The Shepherd nurtures and feeds. The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. Isaiah tells us that God will feed His flock like a shepherd and Jesus says in today's Gospel that "if anyone enters through him they will come in and go out and find pasture... I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly". The shepherd feeds his sheep, not with rations of gruel, but abundantly.

"The Lord is King and hath put on glorious apparel, He hath put on his apparel and girded Himself with strength." Our Lord has transformed the Cross, this ugly, brutal instrument of torture, into something so beautiful and victorious. And then we begin to say the psalms, and something wonderful happens: the same psalms we chant so many times, year after year, are, all of a sudden, completely new. They come alive and are filled with the power and grace, in the wake of suffering and death, and hell, these prayers are all of a sudden infused with such glory and joy and victory.

Jesus was baptized Himself by John in Jordan- that was water without blood, but today when He is glorified in His ultimate act of love, the water comes forth with the blood, and we receive the Spirit in the water and the blood.

We do not see Him in the flesh like He once was among us, but still just as John has promised we look upon Him who was pierced for our transgression, we look upon Him in the water and the blood, in baptism through which we are washed and receive the Spirit, and through the Eucharist in which we receive His life giving blood and divine immortality.

We call today Maundy Thursday which comes from the Latin "mandatum", meaning "command", and this is a reference of Christ's words to his disciples on this night "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another". Well that fits nquite nicely with the symbolic act of washing feet, we are to love one another by serving one another in humility. But what he said was "I give you a new commandment, to love one another, just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples - if you have this kind of love for one another." To put it bluntly, Jesus did not love his disciples by washing some dirt off their feet, He loved them by dying for them.

This is what has been going on since sunday, when He rode into Jerusalem to draw demons out of their lair, that they might kill him. As I said last night, all Hell has been unleashed- this is in fact what he says to the mob who came to arrest him- "This is your hour, and that of the power of darkness." He tells us what is going on so that his plan of redemption can be fulfilled.

The Fathers agree that the primary sin of Satan, the sin which caused him to rebel against God and fall from heaven, and the sin that he introduced into the heart of man through his cunning, was the sin of envy.

Lucifer was envious of what God had planned for man. He was envious that man had been made in God's image and when he was perfected, man would surpass the angels in glory. Instead of rejoicing in God's goodness, Lucifer was eaten up with murderous envy- He didn't just want what man was promised, he wanted to destroy man and keep him from ever attaining it.

In Leviticus Chapter 23, Moses lays down a law, for a great celebration of joy. The Israelites were commanded, in the sternest possible language, to express their thanksgiving and joy to God with a great celebration. They're actually warned that, if they fail to do this, if they fail to be happy and celebrate, that they will be cut off from Israel. Very interesting, to think that we need to be commanded to be happy and have a party. How many times have you told your kids, "stop sulking around and put a smile on your face"? In this feast of feasts, God tells us the same thing, precisely what he's telling us on this day: Rejoice, and again I say rejoice! The joy of our Lord is our strength.

As we continue to Golgotha may we be sober and circumspect. We are further aided today by the disturbing veiling of our friends and the light of Christ. The Jews tried to stone Him and He hid Himself. Our Lord Jesus, do not hide yourself from us, make yourself known!

We want to be closer to God, but something unexpected happens when he takes a step toward us: we often step back away from him. This is just what happens when God shows up at the door of your heart, but if you let Him have his way, your whole house will be illumined and filled with Joy.

In this combat remember who you are with, you are with the stronger man- Jesus. If you are not with him, then, as he warns- you are against him, and He tells us how to recognize what side you are on: The one with him gathers, the one against him scatters.

To be with Jesus, to be holy and good is to gather. It is to reconcile, to make peace, to forgive, to sympathize and understand, to come along side and defend, to remain loyal, to work through conflict with humble sincerity. It is to be loyal to those you are in the fox hole with, not to turn on them and bite and devour- we are on the same side, we have a common enemy, and it is not one another.