St. John’s Family Page
Fourth Sunday of Easter, May 3, 2020
Today, we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter, also called Good Shepherd Sunday. We reflect on the title of Jesus as The Good Shepherd. How is Jesus, our Good Shepherd? First, Jesus knows us through and through and calls us by name…as the shepherd calls his sheep by name…because they recognize his voice. Jesus invites us into a personal relationship with Him, starting from the time of our Baptism. Sheep learn to recognize the voice of their master. So we must learn to recognize the voice of our Master, Jesus Christ. Sometimes, His voice may be loud as thunder, but perhaps more often it is gentle and quiet and heard in the silence of our hearts. Do we hear the voice of Jesus when we sit in silence during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament? When we experience the magnificence of creation, God is speaking to us. When we take our problems and struggles to Jesus in prayer and solutions come to mind, He is speaking to us. When we read the Sacred Scriptures, and it seems that the words are meant for us, the Holy Spirit is speaking to us.
Second, there is no salvation without Jesus Christ. I am the gate for the sheep…Whoever enters through me will be saved. We read in today’s second reading from the First Letter of St. Peter: He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff to give me courage. Living through the COVID19 pandemic is a dark valley for us. Psalm 23 reminds us of God’s promise to be always with us. He will never abandon us. We need not be afraid, anxious or worry. We endure our sufferings during the pandemic, uniting them with the sufferings of Jesus Christ – offering them for the conversion of souls, the souls in Purgatory and for the Will of God to reign on earth, as in heaven. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Jesus Christ will lead us to the restful waters of eternal life.
May the risen Christ bless us in His mercy!
Deacon Mike