Allowing Ourselves to be Led

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.

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Fr. Jeremiah Shryock CFR

Fr. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock CFR, is from Barto, PA. He graduated from Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA in 2002 where he studied Philosophy and professional writing. In September of 2002 he entered the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR) and was ordained a priest in 2011 by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in St. Patricks’ Cathedral in New York City. In 2014 he completed studies in spiritual direction at Our Lady of Divine Providence School of spiritual direction in Clearwater, FL. Throughout his time as a Franciscan, he has participated in his community’s charism of hands-on work with the poor and preaching. He lived for three years as a hermit at the Monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, NY and now currently lives in San Juan Diego Friary in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he preaches retreats, is a spiritual director and conducts parish missions on either the spiritual life or Mary. He is author of Amid Passing Things: Life, Prayer, and Relationship with God, Mary and the Interior Life, and Let Him Lead: An Invitation to Let Jesus Guide Your Heart and Your Life (2025). For more information, visit his website at: fatherjeremiah.com and follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/father_jeremiah/</a.