4Th Sunday of Easter
This weekend we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday and the annual Day of Prayer for Vocations. We remember our call to follow Christ and the beauty of vocations to the ordained ministry and the consecrated life. As members of His flock, we are entrusted with fostering and supporting new vocations. Let us pray to the Lord of the harvest to send holy and generous laborers into His vineyard shepherds after the heart of the Risen Christ, who gave His life for the sheep. In the 1st reading continuing his address to the crowd near the Upper Room, Peter boldly proclaims that Jesus is both Lord and Messiah, and that salvation comes only through conversion and baptism. in the 2nd Reading Peter describes Jesus’ heroic love as the Good Shepherd, who endured great suffering and even gave His life so that His flock could come to eternal salvation and peace.
In this weekend’s Gospel we hear about Jesus the “Good Shepherd” who tends his sheep and the “Gate” through which they enter eternal life. The idea of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a lovely thought because it is a well-known fact that the shepherd never leaves his sheep outside the sheepfold. If any are outside the sheepfold the shepherd will seek the lost sheep until they are found. The wandering figure of the shepherd, anxiously tending his sheep to the point where he is willing to surrender his life for them, is the image Jesus uses about himself in this Gospel Reading. The good shepherd is not an image of religious authority that is involved with its own importance. The authority of the shepherd costs the shepherd, not the sheep. The image of the shepherd cannot be separated from how the shepherd cares for his own sheep. When we see how Jesus behaves as a leader, we see his tenderness and courage. The parable of the Good Shepherd has many consoling truths and promises for people of every century, including ourselves in 2026. All of us know people who have wandered away from the Church, who have lost their sense of belonging, who feel they have no faith community to belong to. How will they know they are welcome back if no one tells them? How will they be helped back if no one offers to make the journey with them?
The good shepherd asks us to make the journey with them as people who have listened to his voice calling us to follow him. Jesus the Good Shepherd is for all of us, and we should listen to his voice amidst the trials of our daily lives. Many of the voices we listen to in so many places in the world claim to speak for the good of everyone, but they lead us astray and disappoint us but our Faith and Hope in Jesus does not disappoint. With Jesus’ life becomes richer and that with him it is easier to find meaning in everything. The Gospel of the Good shepherd is a hope filled call for us to follow Jesus the loving shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep and rejoices when they are found.
Fullerton T 