FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
30 APRIL 2023
In our culture,
we tend to hold up individuals as models of good leadership. Abraham Lincoln was a great president who
gave himself to the cause of uniting a divided nation during the Civil
War. Pope Pius X reluctantly accepted
the call to be Bishop of Rome. He liked
to contrast the pomp and ceremony of Rome with his humble beginnings in
northern Italy. Zelie and Louis Martin
endured many hardships to provide a safe home for their daughters in
France. These people provide models to
imitate.
However, the
model for good leadership in the Bible came from the bottom of society. Shepherds were looked down upon and shunned
by local people, because they wandered around and brought suspicion upon
themselves, much like carnival workers today. However, shepherds taught people in authority
how to act. Unlike royalty who saw their
subjects as pawns to be used, shepherds knew each sheep of the flock by
name. Shepherds did not drive their
sheep like cowboys drove cattle in the wild west. They walked ahead of the sheep. They followed them to green pastures and
pools of water. At night, shepherds led
their flocks into sheepfolds carved out of the hillside. Without gates in the sheepfold, shepherds took
turns lying across the entrance as a gate.
Some shepherds gave their lives when thieves or wild animals tried to
enter. At dawn, the shepherds called
their own sheep, who followed them, because they knew their voice.
This is the
image which our Scripture readings present to us today. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He has just spoken to us today in the Word of
God. He knows each of us by name and
calls us to himself. We see this image
in our Triumphal Arch. The Good Shepherd
is seated in the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Each of us can identify ourselves with one of those sheep. Our Good Shepherd has laid down his life for
us on the cross, which we see above the Altar.
He has been raised from the dead and has become the Lamb of God, who feeds
us with his Body and Blood. We see this
Victorious Lamb in the mosaic on the front of the Altar.
Boys and
girls, your parents brought you to the Good Shepherd when they brought you to the
waters of Baptism. You became one with
the risen Christ and were clothed with a white garment. In just a couple of minutes (depending on how
long I go on and on), you will walk to the Baptismal Font and renew the Baptismal
Promises made for you by your parents and godparents. Then, you will be fed with his Body and Blood
for the first time.
The Good
Shepherd speaks to those of us who are leaders today. When the crowds hear Peter proclaim the
Paschal Mystery in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, they want
to know how to respond. He tells them to
repent and be baptized. We adults have
been baptized, and the Lord calls us to repent and live our baptismal
promises. The Lord calls me, as shepherd
of this flock, to reflect on my role. He
challenges me to put the needs of this flock ahead of my own comfort and
ego. He calls me to repent of those
times when I put my own needs fist. He
also challenges you parents, who are the shepherds of your children, to
repentance. You parents lay down your
lives constantly for the sake of your children.
As they receive their First Holy Communion, he challenges you to embrace
your baptismal promises and grow into a deeper relationship with him in the
Eucharist. For some of you, that means
developing a greater encounter with the Lord in your Sunday participation at
Mass. For others, that means making a
commitment to be more regular participants at this Feast of the Lamb. We need to listen to the voice of the Good
Shepherd speaking to us every Sunday, drawing us closer to himself and feeding
us with his Body and Blood to form us as good shepherds. The Good Shepherd has been raised from the
dead and invites us to share in his dying, so that we can share in his rising.
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