4th Sunday of Easter (Cycle A, Year II)

Community Word:   Love for God’s word emboldens our hearts for the New Evangelization.

Theme:  Our hearts are emboldened for the New Evangelization when we listen to our Shepherd’s voice and follow Him.

Promise: “Whoever enters through me will be saved.” (Jn 10:9)

Reflection:    The Door to Superabundance

The Old Testament speaks of God as the shepherd of his people, Israel.  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”(Ps 23:1). “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock” (Ps 80:1).  “We are his people and the sheep of his pasture” (Ps 100:3).  It likewise prophesies the coming of a shepherd who will take care of God’s people: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms” (Is 40:11).

Similarly, the New Testament speaks of a Good Shepherd (Mt 18:1 and; Lk 15:4), “who will seek out and save the lost sheep”, while 1Pt 2:25 tells us, “He is the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls”.

Despite references to the coming shepherd of the flock in the Old Testament, the Jews failed to connect Jesus with the parable of the Good Shepherd, which is probably the reason He  had to be very specific: “I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

But even among us today, many may have difficulty grasping the true meaning of what this Gospel conveys if we are merely to read it literally.  To fully appreciate the message, we have to understand the symbiotic relationship between a shepherd of Jesus’ time, and flock in his care. Even today, shepherding requires a high degree of knowledge and skill, such that a shepherd should be able to communicate with the sheep in a most unique way. When Jesus speaks of himself as the door, he is referring to what was then known as the “sheepfold” or the place where the herd or herds of sheep are brought in for the night to secure them from wolves and wild beasts.

At the time of Jesus there were two types of “sheep-folds.” One is the so-called communal sheep-fold where all the herds are brought to shelter in one place for the night. These sheep-folds have only one door to which only the guardian holds the key.  The other kind of sheep-fold is the kind found in the hills where the sheep are pastured.  It is nothing more than an open space that is enclosed by a high wall of rocks and boulders.  There is normally only one opening in this hillside sheep-fold, and to secure it, the shepherd sleeps across this opening, so that no sheep can get out unless it trod over the shepherd’s body. In others words, the shepherd literally acts as the door through which the sheep may pass.  This is the sheepfold Jesus was referring to in this parable, and it is the same sheepfold he wants us to identify Him with.  Just as sheep are familiar with the voice of the shepherd and obeys him, we too need to recognize our Shepherd’s voice in Jesus to understand where and how he wants us to go.

Scriptures describe God as the shepherd who brings security and peace to his people, and we too should look to Jesus as the door who guards our going out and our coming in to the Kingdom of God (Ps 120:8).  And just as with the leaders of Israel were referred to as shepherds: “they shall lead them out and bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd” (Nm 27:17), we are called to be God’s under-shepherds to watch over his flock and protect them from danger, “Jesus stands watch over his people as the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls” (1Pt 2:25).

St. Augustine once wrote: “He has accomplished what he taught us.  He has shown us what He commanded us to do.  He laid down his own life for his sheep, that within our mystery he might change his body and blood into food, and nourish the sheep he had redeemed with the food of his own flesh.  He has shown us the way we must follow, despite fear of death. He has laid down the pattern to which we must conform ourselves.  The first duty laid on us is to use our worldly goods in mercy for the needs of his sheep, and then, if necessary, give even our lives for them.  He that will not give of his substance for his sheep, how shall he lay down his life for them?”

This was what Jesus meant when he said “I am the door” (v.9) because through him we now have access to God the Father, and he assures us:  “if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”  What probably was the most meaningful and significant statement in this Gospel is His declaration: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  To enter the door that is Jesus, assures us of a new vitality, a new passion to live life and a new purpose, because by walking with Him and obeying His Word, we will find not only an abundant life, but the security, peace and joy that is in Christ Jesus, which translates into a superabundant life rooted in love.

Reflection Questions:
1.    As renewed Christians, what actions do you take to honor the call of Jesus in following Him to the Father?
2.    What are your experiences and how do you feel when you have placed your complete trust in Jesus to guide your life?

This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
May 11, 2014 (Sun)    Acts 2:14,36-41/Ps 23:1-3,3—4,5,6/1Pt 2:20-24/Jn 10:1-10
May 12, 2014 (Mon)   Acts 11:1-18/Ps 42:2-3,43:3-4/Jn 10:1-10
May 13, 2014 (Tues)  Acts 11:19-23/Ps 87:1-3,4-5,6-7/Jn 10:23-30
May 14, 2014 (Wed)  Acts 1:15-17,20-26/Ps 113:1-2,3-4,5-6,7-8/Jn 15:9-17
May 15, 2014 (Thur)  Acts 13:13-25/Ps 89:2-3,21-22,25,27/Jn 13:16-20
May 16, 2014 (Fri)     Acts13:26-33/Ps 2:6-7,8-9,10-11/Jn 14:1-6
May 17, 2014 (Sat)   Acts13:26-33/Ps 98:1,2-3,3-4/Jn 14:7-14

“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.  Read your Bible daily!”

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