4thSunday of Easter (Cycle B, Year I), Good Shepherd Sunday
Community Word:  Followers of the Resurrected Christ seek what is above.

Theme:  We seek what is above when we lay down our lives for others.

Promise: “They will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd”.(Jn 10:16)

Reflection:

On the fourth Sunday of the Easter Season, also known as the Good Shepherd Sunday, Jesus declares: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father. Because of this, I give my life for my sheep,”(Jn10:14-15).To this day, Jesus remains the one true and divine Shepherd of mankind.

And He wants to share this mission with His chosen disciples. In the shepherds He sends us He gives us visible and continuing signs of His love and care for His people.

In the readings, Jesus exemplifies the true shepherd, showing us how a good shepherd should take care of his flock. The true (and good) shepherd knows his flock, loves and protects, guides and leads them to good pasture and fresh waters. The good shepherd does not mislead, or mistreat his flock.When we joined BLD, we made our choice to follow the Good Shepherd. Given the freedom to make our personal choice, our presence here proves that we opted to follow the Good Shepherd through this community and its under-shepherds. But how well are we doing in responding to our Lord’s call?

To be true to our calling, we should seriously consider this week’s theme:“We seek what is above when we lay down our lives for others.” Like Jesus we need to die to ourselves, to our selfish desires and self-indulgence, and devote more time and attention to helping meet the needs of people under our care.  To lead, guide, and protect our loved ones and those entrusted to our care is not a matter of personal choice or option, but a commitment and responsibility. Though we ourselves may be struggling, Jesus expects us to be like Him in shepherding the flock entrusted to our care, be it only our immediate family members, or members of our community. If we want to reap God’s promises to us, we have to follow His ways; there is no other way.

When we face our Good Shepherd and Divine Judge at the end of time, our eternal happiness will depend largely on how much we gave of ourselves, and how we have loved and served our brothers during our lifetime. Our God will judge us on our sincerity, and by the love and service we have given to his flock and by the kind of life we lived.

We are saved by grace through Christ’s great sacrifice on the cross. But we can lose this grace by our hardness of heart in dealing with the people around us, especially the lost, the least and the last. We will be held to account for our failure to respond to His call to righteousness and holiness.

And just as there are false prophets, there must also exist false shepherds who may simply be going through the motions, appearing to serve God, but are really ravenous wolves interested only in lording over their lambs. These false shepherds are unable to forego personal comfort and convenience. They are the ones of whom the Lord says: “I myself will tend my sheep …  I myself will give them rest … I will shepherd them in judgment.”(Ez34;11-16)

Properly shepherded, lambs can know the mercy and compassion of Jesus,and be led to the pasture of eternal life, where there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more hunger, and no more thirst. For as the Lord promised:“… they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd,”(Jn10:16).

Prayer
Lord forgive us, when we don’t measure up to the ideal of a good shepherd, like You.  We know Lord that you suffered and died, as the Paschal sacrifice for us, your lambs. But for us, we fall short of the small sacrifices required of us when we leave the comforts of home and undertake mission to help those whom we don’t even know. Grant us Lord, the spirit of self-sacrifice and compassion that we may be more and more like you, the Good Shepherd.

Lord, there are no words to thank You properly for saving us from eternal damnation. Though You are God, You befriended us. You treated us as children of Your Father, brothers and friends rather than slaves. You are our One True Shepherd who, in our daily life, untiringly leads and patiently feeds us. You are the Guardian of our way, the Shepherd of our soul. Thank you for never giving up on us, for leading us and protecting us from harm. Above all for showing us the way when were lost, and leading us back to the fold when we went astray. Amen.

Reflection Questions:
1. How can I show my appreciation to Jesus for all He has done in my life?
2. Is Jesus the Lord of every aspect of my life?

This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:

April 26, 2015 (Sun)    Acts 4:8-12/Ps 118:8-9,21-23,26,28-29/Jn 3:1-2/Jn 10:11-18
April 27, 2015 (Mon)    Acts 11:1-18/Ps 42:2-3;3,4/Jn 10:1-10
April 28, 2015 (Tue)    Acts 11:19-26/Ps 87:1-3,4-5,6-7/Jn 10:22-30
April 29, 2015 (Wed)    Acts 12:24-13:5/Ps 67:2-3,5,6,8/Jn 12:44-50
April 30, 2015 (Thur)    Acts13:13-25/Ps 89:2-3,21-22,25,27/Jn 13:16-20
May 1, 2015 (Fri)    Acts 13:26-33/Ps 2:6-7,8-9,10-11/Jn 14:1-6
May2, 2015 (Sat)    Acts 13:44-52/Ps 98:1,2-3,3-4/Jn 14:7-14

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