Good Shepherd Sunday for Catholics Living Among Wolves, Hirelings, and the Ruins of the Postconciliar Church
The liturgy for this Sunday begins with a sentence that almost sounds too bright for times like ours: “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, alleluia.” To many traditional Catholics, that can feel hard to say with a straight face. The sanctuaries have been stripped, the liturgy has been gutted in most places, bishops speak the language of managers and public relations men, Leo continues the conciliar program under a different personality, and the media class that once styled itself as vigilant now grows strangely timid when vigilance is needed most. Everywhere one looks, there is compromise, evasion, theatrical concern, and spiritual cowardice.
Yet the Church places this antiphon on our lips anyway.
Why? Because Christian hope does not begin with favorable appearances. It begins with God. The earth is not full of the goodness of bishops. It is not full of the goodness of chancery officials, conference statements, Catholic influencers, or controlled opposition in tailored jackets. It is full of the goodness of the Lord. If our peace rests on the visible health of the ecclesiastical landscape, then we will have no peace at all. If it rests on the unchanging goodness of God, then we may be bruised, betrayed, isolated, and yet not conquered.
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