Fifth Sunday Easter 5/3/2026 Good Shepard Sunday East Dcn Louis Zemlick Sacraments

Acts 6:1-7 CCC means Catechism Catholic Church CCC595,2632

Psalm 33: 1-2, 4-5 read 6 on creation 18-19 only CatechismCCC292,703 teaching is on Vs 6 GOD Creates somehow the liberals hate this idea. Some of the so called intelligent in the church are not so smart.

1 Peter 2:4-9 CCC552,709,756,782,803,901,1141,1179,1268,1330,1546,2769, all very very Catholic, Sacraments & Priesthood we are happy to profess it. :)

Gospel John 14:1-12 CCC74 God wants everyone to be saved,CCC151,459,470,516,661,1025,1698,2466,2614,2795 Lets get to Heaven and while were at it bring the whole world to Jesus.

Love, Go to Mass, Forgive, Trust, Love Blessed Mother Mary this is her month Mothers Day is everyday .....Love you all Deacon Louis

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, everybody. This is Deacon Louis Zimlik here in the Diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan. We're glad you're here on this fifth Sunday of Easter on our DeaconLouisimleck.com podcast. So, wow, last weekend was Good Shepherd Sunday, and I didn't realize it until I saw the church bulletin and it said the Good Shepherd Sunday. It doesn't say it anywhere on the USCCB website. And then this Sunday I find out that it's Good Shepherd Sunday again in the Eastern Church. So here we go. We get to do it twice, right? So and we think about that as far as the priesthood goes, as far as our pastors go, our leaders in our churches go. And you know, I just I you know I just have to make, I just have to say this, you know, that that um Catholic hatred still exists. And and you know, many times when people and even teenagers uh come up to me in church and say, you know, geez, somebody told me I wasn't a Christian. I I just tell you right now, I'm I'm just over it. I'm over it. And so if if there's any pastors out there, Protestant pastors out there, whatever denomination or whatever group you're running out there or whatever you're preaching out there, give me a call. You know, call me. Drop me a note, deaconlouisemlick.com, drop me a note, and uh let's talk. Let's talk about uh Catholic hatred and how that uh how that uh works your works its way into uh being a good Christian. Um because I tell you, my brothers and sisters, you know, I do not uh I do not uh disparage other people's religions. Okay, I don't do that. We we sort out our differences, we have differences, sometimes we have great differences. But um the hatred part of it I just I just don't get because and part of it because I was I was watching a thing with uh uh uh Jimmy Schwaggert's son, I don't know if he's Jimmy Swaggard Jr. or whatever, but him saying about um uh Buckley, um and I can't think of Buckley's first name, is well, he's a devout Catholic. He knows he's a devout Catholic, and he's like, I can't believe that he knows Jesus. And I don't know if it's ignorance or if this is this type of hatred is still being taught, um, but it just doesn't surprise me anymore. But you know what? I'm over it. I'm really over it of trying to uh, you know, really kind of try to be nice about it and stuff like that and and and try to uh prove a point or whatever. Um I'm just not interested. And quite frankly, you know, I love the Catholic Church, okay? I love the traditions of the church. And and you can see that the young people are attracted to the Catholic Church because it's 2,000 years of history. Even more than that would include the Old Testament. And, you know, we don't proselytize people. We don't tell people that they're going to hell if they don't accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior right this very moment and come to your little church, whatever it may be. Um, and that's how you get saved, is from your little church, or by looking up to the sky while you're watching TV. Okay. So the whole thing is is that I I just think it's it's a good idea now that it's 2026 for us just to kind of just stop with the the garbage, right? Stop with the hatred, really religious hatred. So there, I said it, said my piece. I'll probably say it again another time. But and not only that, but I think you're just jealous because we have 46 Old Testament books. We have more Old Testament books than you guys do because you guys threw seven books out. We didn't add them in. You guys, the Protestants, removed them. Okay, and there were actually out of the 18 New Testament books, you were going to remove about three or four of those, you know, because basically they pointed towards the saints, they pointed towards tradition, and more than anything, they pointed towards the priesthood of which Jesus Christ is the high priest. Okay, and actually, this is quite fitting because it's Good Shepherd Sunday, right? And who is the best shepherd, the greatest shepherd? None other than Jesus Christ, right? And the reason why we have that great shepherd, here comes a little drum roll, is because the blessed Virgin Mary. Oh, that's making everybody's ears ring. Oh no, don't say her name. The blessed Virgin Mary said yes to the angel Gabriel of God's plan for Jesus, for God to come here to save us, right? She said yes, she is the new Eve. See, Jesus is the new Adam, she is the new Eve. See, things are getting redone, and praise be to God. And I play, pray, pray, pray for all my