Reflection for the Fourth Sunday after Easter…April 25, 2021

By Sr Marie Alice Ostry ND

Jn 10:11-18. Jesus said:

“I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

God continues to constantly remind us by saying “I love you” in the Scriptures and we have heard it so often especially during this Easter Season.  We are also challenged to REMEMBER that The Christ is recorded to have said over and over “Peace be with you” when he appeared to the apostles after the resurrection and he does so still today.  These two phrases are the radical (root) Christian basis of life.  How do we “love” all of Creation – people, plants, animals, minerals, nature – and spread “peace” which The Christ gives to us each day?

Again today in the Gospel Jesus gives us the image of  The Good Shepherd which “tends” all sheep – Asian, African, American (North, Central, and South), European, Australian, and Middle Eastern – and calls us to be His disciples to all of those God loves.  How am I inviting all into the sheepfold of God’s community?  Something as small as a smile, a nod of the head can be a way of reverencing another person, another creature.  Who is it that I “by-pass” without acknowledging their presence as one of God’s “sheep”, another creation?  This week I am challenged to “hear” the Good Shepherd’s call and reverence all loved by God.