The Good Shepherd

Reflection for Monday of the 4^th Week of Easter

 (Acts 11:1-18; Jn 10:11-18)

Our religious and cultural formations provide the basis from which we view life. Thus the Jewish converts, born of circumcision, criticized Peter for interacting with the uncircumcised. Even Peter struggled with his Jewish identity before embracing the universal salvation in Christ Jesus. This is how our family upbringing and education sometimes dwarf our vision of life instead of launching us into God’s vision of life. Peter explained how he had a vision in Joppa in which the voice said to him, “What God has cleansed you must not call unclean.” That was how he went to the house of Cornelius in the gentile city of Caesarea. After he narrated how the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were baptized, the Church glorified God saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life.”

We do not often have all the visions of life. Even our most pious acts, in the long run, can be misguided! We cannot go far unless guided by grace. If not for divine intervention, Peter would have remained in the prison of his Jewish ideas. We need to be guided. In Gospel of today Jesus declares, “I am the good shepherd.” This imagery is so powerful and consoling. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, i.e. the life of his sheep is so dear to Him. He protects them from wolves. The sense of security the good shepherd gives cannot be compared.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.” There is a horizon of life we cannot enter unless Jesus Christ leads the way. Most of childhood upbringing, cultural biases, ideas of life, relationship, etc are in constant need of redemption. They will not change for the better simply because we go to Church. We must consciously allow Jesus to lead us. How? By making act of total self-surrender to His will. We read and meditate on His words in the Bible, internalize them, such that they become bundles of energy within—energy of love—from which we are moved to act. This is one way, like Peter, we can act irrespective of ourselves. Regular Communion and visit to the Blessed Sacrament have proved to be effective in smoothening our wandering emotions and mind, directing them to a realm of serenity and love that nature cannot take them to. May God give us the courage to allow Jesus to Shepherd us.

Fr Jude Chinwe Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

Monday May 4^th, 2020.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that you are really here in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to feed on your flesh. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive you. Never let me drift away from you. Amen.

----St Alphonsus Liguori