brothers and sisters of other religions or no religion at all. I pray for all of you, and I love all of you. And the ones who are the sickest amongst you, I love the most. Okay, here we go. All right, did a little five-minute little preaching there, so um, but yeah. And you know what we're gonna do this weekend? We're gonna put a crown on Mary, we're gonna honor her. We're not gonna worship her, we're gonna honor her because she's the mother of Jesus Christ, Lord, savior of the world, of the universe. Okay, so you guys can't wrap your heads around that. I understand. You know, I could get into the long story on it too, that it's just a big government takeover of the church back in the 1500s, too. We could talk about that too. You know, how it's just a big lie. It's a big lie. All of these other churches, all of these other choices to make, you know, just another way to steal land away from the church. Land that was given to the church, mostly by people who passed away. Not taken by war or anything like that, but given to the church. Good people. Good people. Not saying there's not bad people in the church. We know that that's true. So, right, so bad people everywhere, right? Even school teachers, even, you know, everybody, politicians. Don't go there, right? And pray for our leaders, right? Pray for our leaders, pray for people, uh, pray for our our pastors, our priests, our rabbis, our all of our imams, our our uh clerics of all sorts, right? That they preach peace. Because if you do not preach peace, if you do not preach love, you preach the opposite of that, and that's the other team. That's evil, that's the devil, that's Satan, that's the world. Make a mark on that, think about that, contemplate that, whether you're sitting and listening to the right people, and not necessarily people on the internet. Well, of course, you're listening to this podcast, right? Yeah, so who knows? But be careful, my brothers and sisters. I'm just telling you, be careful because a lot of it's just Gnosticism selling, you know, that we have secret knowledge. Oh, we're the ones, we're the special ones. You know, don't tell anybody, yeah, you can you don't need that Catholic Church anymore. Those people don't know what they're doing. Well, we've been doing it for 2,000 years, okay? 2,000 years, and we're starting to grow again, growing very much so in Africa, which is also very interesting, too, right? But you know, the wealthy Europeans have have uh lost their way. And uh and maybe rightly so. Who knows? This is God's plan for all of us, right? We all lose our way from time to time. So um I'll preach less on the end because I preached uh some right there. So hopefully it wasn't too boring. But this is Good Shepherd Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Easter, May 2nd. May 2nd? No, May 3rd. May 3rd, 2026. First reading is from the Acts of the Apostles, Acts chapter 6, verses 1 through 7. As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So the twelve called the community of the disciples and said, It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men filled with the spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The proposal was accepted to the whole community. So they chose Stephen, a man filled with the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Proconus, Niconor, Timaeon, Perimanus, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly. Even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God. Our psalm reading today is from Psalm 33, verses 1 and 2, 4 and 5, and then 18 through 19. Hallelujah. Exalt you just in the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord on the harp with the ten stringed lyre, chant his praises. Alleluia. Upright is the word of the Lord, and all his works are trustworthy. He loves justice and right of kindness of the Lord. The earth is full. See the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope in his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. Hallelujah. Our second reading is from First Peter two. Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings, but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it is for it says in Scripture, Behold I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame. Therefore, its value for you who have faith, but for those without faith, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall. They stumble by disobeying the word as is their destiny. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. We're gonna do some preaching on that. I'll tell you that. The gospel, a reading from the holy gospel according to John. This is John chapter 14, verses 1 through 12. