0 May we follow in His steps.\\xa0 Even though it lead to the Cross, may we remain near Him, ready to give our lives as He has, as the innocent Lamb for our salvation.\\xa0 Though we are cut to the heart by the truth He speaks in His Word and through His apostles, let us turn to Him in repentance and find His comfort and peace \\u2013 let us thus find ourselves in your holy arms.\\xa0 O LORD, let our ears be open to hear His voice and His voice alone.\\xa0 Let us not be led astray by false shepherds, false prophets who seek only their own gain and not the welfare of your sheep.\\xa0 It is to sacrifice you call us, not to selfishness, and by laying down our lives, by entering the wounds in His flesh, we shall find eternal rest in your House.\\xa0 Let us be washed clean in His blood and so be saved from corruption.'