Acts 13: 14, 43-52; Ps 100: 1-3, 5; Rev 7:9, 14b-17; Jn. 10:27-30

“All who were destined for eternal life came to believe”.  Who is destined and how do we know?  I have often asked the question in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) who believes in predetermination or self-determination.  Answers vary in the group with some feeling in the tradition of Calvinism that God has predetermined everything and we are living out the plan.  Others go to the other side of feeling in the tradition of Gnostics that God created us and placed us here to work out our salvation but remains distant from interfering with our life.  Then there are others who simply never considered the question and have no idea.  Where would you stand as a believer? 

The believer who does the will of the Father is destined for eternal life.  This does not imply that God is simply an observer of our daily life waiting to determine our destiny simply by our actions.  Jesus stands at the door of our hearts knocking ready to engage us in our daily life but our hearts must respond to receive him.  Is there a plan of salvation written into our hearts for each of us?  Absolutely, it is custom drawn to go with our personal state of life for us to follow.  God also knows our inherent weakness and free will and will continue to knock on our hearts to return to his plan for us.  The prodigal father and son remind us of this reality.  No matter how much we turn away from him he cannot deny himself and his love is everlasting.  Yet not all live to do the will of the Father.  In predetermination there is an individualized plan but not all follow. 

“Follow me” is the core message of last week meaning follow Jesus.  Self-determination then is our journey of faith governed by our free will, intellect, and emotions that are the essence of our soul.  To unite our free will, intellect, and emotions is to unite our soul in relationship with the Father’s will, the mind of God, and his love.  The perfect union is the ecstasy of grace one in being with the Father in the Holy Trinity.  Into this plan of truth, goodness, beauty, and unity we are a people of God.  If this does not excite us then we are not ready to simply let go and let God be my Lord and savior. What is the resistance that keeps us from being glorified in the word of the Lord?  We remain set on going “my own way”. 

“No one can take them out of the Father’s hand”.  This is not predetermination that “once saved is always saved.”  We choose to take ourselves out of the Father’s hand in our self-determination.  The word has been given to us since our baptism.  God is waiting for what we choose to do now.  Signs to awaken us to his presence surround us.  We have Jesus life, death, resurrection, the descent of the Holy Spirit, his body and blood in the Eucharist, and the church to serve as his authority.   Follow these signs and graces will pour out of his riches in glory.   

“My way” does not listen for the voice of the Lord.  It is not watchful and attentive to a God who is nearby.  The soul wanders seeking to discover “the way” as the Israelites in the desert who were never far from the promise land but kept wandering within a region while God waited for the conversion of their hearts.  In what ways are we wandering in search of truth, goodness, beauty and unity without turning to our God?  God waits for our conversion and it begins with an act of the will to let go and receive him who is love.  Jesus is the way to follow to the promise land “and they will never perish”.   In God are truth, goodness, beauty and unity of love.  Let us answer the call and follow the good shepherd and we will know we remain in his hands.