Green Means Go (2012-04-29, Easter)

This is my homily for 29 April 2012 (4th Sunday Easter). I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Evening (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.

[_01_] Green means go. At the intersection of Forest Avenue and Howland Avenue by Van Saun Park, or the intersection of Midland and Fifth Avenue by River Dell High School … [Or, at the intersection of River Road and Route 4] … a traffic light exists to tell us –
• RED, to STOP
• YELLOW/AMBER, to proceed with caution or reduce speed
• GREEN, to GO.

[_02_] Green means go. Green means we are going some place and growing in some way. This is also true when we consider the parable of the Good Shepherd in today’s reading and also when we consider our young brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, friends who move – who travel – who go – to Holy Communion for the first time today. You have the green light today. Green means going and growing.

[_03_] The color GREEN is of vital importance to shepherds, and to sheep, even if they dwell far away from intersections and traffic lights. We see vibrancy and life in the green of the pasture. Green indicates this is a nourishing, healthy place for the sheep. And, in the twenty-third Psalm, we read, “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters.” (Psalm 23:1-2)

Green means going and growing.

[_04_] One of the challenges for the sheep and the shepherd is that they need to keep moving. Keeping and growing and moving together – as a community – as a communion – not just a first communion but a continuous communion to find their next drink of water or meal of grass. Green means going and growing.

[_05_] In the Good Shepherd parable, Jesus is inviting us to a new green pasture. We also believe the Lord is our Shepherd because he forgives our sins, dying for us on the Cross. He loves us. This journey of forgiveness – whether we are repenting of our sins or forgiving someone else’s faults – is also about going, growing.

Repentance are forgiveness green lights, as are honesty and integrity. The Lord, as shepherd, brings us to a new pasture, to new green grass when we repent of our sins or when we forgive someone else from the depths of our hearts. Carrying a grudge – or withholding our own repentance is more of a traffic jam, a delay tactic.

Green means going and growing. Green means progress. And, boys and girls, we rejoice and celebrate your progress today as well. Coming to receive Communion, at the altar, we recognize that we are constantly growing, changing. As the sheep are nourished by the earth and grass, we are nourished by his body and blood.

This Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday and First Communion Sunday, the Lord invites us to a new pasture, new place and new rest, where the GREEN also indicates new life. [__fin___]