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, O Lord. Jesus said to his disciples, Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God, have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going, you know the way. Thomas said to him, Master, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on, you do know him, and you have seen him. Philip said to him, Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you for so long a time, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe because the works themselves. Amen, amen. I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. May the words of this gospel wipe away our sins. Well, welcome, my brothers and sisters. My name is Deacon Louis Zimlik here in the Diocese of Kamazoo. Feel free to pass this podcast on to anyone and everyone you know. It's really good stuff, nice Catholic, old school stuff. And what we're going to preach about, well, we preached a little bit about love at the beginning, right? And it's very important, my brothers and sisters, to not be a hater. Okay. And uh, you know, I can feel it when my blood pressure starts to rise. And I'm like, oh no, I don't want to go where the devil goes. I don't want to be in the devil's house. No, no, no, no, no. Don't tempt me, devil, to be saying nasty things about this person or that person or this group or that. No, no, no, no, no. We're not gonna do that. No. We are going to preach love and forgiveness and point the way towards Jesus Christ and his church, the Holy Catholic Church. And uh we pray for our Holy Father, Pope Leo. Uh, yes, he is a man, but he is a he is the vicar of Christ. He is uh Jesus here on earth. And in a certain sense, too, so are our priests, right? Our priests are at persona in Christ and do as Jesus assigned them in the upper room to uh forgive sins in the name of Jesus Christ. It always points towards Jesus. The Blessed Mother always points towards Jesus. The holy sacraments always point towards Jesus, the power of Jesus, the power of God, and Jesus is God. See, so this is, you know, many things. You know, it takes a whole lifetime to to work on this stuff and to to think about this stuff. But but but even then we just we just barely scratch the surface, my brothers and sisters. We just barely scratch the surface before it's time for us to leave. So here we go. And of course, this is very beautiful, right? Acts of the Apostles from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, second greatest book besides the Bible is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is the teaching of the Catholic Church, teaching of the Scriptures for all of these thousands and thousands of years. Divisions among the Jewish authorities. You gotta be kidding me. Divisions? Oh, yeah. Among the religious authorities in Jerusalem, this is from 595 of the Catechism. Not only were the Pharisees, Nicodemus, and prominent Joseph of Arimathea, both secret disciples of Jesus, but there was also longstanding dissension about him, so much that St. John says that these authorities on the very eve of Christ's passion, many believed in him, though very imperfectly. Isn't that a great word? Very imperfectly. And I think that's a thing that happens with us too, right? We believe in Jesus, but very imperfectly. This is why it's so important to go to Mass, so important to go to reconciliation. Right? So here we go. Uh Saint James could tell Saint Paul how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who had believed, and they were all zealous for the law. Right? That's Acts. Prayer of Petition 2632 of the Catechism, referring to Acts 6. Christian petition centered on the desire and the search for the kingdom to come in keeping with the teachings of Christ. There is a hierarchy in all these petitions. We pray first for the kingdom, then what is necessary to welcome it in and cooperate with its coming, the collaboration of the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the church. It is the object of the prayer of the apostolic community. We must all pray. We must all pray. Pray for peace. Pray for our churches to come together too, right? The Christian churches to come together. And not for and and and for many years, I think the mistake has been made for the Catholic Church to keep diluting things, diluting, diluting, diluting. Well, now we're finding out as of this day, we're finding out that the Catholic Church is correct in its orthodoxy, in its teaching, especially in its teaching on life, and its teaching on marriage, and its teaching on sin, and its teaching on the sacraments, and its teaching on holiness, and its teaching on the priesthood. The Catholic Church is right. And these other churches, I'm sorry to say, have been deceived. They've been deceived by governments for the last 500 years, they've been deceived by governments, they've been deceived by big business. And uh it's very sad, very sad. Okay, here we go. Uh, this Psalm 33. Creation, the work of the Holy Trinity. Only God creates. And it's kind of funny that they they edited on this on the Psalm 33, they edited verse 6, which is about God creating. See? And this is the this is the world, right? How the world worms its way into um the office of the church that sets out the scriptures for us to read on Sunday, and they go, Well, we need to take this creation part out of here that God created everything. You need to we need to take that out because that's controversial. Some people can't handle that. And it's like, how dare you, right? So, you know, it's not a wonder that we see all these other churches popped up, right? In a lot of ways, in some ways, I understand it, you know, not on the grand scale, like you know, with these big Mass of corporate churches and countries establishing their own Christian religions, that type of thing, or you know, that type of thing. But but the little corner church, right? For the guy who, you know, just wants to, they just want to read scripture and they want to pray. And I get it. I get it. I understand. But you