Sheep were slaughtered without a shepherd by Marian Casillas, Ed.D.

 

We were sheep without a shepherd; we were led to slaughter.

We had our Spiritual Shepherd Jesus Christ, but not our physical pastors.

At Mass we are not merely spectators, we are participants in the Holy Banquet, in the Holy Sacrifice.

God is made present live and in living color not digitally or virtually.

We are a community of faithful worshippers.

There is private prayer and there is public communal prayer.

The Mass is public worship, not a show on a screen.

The Mass is our partaking in the fullness of the Banquet and the Sacrifice, being completely and totally present physically: listening, speaking, seeing, and smelling, touching, tasting, thinking, meditating and reflecting.

We are not a scattered audience, we are a unified assembly, the Body of Christ come together to pay homage and honor to God.

The live streamed Mass feels like it is the banquet without food or drink, the Body and Blood of Christ.

The live streamed Mass feels like it is the sacrifice without the suffering on the Cross, the Body and Blood of Christ.

God is made present on the Altar of Sacrifice, on the Table of the Banquet.

The sheep were scattered and not in the House of the Lord.

The sheep were locked in their own separate, individual cages and the luscious, green pasture was forbidden to them.

Each caged corral has a digital screen where the sheep can only see and hear their pastor in order to appease and settle down the sheep so they will be made docile and amiable to the slaughter by the wolf who lurks on the hillside awaiting the dark of night to attack and devour the starving, isolated sheep.

Where are the shepherds who will lay down their lives for their sheep?

They are asleep in the comfort of their beds, in the safety of their homes.

They are being distracted so they won’t think about the wolves, but the wolves are never distracted, they are laser focused on one thing and one thing alone, devouring the sheep to feed their ravenous appetites.

Awaken, O Pastors! And leave the comfort and safety of your palatial homes and return to the dangerous and demanding pastures to save your sheep.

The sheep were perishing without the nourishment of the Bread of Life.

Don’t be deceived, this is demonic.

This virus crowned itself with the name “corona”.

Only King Jesus and Queen Mary wear the Crown of Glory.

It is a lie that a virus will kill all the sheep and all the shepherds, only sin truly kills.

It is a lie that the sheep and shepherd must be isolated from each other in order to live.

There is no life for the sheep without their pastor and there in no life for the shepherd without their sheep.

The sheep will die spiritually without their shepherd and the shepherd will no longer be a shepherd without his sheep.

He will only be a man who is alive outwardly but dead inwardly.

Shepherds are supposed to be courageous and not cowardly.

Wolves are always cunningly and connivingly courageous and they prey upon the cowering and cringing sheep that shiver and shake with fear.

We have all forgotten about the devouring wolf because we have been distracted by the microscopic droplet of potential sickness and possible death.

Yes, the virus might kill the body, but the demonic wolf will strangle the soul with sin.

We all will one day die and the only thing that will matter will be the eternal state of our soul.

 

Marian Casillas, Ed.D.