Rhymes

5:30 Mass Homily

Our Gospel is about sheep and shepherds. It reminds me of a Mother Goose nursery rhyme. “Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn! The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn. Where is the boy that looks after the sheep?  He’s under the haystack, fast asleep.”

There’s one little boy blue who is not fast asleep; who has been blowing his horn; and who is looking after the sheep in the meadow and the cows in the corn. It’s Pope Francis who recently said, “Christians either love God and their neighbor or they are hypocrites; there is no middle ground.” He blew that horn even harder when he said, “When people’s hearts are hardened, they can no longer hear what God has to say.” Now that’s a powerful Easter season message we all need to hear!

Here’s another rhyme about sheep and shepherds. Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep and can't tell where to find them; Leave them alone, and they'll come home, bringing their tails behind them. When we feel like lost sheep, we need a shepherd unlike Bo-Peep who leaves us alone and assumes we will come home. 

Wolves catch and scatter us, according to our Gospel reading from John. So, when pursued by these wolves – sometimes called greed, envy, lust, anger and pride – we need a good shepherd to soften our hearts, protect us, and bring us home. And that home is with Jesus our Christ who finds and shepherds us by commanding us to soften our hearts and love our neighbors by wishing the good for those we know and don’t know. We do this by wanting those neighbors to have happiness, not trouble and sorrow.

Here is another rhyme: “Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, eating a Christmas pie; He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum and said, ‘What a good boy am I!” 

For those of us wedged in our corners, thumbing pies, and thinking we’re good, we have to put down the pastry and come out of those corners to welcome and love people.  For those of us fast asleep under the haystack, it’s time to wake up, rise, shake the straw out of our hair, open our barn doors, and welcome and love people. This should happen especially during this Easter season when we listen and then respond to the Pope’s horn. He’s trumpeting a tune composed by God for all of us to hear: love God and our neighbors.

Here is another tune and rhyme the Pope might like to trumpet.

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down,

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady!

Build it up with stones so strong,

Stones so strong,

Build it up with stones so strong,

My fair lady!

Stones so strong will last so long,

Last so long,

Stones so strong will last so long,

My fair lady.

Who is this fair lady? It may have been the Virgin Mary. There was a Viking attack on London in 1014. They burned the bridge but could not take the city. Many Londoners believed it was protected by their 'fair lady' – Mary.

This London Bridge rhyme about stones reminds us about our first reading from Acts and Psalm 118 with their references to the cornerstone.

Acts reads: 

He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

Our Psalm sings: 

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. 

R. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.

What can we conclude from our readings and these rhymes?

(1) Jesus is our shepherd who helps us beat back the wolves with his staff.

(2) Jesus is the stone or rock on which we must build our houses – our lives.

(3) We are saved by this cornerstone known as Jesus who is merciful, as we should be.

(4) Jesus is our bridge between heaven and earth.  

(5) When we fall down, he builds us up with the help of our fair lady.

(6) Jesus is our refuge in whom we trust rather than in men and princes.

I end with one more nursery rhyme – but not from Mother Goose. Our second reading from the first letter of John says we are children of God, so this rhyme is especially appropriate for all of us children.

1. Jesus loves me! This I know,

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong;

They are weak, but He is strong.

2. Jesus loves me! This I know,

As He loved so long ago,

Taking children on His knee,

Saying, “Let them come to Me.”

3. Jesus loves me still today,

Walking with me on my way,

Wanting as a friend to give

Light and love to all who live.

4. Jesus loves me! He who died

Heaven’s gate to open wide;

He will wash away my sin,

Let His little child come in.

5. Jesus loves me! He will stay

Close beside me all the way;

Thou hast bled and died for me,

I will henceforth live for Thee.

Amen.

Deacon David Pierce