In the 4th Sunday of Easter’s Gospel reading, Jesus Christ reveals Himself as the Good Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). On Good Friday, Jesus laid down his life on the Cross to save us from sin and death: “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). After His resurrection, the Lord entrusted to the Church the continuation of His mission as the Good Shepherd, thrice asking Peter if he loved Him, and thrice commanding him as a sign of that love to: “feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).
The assurance of the Good Shepherd’s love and care for His flock is probably the reason why the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd was popular among the early Christians, who faced cruel persecution from political and religious powers. The image of the Good Shepherd is one the most represented in the art of the Christian Catacombs in Rome. One such image is described as “…inspired by the parable of the Lost Sheep. Christ is thus represented as a humble shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders as he watches over his little flock that is sometimes made up of only two sheep placed at his sides” (Vatican Website, Christian Catacombs).
What that ancient fresco depicts is as true today as it was two thousand years ago. The Lord Jesus continues to seek and carry on His shoulders the lost and weakened sheep among us, just as He carried the cross of our sins on the way to Calvary. He is forever present to the flock through His Church and Sacraments - guiding, feeding protecting, empowering it with His Spirit of Love. He loves and cares for us as the Eternal Father loves and cares His children. St. John exultantly proclaimed our God-given identity as His adopted children in the first reading: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1).
Through His Word, the Sacraments and the Church, the Lord continually speaks to his children of His love, mercy and salvation. He knows each one of us and our heart’s deepest needs and longings. The Lord is the only one who can truly and fully satisfy the truth and happiness we are searching for. As St. Peter proclaimed, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Our parish’s mission - Opening hearts to the Fire of God’s Love – is a sharing in the mission of the Good Shepherd to bring us to the deep and abiding communion that is God’s will for His children: “I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (John 10:14-15). Let us open our hearts to the Holy Spirit that He may show us the way to knowing and growing in the Lord, beginning with the Eucharist.