FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
11 MAY 2025
The Book of
Revelation presents for us a vision of God’s ultimate triumph. A huge multitude from every nation, race,
people, and tongue worships God in his temple.
There are so many people that no one can count them. They have survived the time of great distress
and hold palm branches in their hands, signifying their ultimate victory. Their white robes indicate their interior
disposition. They stand before the one
who has saved them: not a powerful lion
or a mighty bear, but a humble lamb that has been slain. Their robes have been washed in the blood of
the lamb, who will shelter them forever.
They will not thirst or hunger anymore.
Nor will the sun or any heat strike them. The lamb will shepherd them and lead them to
springs of life-giving water. God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Jesus promises this ultimate
victory in the Gospel. He speaks in the
temple on the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, known today as
Hanukkah. He does not speak like the
priests who had been responsible for the desecration of the temple some 200 prior. They had been too busy taking care of
themselves instead of caring for their flock like good shepherds. Instead, he speaks from the perspective of
the Maccabean martyrs who died to drive out the pagan rulers from Jerusalem,
leading to the purification and rededication of the temple. Because of the sacrifices of the Maccabees,
the people are gathered together as one flock.
Jesus
identifies himself as the good shepherd who is one with the Father. He knows each of us by name and has invited
us to follow him. He promises the
eternal life, the vision given in the Book of Revelation. The Good Shepherd will become the lamb slain
on the cross, defeating the power of death and sin by entering into it and being
raised from the dead. As we continue to
reflect on the Lord’s resurrection during these fifty days of Easter, we double
down on our intention to imitate the sacrificial love of the Good Shepherd in
our lives.
Because
Good Shepherd Sunday falls on Mother’s Day this year, we give thanks for our
mothers and for those who have been like mothers to us. Mothers, at the heart of your vocation is the
call to imitate the Good Shepherd and lay down your lives for the sheep
entrusted to your care. Of course, you
know them by name and make daily sacrifices for their welfare. On behalf of all of us, thank you. May the Good Shepherd strengthen you in your
vocation.
Good
Shepherd Sunday also falls on this time of transition for our Church. We express our gratitude for the many ways
that Pope Francis laid down his life during the last twelve years for us, the
sheep of his flock. He always insisted
that we priests, who see ourselves as shepherds, must walk with our sheep and
know the smell of our sheep in this messy and dangerous world.
We also
give thanks to God for the gift of our new shepherd, Pope Leo XIV. May the Lord strengthen him in his new
ministry and guide him to serve the Church as Bishop of Rome. We pray for him, as we do when we pray every
Eucharistic Prayer. The name he has
chosen as Pope provides guidance for us.
Pope Saint Leo the Great was the Bishop of Rome in the fifth
century. He used his diplomatic skills
to serve the Church and to save the city of Rome from the attack of Attila the
Hun. Pope Leo XIII served as the Bishop
of Rome at the end of the nineteenth century.
His Encyclical Rerum et Novarum
addressed the plights of ordinary working people who suffered in the Industrial
Revolution as wealthy titans ignored their rights. He encouraged workers to form labor unions as
a means of receiving just compensation.
His encyclical became the foundation for the Popes of the twentieth
century as they developed Catholic Social Teaching. May the Holy Spirit guide Pope Leo XIV as leads
the Church in addressing the challenges of today’s technological revolution.
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