+ Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. It is
traditionally this fourth Sunday of Easter that we reflect upon the pastoral
nature of Christ’s mission and mandate. Jesus came into the world to change
everything, to clarify everything, to transform everything into all that it
could not be otherwise without him – due to the extremely debilitating and life
draining Fall of our first parents: the damage done by them was catastrophic
and irreparable by any other of their race – except one who was also God at the same time: and that is Jesus
Christ the Nazarene – who finally came – but who was killed by his own people –
because they rejected him like a decrepit
stone; but actually he was the cornerstone who was placed in his rightful
position by his Father in the glorious act of raising him from the dead to a
newness of life.
This
is the good news that must be
proclaimed to the whole world: to everyone, everywhere: there is no salvation through anyone else – this is what our first
reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us today – Jesus is the only one who can do it for us!
And how this plays out is
marvelous: we have the opportunity to
participate in our own salvation now, because he has already completed his
end of the deal – and so we can now cooperate with grace and be born a second
time by baptism to “higher things”, and then we must further cooperate in our
own salvation by nourishing our spiritual lives by the daily program of
spiritual life that the Church lays out for us, in prayer, in the sacraments –
most especially the Eucharist: the Mass and in loving service to our brothers
and sisters.
Jesus the shepherd can only shepherd
us if we literally stay close to him, are in his pasture and follow his lead.
To mix the metaphor we are his sheep but
we are also sheep-as-children-of-God
– adopted, but truly his family – brothers and sisters of Jesus – and one
another. We must therefore treat one another like we are members of this very special family.
Yes, Jesus is the Good
Shepherd, the Excellent Shepherd, the Loving Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. And he is so because he has
suffered so terribly much. A shepherd who has not suffered is no shepherd at
all; a shepherd who has not suffered has no idea what his sheep are really
going through; a shepherd who has not died many deaths, has not experienced the
reality of God the Father helping him and raising him to new life over and over
again in his own life, and therefore has nothing to give anyone else.
And so, today we pray for all
the shepherds that Christ himself appointed and sent to proclaim the good news
and make his presence a reality on the face of the earth til the end of time –
we pray that they accept the death and
rising dynamic that must be a part of their lives, so they can help the
sheep, the sheep children of God, his own true spiritual brothers and sisters
do the same.
We also pray for vocations to the
priesthood and religious life – God is still calling - may men and women be
generous in responding and giving the loving Shepherd their hands, hearts and feet to help him love his sheep-children until the end of time.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
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