The Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

John 10:14-15a

First published as “Do You Know The Lord” on April 21, 2024.

On the Fourth Sunday of Easter the Church celebrates “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because we hear the Gospel in which the Lord says He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. There exists between the shepherd and the sheep a unique bond and relationship. The sheep relies entirely on the shepherd. They know the shepherd will be there to protect them. The shepherd loves his sheep. As Christians, we are the sheep of the flock of the Good Shepherd. Do we know Him?

Jesus says that He knows His [sheep] and they know Him, but do we really know Him? Do we really know the voice of the Good Shepherd? Perhaps the more important question is do we see ourselves as the sheep of the Good Shepherd? Only when we see ourselves as sheep will we acknowledge the need for a shepherd. As Christians we are called to follow the Lord, to walk in His footsteps, and to live out our lives so that others might come to encounter Him in us. We must bear the face of Christ in our lives. We must remember that who we are and who we are called to be is rooted in Jesus, the Christ, the Good Shepherd. How well do our lives reflect Jesus Christ?

In order to follow the Good Shepherd we must learn to hear His voice. There are many voices that call out to us in our daily lives — the voice of God, our own voice, the voices of those whom we love, the voices that lead us to sin. In today’s world the voices that tell us to seek what gives us pleasure and to do what we please is quite loud, drowning out not just the voice of reason in our hearts, but also the Voice of the Good Shepherd that seeks to bring us peace. When we attune our hearts to the frequency of this world and its fleeting pleasures, we forget who we are, that we are the sheep of the One who cries out to us.

The voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the world do not exist on the same wavelength. We must choose to turn the dial to the frequency that speaks truth and love and peace. Only then will we be able to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. When we finally hear His voice, we will be able to know Him more and more intimately. When we hear His Voice, we will be led to His Word; when we come to read His Word, we will come to know Him, and when we know Him, He will lead us to His heart, which beats for love of us. The Good Shepherd calls out to you. He knows you. Do you know Him?

Seeing with Burning Hearts

“And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.”

Luke 24:30-31

While on the road to Emmaus, the two disciples were walking, debating all that had been taking place about Jesus.  A man approached them and they explained to him all that had took place.  The man, who is really Jesus, was unrecognizable to the disciples.  This was so maybe because they did not see with the eyes of faith.  They were perhaps discussing whether the things that had happened could possibly be true and if so, what it all meant.  Jesus said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!  How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke." Their hearts were not moved to believe — yet.   After saying this, Jesus began to explain all that the prophets had prophesied about Him.  In the midst of our unbelief and slowness of heart, Jesus accompanies us and teaches us.

As they approached Emmaus, they asked Jesus to stay with them.  Jesus agreed and followed them to their home.  "Stay with us."  The disciples asked, and Jesus willingly complied.  The disciples, after walking with Jesus and listening to Him were intrigued and wanted to listen more to this man (they did not know he was Jesus yet).  When they had arrived home, they had dinner, and it was then that the disciples recognized Jesus.  It was the breaking of the bread — the re-presentation of the events of the Last Supper that opened the eyes of the disciples and removed the obstacles that slowed their hearts.  It is the Eucharist that enables us to see Christ. It is His Body and Blood that moves our hearts from unbelief to belief.  It is the great sacrificial love behind the breaking of the bread that gives us the hope of eternal life.  The road to Emmaus is the road to faith.  

Just as with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, there will be times when we question, debate, and discuss on our road to faith, and fortunately Jesus will be present there to lead, guide, and teach.  This road and journey is one of encounter — encountering one another, encountering ourselves, and encountering God.  In encountering one another we share all that we have learned and have come to believe.  In encountering ourselves we come to learn our own strengths and weaknesses, as well as confront the limitations and stumbling blocks that hold us back.  In encountering God, we bring everything to Him, asking Him to help us make meaning of all that we have experienced - the joys and the sorrows, the confusions and the doubts, the affirmations and the revelations, the consolations and the desolations, the acceptances and the rejections, the guilt and the remorse, the desires and the shames, the gains and the losses, and the love and the sacrifices — and how to use them in the mission He has for us.  When we are able to encounter the Father is such a way, like the disciples, our hearts will feel as if they were burning within us. 

This burning is the recognition of the presence of God, the awareness of the loving gaze with which He looks at us.  Our hearts burn within us because it recognizes the heart of Jesus, which is pierced and beats for love of us.  Our hearts burn within us because we have come to experience the heart of Our Lady, whose heart is one with Her Son's, and whose heart was pierced by a sword "so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk. 2:35).  Our hearts finally burn within us because we come to know, believe, and accept that the heart which beats within us is not our own, but rather belongs to Christ, whose heart beats and bleeds only for His people.

"Stay with me, Lord.  Make my heart like Yours, pierced and bleeding, so that it can burn strongly and continually with pure love for You and Your people."

Merciful Peace

“Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’”

John 20:26-27

Do you believe? On the Second Sunday of Easter, the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday, highlighting and reminding us of the boundless and vast mercy with which the Lord embraces us. When we hear of “divine mercy” the image of the red and white/blue rays coming forth from the side of Jesus. On the cross, when the centurion pierced Our Lord we are told that blood and water gushed forth, giving birth to the Church — the waters of baptism and the blood that nourishes us in the Eucharist. That is how much God loves us. “He loved his own to the very end” (John 13:1). Today we meditate on this love and give thanks for such a gift.

Our world is in turmoil. War and violence seems to be the new normal, but that can’t be, brothers and sisters. Hatred and violence cannot be the new normal, and Our Lord reminds us of that today. His love is what sustains us, and it is His mercy that strengthens us. After His Resurrection, Our Lord went to the Apostles in the Upper Room. The first words that Jesus speaks to them is “Peace be with you.” Not why did you leave me, abandon me, betray me, deny me, but — peace be with you. One of the fruit of one’s relationship with God is peace. A peace that surpasses all human words and understanding, a peace that speaks to the heart and that ripples into our daily lives. The Lord says to you today, “Peace be with you.”

But we are human and the worries of this world cause us to lose sight of this peace, maybe sometimes even doubt it. We are told that the Lord stood in the midst of the Apostles even though the doors were locked. There is no barrier that Our Lord cannot and will not overcome to reach us if we call for Him. Our Lord descended into hell to free the souls of the just and brought them into heaven. There is NO length or depth that Our Lord will not go to reach us and to bring us His peace and mercy. So, what are the things that trouble us today? The Lord says to us, “I know you, and I know your heart is troubled, but here I am. Peace be with you.” He breathes on us and reminds us that He sustains us and walks with us. Let us not be unbelieving but believe. He comes to us and He stays with us in His peace and His mercy.

May we pray today, brothers and sisters, that we might not keep the doors to our hearts locked and that we might allow the love and peace and mercy the Lord died to give to us to pour out upon us and envelop us. May His merciful peace shower down upon our world today and move the hearts of those charged with the governance of peoples that they might seek first and always the common good, the peace that prevails.

Jesus, we believe that Your are the Lord, the Prince of Peace. Grant us the grace to allow Your love and mercy to move our hearts to peace, so that all might come to know You.

Jesus, I trust in You!