(Sixteenth Sunday of the Year (B): This homily was given on July 20, 1997 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Psalm 23.)

"Psalm 23: Can you relate?"

Some of us can very easily identify with the psalm we heard a few moments ago, Psalm 23. The words of this prayer reflect our own personal experience of the last several days.

The writer of the prayer begins, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Most of you know that last weekend we took 74 teenagers to the annual Steubenville Youth Conference. Well, this was precisely the theme of the talks and the skits that were presented: making Jesus Christ your shepherd, your ruler, your true leader and master in life.

"In verdant pastures he gives me repose; Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul." I would say that most, if not all of the 1,800 young people who attended this conference found it to be spiritually refreshing. Jesus the Good Shepherd touched their hearts and gave them repose--sometimes in powerful and unexpected ways.

"He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake." Some people think that Fr. Ray is blunt in the things he says from this pulpit. Well, let me tell you, I’m a veritable pussycat compared to some of the speakers who gave talks at this conference! The young people there last weekend heard the pure, clear, uncompromised truth about God, about the Church, about the sacraments, about dating, about sexual morality and a host of other timely topics. And you know what? They cheered! They were challenged again and again on these issues, and they cheered for more! Sometimes adults will say, "Oh, don’t give teenagers such a hard message or you’ll turn them off!!!" Well, let me tell you something: most of them are already off!!! Hearing the hard message often turns them on: it turns them on to God; it turns them on to the truth of the gospel. The fact is: young people today are looking for guidance and direction. They’re looking for older men and women who have the courage to "guide them in right paths." as this psalm says. May those of us who are beyond our teenage years be a part of this courageous group of adults--a group that’s willing to lead our young people by words and by example!

I would say that the second part of this psalm was experienced by many of us on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. It begins, "Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil. . . " A parishioner called me at about 10:30 on Wednesday night and said, "Father Ray, please pray; Stephanie Barney and 4 other teenagers [she didn’t know who they were] are missing. They left Watch Hill in a dinghy awhile ago and they haven’t been heard from since." Needless to say, I went slightly "out of my mind" when I heard her say that--we’ve had too many teenage tragedies around here in recent years; we didn’t need another one. And so I did what so many others did in those hours--I prayed; throughout the night I prayed. At one point I picked up the Bible and opened it, and my eyes fell on Matthew 21, where Jesus says these words: "Believe me, if you trust and do not falter, not only will you do what I did to the fig tree, but if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ even that will happen. You will receive all that you pray for, provided you have faith." That word helped me to pray much more confidently. I even began to thank God for the protection I believed he was giving to these young people.

After they were finally found the next morning, I spoke to Stephanie’s mother Anne on the phone. She said to me, "Fr. Ray, as I was rushing out of the house to go to Watch Hill last night, I grabbed one thing and one thing only--my rosary beads. Praying the rosary throughout the night was so helpful--the mysteries meant more to me than they ever had in the past. And I also prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, thinking of the words of Sister Faustina: ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’ And so, yes, a part of me was frightened, but deep down inside, I was peace-filled." Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side. With your rod and your staff that give me courage.

And then the psalmist writes, You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. That means that even in the midst of the worst of situations, our cup (our life) can overflow with blessings--if we make the Lord our shepherd. Anne shared with me yesterday that she already sees much good that’s come out of this terrible event in her life. I’m sure that some of the others involved would say the very same thing. Praise God that they can see those blessings.

And finally, we have these words: "Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come." Here’s an interesting fact that I would say speaks volumes: When everything was over and they finally managed to get away from the commotion at the beach on Thursday morning, do you know what the Barneys did? Do you know the very first thing they did afterward? Go home and go to bed--NO! They came here. They came to the house of the Lord; and the three of them--Stephanie, Anne and her good husband Bill (who is not even Catholic!) went up together to that tabernacle over there; and, as a family, they knelt in the presence of the Good Shepherd to say "Thank you."

Psalm 23 speaks of good times and it speaks of bad times, and it urges us to make Jesus our Shepherd AT ALL TIMES! May all of us heed this important message.