10 May 2022 - Tuesday of the fourth week of Easter - feast day of St John of Avila (1499 - 1569) - John 10:22-30

When I was preparing today’s homily, I was looking at the options for the feast day today in the calendar of saints.  It is the feast day of Father Damien Molokai, the Belgian priest who ministered to the lepers on the island of Molokai in Hawaii in the latter part of the 19th century, who died a leper himself.  May 10th is also the date of the death of Walker Percy, the great Catholic philosopher and novelist who died in 1990, who grew up in Greenville in the Mississippi Delta, and who spent much of his adult life in the New Orleans area.  However, it is also the feast day of John of Avila, whom I am going to talk about today.  John of Avila, a diocesan priest in Spain in the 16th century, was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict in 2012, which has spurred my interest in him. His contemporaries in Spain in the 16th century included John of the Cross, Ignatius of Loyola, Peter Claver, Teresa of Avila, and Francis Xavier, quite an illustrious group.  John of Avila lived in the time of the Protestant Reformation and a time a great political turmoil in Spain, where Church reforms were being undertaken, but were under great suspicion by Church authorities.  He was a very popular priest during his lifetime in the region of Andalusia in southern Spain, gifted in his preaching and catechesis and igniting the faith of the people, so much so that the Bishop kept him there rather than send him to the overseas missions. 

        During his homily when John was canonized as saint, Pope Benedict said that John of Ávila was a "profound expert on the sacred Scriptures, he was gifted with an ardent missionary spirit. He knew how to penetrate in a uniquely profound way the mysteries of the redemption worked by Christ for humanity. A man of God, he united constant prayer to apostolic action. He dedicated himself to preaching and to the more frequent practice of the sacraments, concentrating his commitment on improving the formation of candidates for the priesthood, of religious and of lay people, with a view to a fruitful reform of the Church.” 

     Last Sunday, we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday.  Today, in the Gospel, as Jesus is questioned about his identity in the early days of his ministry when he had revealed himself to very few people, Jesus tells the people that his sheep will hear his voice and that they will follow him.  He states that those who question his identity and do not believe in him cannot recognize that his works and ministry are from the Father because they are not members of his flock.  I think of John of Avila as being one of those good shepherds who Jesus sent to us to continue his works and ministry.  Even though John of Avila died back in 1569, his teachings and his example of faith still speak to us today.  We unite our prayers with the prayers of John of Avila today.