4th Sunday of Easter (Cycle B, YearII)

Community Word: The resurrection of Jesus Christ strengthens our faith.

Theme: Our faith is strengthened when we serve others in self-giving sacrifice.

Promise: “… we are God’s children now; what shall be revealed is … we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1Jn 3:2)

Reflection:
The 4thSunday of Easter is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. In the gospel of John, 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 and until the end of times, Jesus remains the one true and divine Shepherd of mankind. And He wants to share this mission with His chosen disciples. Through 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 devoted shepherd should take care of his flock. A true and good shepherd knows his flock, loves and protects, guides and leads them to good pasture and fresh waters. He does not mislead or mistreat his flock. When we joined our BLD Community, we made a decision 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 be guided by this week’s theme: Our faith is strengthened when we serve others in self-giving sacrifice.Like Jesus we need to die to ourselves, to our self-centeredness 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 our immediate family members, members of our community or even strangers. 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 gave to his flock and by the kind of life we lived.We are saved bygrace through Christ’s great sacrifice on the cross. But we can lose this grace by our hardness of heart in the way we deal with the people around us, especially the last, the least and the lost. We will be held to account for our failure to respond to His call to holiness, justice and mercy.

And just as there are false prophets, there may also exist false shepherds who would 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” may know and experience 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. It is to them and for all faithful under-shepherds that the Lord has promised: “… we are God’s children now; what shall be revealed is … we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”(1Jn 3:2)

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.Thank you for never giving up on us, for leading us and protecting us from harm. Above all for showing us the way when we were lost, and leading us back to the fold when we went astray. Amen.

Reflection Questions:
1. Is Jesus the Lord of every aspect of my life? What areas in my life that I’m struggling with, but I do not allow the Lord to guide me through?

2.How can I show my appreciation to Jesus for all He has done in my life?

This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
April22, 2018 (Sun)- Acts 4:8-12/Ps 118:1,8,9,21-23,26,28,29/1Jn 3:1,/Jn 10:11-18
April 23, 2018 (Mon) -Acts 11:1-18/Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3-4/Jn 10:1-10
April 24, 2018 (Tue) – Acts 11:19-26/Ps 87:1-7/Jn 10:22-30
April 25, 2018 (Wed) -1 Pt 5:5-14/Ps 89:2, 3, 6, 7, 16, 17/Mk 16:15-20
April 26, 2018 (Thu) -Acts 13:13-25/Ps 89:2, 3, 2, 22, 25, 27/Jn 13:16-20
April 27, 2018 (Fri) -Acts 13:26-33/Ps 2:6-11/Jn 14:1-6
April 28, 2018 (Sat) – Acts 13:44-52/Ps 98:2-4/Jn 14:7-14

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