can't walk away. You know, you don't walk away from a sick friend. And the church always has some sickness to it. Always, my brothers and sisters, has some sickness. And so you're called not to walk away from that, but to try to help solve it, to try to heal it, right? To try to heal it. I know that's a hard thing to do. Believe me, I know. I've worked for pastors, I've worked for people within the church that I didn't much like. But I knew they were sick people, and I knew I needed to pray for them and try to help them the best I could. So the Old Testament suggests that the new covenant reveals the creative action of the Son and the Spirit inseparably, one with that of the Father. This is creative co-operation, is clearly affirmed in the church's rule of faith. There exists but one God. He is the Father, God, the creator, the author, the giver of order. It's so good. 292 of the Catechism. Okay, here we go. First Peter. Oh, hope we don't run out of time here. I'm just gonna do one thing on First Peter. Okay, to obey Jesus, right? To obey God, right? In the kingdom and in exile. If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. But after King David, Israel gave in to temptation of being a kingdom like other nations. This is, see, this is the mistake we make. This is the mistake we make in dividing up the church and dividing up Christianity, where we think we can we can we we think we can mix and mingle with the world and take this piece away and take that piece away. Wow, that's not so bad. I mean, I understand, you know, if things get really rough, that yeah, you have to destroy part of your family, you have to destroy your marriage. What? What? No, you don't. No, you don't. Sometimes people need to be set out, sometimes people need to be left alone. Sometimes, you know, many of you know that I'm in recovery and a long time, and sometimes they'll even say, you know, sometimes people just need to keep drinking. See? But what we do is we enable. I'm not telling you to be cruel. No. Pray for people, try to do the best you can, but don't enable. Don't enable. Don't enable our leaders. Don't enable the uh our you know big business things like that. Some of this stuff is just ridiculous that we don't have any common sense anymore. Symbols of the church. Oh man, I'm running out of time. Here we go. Uh, this is also from First Peter. It is the people of God. God is not the property of any one people, but he acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a people, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Isn't that beautiful? It's us, my brother. You choose to be part of it. You know, sometimes um when you say the Jewish people or the Jews or the chosen people, it's much of it is metaphorical. Much of it is metaphorical. It is believers. If you believe in God, you trust in God, and are trying to obey God, you are headed in the right direction and hopefully whole heading uh to heaven. Sacrament of holy orders is in here. The sacrament of the Eucharist is in here, in that uh in that piece from 1 Peter. And then we just got three minutes left, so here we go. I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God from our gospel. The Lord Himself said to his disciples, believe in God, believe also in me. God desires all men and women to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth that is of Christ Jesus. Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth. Gospel of John, it's fantastic stuff, my brother. So you can send this podcast to the ends of the earth, people who are listening. And um the Holy Catholic Church is the original church, my brothers and sisters. You can always go to deaconlouisemlich.com and uh pass this on to others. Okay, 661 of the Catechism, left to his own natural powers, humanity does not have access to the Father's house, to God's life and happiness. Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we shall go where he, our head and our source, has preceded us.

unknown 27:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

That's so good. Such good stuff. All right, there's a couple other things. Living in truth, right? Jesus teaches us that unconditional love of truth. Let what you say simply be yes or simply be no. Jesus is Jesus is to live in the spirit of truth. That's 2466 of the catechism. There's 13 more scriptures on top of that. And uh we're gonna finish with theology of the body. Here we go. Knowledge and generation cycle persevere of perspective of death. In this general audience, the 26th, 1980, Saint Pope John Paul II and his Theology of the Body furthered the examination of biblical knowledge as the nuptial relationship before the fall, a mutual disinterested, disinterested gift of self between spouses, contrasting with it the same relationship as the remedy for death after the fall. I don't know about you, my brothers and sisters, but that didn't make any sense to me at all. I'm gonna read it again next week. So, my brothers and sisters, go to Mass, receive the sacraments, do the best you can, but don't give up and don't stop trying to be the person that Jesus Christ wants you to be. Love your family, stay with your family, love your family, stay together. Almighty God bless you all. In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. God love you all. We love you so much. Have a great weekend.