There are enemies all around whose sole purpose is to steal our peace by destroying our gentle and tranquil spirit. They have all kinds of tricks and weapons to incite us to anger and agitation. But the truth is, we are our own worst enemies because they can do nothing to us without our cooperation. At the end of the day our enemy does not take our peace away, we give forfeit it. We must not engage in things that will disturb that peace. Not only must we avoid doing things that trouble our tranquility be must also actively guard it. We are in fact engaged in a war to maintain peace.

We have work to do. We have come a long way, God has been so gracious to us, but we have work to do. The absolute meaning of our life, our very existence is to feed on god by offering the sacrifice, by offering ourselves in the sacrifice of the lamb, and then going out into the world in the spirit of power to live holy lives and to draw all men to god. Todays Feast of the Body of Christ, Corpus Christie, this is the feast of great joy and satiation, because our hunger has been satisfied with angels food, the bread of heaven, the flesh of God made Man, there should be no greater joy for us. This is how we feast, we should pull out all the stops. We need to learn how to feast. We need to learn how to rejoice and give thanks.

And it's not just something that happens spontaneously, you realize that feasting requires asceticism and discipline every bit as much as fasting does? We fast so that we can offer the sacrifice with purity of heart, we feast so that we can offer the sacrifice in joy. But they're both so that we can offer the sacrifice.

When Jesus said on the Cross that "it is finished", He did not mean that there is not still a lot to be done. It is finished, but there is stil much to be brought to fulfilment. Death is dead- sin is broken- but we still contend with death and sin in this world. He warned them repeatedly of what they would face even though He was glorified and said it was finished. So where does that leave us, 2000 years later? Where did it leave the disciples huddled together in an upper room praying and waiting for God knows what- something that Jesus told them to wait for. It leaves us desperate and hungry for the one thing, the only thing, the absolute one thing in the in-between time while we prepare for his return, while we contend with our enemies, while we are being made perfect and Christified. And that one thing is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus makes the wild promise to the disciples when he tells them that whatever they ask the Father in the name of Jesus, he will give it to them, a little common sense tells us that Jesus is not talking about power ball, a reservation at Noma, a high IQ or even a miracle of healing. He refused that to Paul, and I'm pretty certain that Paul, being a good baptist, must have ended his prayer with "In Jesus' Name".

He still didn't get what He asked for. Neither did Job. I'll tell you who got their prayer answered: it was Satan, when he asked for access to attack Job. God granted Satan his request and refused both Paul and Job. He refused their prayer requests unto their salvation, and granted Satan's request unto his condemnation.

How important were these days for the future of the Church and the mission of the apostles. It was in these 40 days that Jesus instructed the apostles concerning the kingdom of God, He gave them commandments and commissioned them to build His Church.

In these sweet days of light and happiness their cups run over with joy even as he was preparing them to die- but they could not be sorrowful because he had Risen from the dead and they would die no more- in these days even death was a joy to them because in the Risen Lord they were witnessing the net result of a holy death- eternal glory.

The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and they know him. He has come to give abundant life for the sheep. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, while the hireling is only concerned for himself and when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away. The sheep are left defenseless, the sheepfold is broken apart, the sheep flee and are separated from one another and dispersed into the wild.

There are many lessons to be learned from this but I want to emphasize one thing which is necessary for our perpetual gladness. In all the passages about bad shepherds and good shepherds there are three aspects which come up again and again, three things which the bad shepherds fail to do and three things which The Good Shepherd does. The Good Shepherd feeds the sheep, protects the sheep and gathers the sheep together into one flock. That is the last line of our gospel lesson today, Jesus says: "and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."