4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly”

John 10, 1-10

Rev. Alexader Diaz

We are celebrating the fourth Sunday of Easter; this Sunday we call it Shepherd Sunday. Today is designated as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in the Catholic Church, it is specially set aside to pray that more men and women will hear and embrace the call to the priesthood and religious life; for the simple fact that the priest is the shepherd who feeds the spiritual flock entrusted to him.

In the Old and New Testament of the Sacred Scripture, we are compared to a sheep, in many cases we do not understand because we are not accustomed to seeing in it in our environment, in the Israelite culture was very common and many lived to be shepherds and devoted who lives to the care of these peaceful animals.

The image of the shepherd, so familiar to the people of God, is used by the Master to remind his people that He, who has conquered death, is the true guide of the Church. This suggestive image was used extensively in the Church of the early centuries, both in the preaching of the Fathers and as in the catechesis which was expressed through paintings.

Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who knows His flock and gives his life for them; “that God has made both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:14a, 36), and guides the "misguided" and is “guardian of our souls” (1 Pt. 2: 25).

He is the best of the shepherds, for He gives life- and in fact gave it - for his sheep. And his sheep know him and hear his voice. He also tells us that He knows each of his sheep by name and the sheep recognize his voice (cf. Jn. 10, 1-10).

We are the Lord's sheep. It means we are also fragile, as these helpless animals, although many times we believe to be very strong and very capable. We are, therefore, dependent on the Lord and, like sheep, we are not self-sufficient.

However, when we are deceived, we can spend much of our time and even our entire life, trying to be independent of God, trying to stand on our own.

How often does this happen to us? And it also happens that we get tangled in our spiritual life. And who can untangle us? Who can get us out of the bush or fence where we are trapped? Well, we already know it: we need our Shepherd. He looks for us, rescues us, heals us, and places us on his shoulder, like a lost sheep, to bring us back the fold. Out of 100 sheep, he leaves 99 safe in the fold and goes to look for the lost one.

How many times has the Lord done this with us, with each one of us every time we escape from the fold or take the wrong path. (Luke 15, 4).

We cannot, either, walk alone, "like lost sheep", as St. Peter says in the Second Reading (1 Pt. 2, 20-25); we risk being devoured by wolves who are always on the lookout.

Therefore, we have to recognize we are dependent of the Lord as are the sheep of his shepherd. So, like them, we can be totally obedient to the Voice and the Will of our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.

There is a figure totally opposite to that of the emblematic figure of the Good Shepherd; the bad shepherd, who Jesus called a thief and robber. We must not obey them.

They are not entering through the door of the sheepfold, but jumping from one side of the fence and try to deceive us, pretending to be shepherds just to take away the sheep.

These false shepherds are all those false teachers who confuse us, since they speak to us trying to imitate our Shepherd, with false teachings that seem real to get us out of the fold, to get us out of the Church, to make us lose the faith our Shepherd teaches.

They are the things that we see on TV, Internet, movies and books, which seem true but are errors. They are all modern errors and heresies contained -for example, that mass of lies that is the New Age.

The preachers of these errors is to whom Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel; who do not come through the door of the sheepfold, but instead jump on the other side: "A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;… My sheep recognize my voice... they do not recognize the voice of strangers". Beware of strange voices! Beware of not confusing them with the Voice of the Good Shepherd! They seem alike ... but are not.