In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The first reading points out God's divine plan that all people are to share in the fruits of Christ's redemption, that the salvific work of Christ is extended to all nations and all peoples. And in this, God made Peter recognize that that was to be extended to the non-Jewish people as well, the Gentiles.
Jesus today reminds us that he is the Good Shepherd and that he is the gate, and that we are to listen to his voice, that his voice is the single voice that is to be our guide through life, leading us and guiding us and helping us on this path to our true home in heaven. And he reminds us that our life with Christ is to bring us to share in his divine life. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” And in this, he is speaking of that divine life we are called to share in God's own life of the Holy Trinity, through which we receive the Holy Spirit in our soul through baptism. And he dwells in our soul as a sweet guest, giving us inspiration and guiding us, and helping us on that path to our sanctification, sharing in God's own holiness.
And of course, Jesus is reminding us that all peoples are saved only through him, that he alone is the shepherd, he alone is the gate. And all that are saved are saved only through the blood of Christ. There is no other savior to humanity. There is no other redeemer. Jesus alone is the one by which all are saved. And all are saved only through Christ.
And so Jesus reminds us today that we must not allow ourselves to be deceived by contrary voices, which desire to lead us away from him, away from his teaching. But that we must be steadfast and faithful in listening to the voice of Christ, who speaks to us through the Church. That we must recognize not to allow ourselves to be deceived or influenced by a mentality of this world, which is often contrary and contradicts Christ and his teaching, and often encourages sin and glorifies sin and glorifies immorality. That we must be steadfast in not being influenced by these sentiments of this world, but remain faithful to Christ, no matter what other people think of us. That we want to remain faithful to his teachings and the teachings he gives us through his Church.
Today we honor the liturgy of St. Leopold Mandic, who was a Capuchin friar who was from Croatia. And eventually, because of the outbreak of war, his order sent him to Padua, where he spent most of his religious life in Padua, in Italy. He was very short in stature. He was only about 4'5". But his heart was great, and he had a great heart especially for sinners and hearing confessions. He would often hear confessions for 13, 14, 15 hours a day or more. And it's interesting that his right hand is incorrupt and is in a reliquary. It's the hand, of course, in which he gave absolution.
But he spent all those hours in confession and gently bringing sinners back to the fold of Christ and extending God's mercy and forgiveness to them. St. Leopold offered himself as a victim soul for the unity of the Church between the East and the West. He had especially offered his sufferings for the Orthodox to come back to Christ and to be under the Pope, and he would continue to offer his sufferings and accept sufferings for the unity of the Church that the Orthodox would come back under the fold of Christ. It was something very, very dear to his heart, and he prayed and he offered all his sufferings that the Orthodox would come back to be under the Holy Father.
And so he's just a reminder to us to pray for the unity of all Christians, and he would offer these sufferings for this intention. He had a great love, of course, of our Blessed Mother, and he called Our Lady his little boss, and said all children of God are born through the tears of Mary at the foot of the cross. And he had a firm conviction in his belief of Our Lady as Co-redemptrix, and he wrote about that and spoke about that, his belief that she was the Co-redemptrix. But above all, he had a great love of Mary, and would seek all graces and help and assistance from her in his ministry.
We ask Saint Leopold Mandic to help us to offer our prayers for the unity of Christians, and also we ask his help that we may always trust in God's infinite love and mercy for us. As Jesus pointed out in the Gospel, he knows us by name, and cares for each of us, and wants us to follow him to those pastures that will lead us to our true home in heaven.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.