The Good Shepherd

4^thSunday of Easter year C 2019:

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.  Know of our prayers for you today.  We will do a prayer of blessing at the end of the mass today.

Jesus says in the gospel today: my sheep hear my voice. Christ is the Good Shepherd.  He lays down his life for the sheep.  We are his sheep.  He is there to defend us and protect us.  Did you know that the oldest artistic depiction of Christ that we have been able to find was the image of Christ as a shepherd?  One of the oldest pictures we can find of Jesus was in a cemetery.  The image was not of Jesus being Crucified or being born.  It was Jesus the good shepherd, carrying one of the sheep on his back.  

This image of Christ the Good Shepherd has been an inspirational message for thousands of years now.  I hope each of us has some time to reflect on this image and to turn to Christ as our Good Shepherd.  The shepherd leads the sheep to green pastures.  We can ask Jesus to lead us to peace and happiness in our lives, especially when we are facing tough times.  The shepherd defends the flock from predators.  When we are facing trials and tribulations, we can invite the shepherd to defend us.  Jesus is caring, kind, and tender: my sheep hear my voice.  The Lord is speaking to us.

I want to focus in on the voice of the shepherd for a moment. How do we hear it?  I can stand up here and tell everyone: we need to listen to Christ’s voice.  But, how? 

First, our life of personal prayer.  We hear the voice of the Lord in our prayer.  Consistent, daily prayer is the absolute foundation of the spiritual life.  If we aren’t praying, we simply won’t make it in this life.  It’s too hard out there.  We have too many problems, too much anxiety, depression, grief, mourning, you name it.  I’m sure each and every one of us could describe some difficulty that weighs us down sometimes.  Well, we need that shepherd.  We need to bring him our problems and our pain.  We also need to thank and praise him for all the blessings.  We need to pray every day.  Not every other day.  Not once a week.  Every day. So, how do you do on that?  I remember a line from Archbishop Sheen that always stuck with me.  He said, everyone in the world needs 30 minutes of prayer every single day… unless you are busy.  If you are busy, then you need an hour of prayer.  How true!  I can tell you that in my own life, the more I’m praying the more smoothly things go. My life is better, I get more done. The more time I spend with God the better I use the rest of the time that I have.  My sheep hear my voice.  So, we need to listen in our daily prayer.

But, I would also like to recommend getting more knowledgeable about the faith as well.  There is so much beauty to our Catholic faith that many people simply miss out on.  We hear the voice of Christ in the Bible and in the teachings of the Church.  I hope everyone out there has a Catechism of the Catholic Church.  This amazing book summarizes just about everything we believe as Catholics.  It’s a tremendous resource.  We hear Christ’s voice when we read it and study it.  Same goes for the Bible.  This book literally has the voice of Christ within it.  Spending time meditating on God’s word will help us to follow Christ. To hear his voice.

Jesus is the good shepherd.  He wants to lead us to eternal life.  But, it only happens if we listen to his voice.  So, let’s make that commitment to daily prayer, to studying the Bible, and Church teaching.  These are wonderful ways for us to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd.