Fr. Jeremiah Shryock, CFR, gives a homily to the nuns of the monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, New York, where he serves as chaplain. “A refusal to be led is really a refusal to surrender,” he says. “It contradicts our very nature since we were created to be led by another, because by ourselves, living life on our own terms, in our own ways, leads us absolutely nowhere.” He adds, “The great mystery, the beauty, the secret of our life, consists in allowing ourselves to be led by the Good Shepherd.”
Fr. Jeremiah remarks that in his life as a priest, the most peaceful people he’s met have been those who have “accepted their dependence, who are allowing themselves to be led.” “The voice of the Good Shepherd calls us beyond our own resistance and beyond the life that we think will make us happy and towards the life that He wants, which is nothing else than a life of intimacy with Him.”
Will we surrender our lives to Him?
Image courtesy Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.
