FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – A: 15th May, 2011 Acts 2:14.36-41; Ps. 22; 1 Pet. 2:20-25; John 10:1-10

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – A: 15th May, 2011

Acts 2:14.36-41; Ps. 22; 1 Pet. 2:20-25; John 10:1-10

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

Perhaps nowhere in the world do we see so many sheep as in Wales! You find them in the plains and on the mountains, like fluffs of cotton precariously perched but sure footed enough not to slip or stumble. They graze and grout and appear to be rapt in reflection as they ruminate. For the people of Israel, who were nomads, the imagery of the sheep and the shepherd, the flock and the fold was familiar. To them Jesus speaks calling Himself the Good Shepherd and the gate of the sheepfold.

Sheep are not the dumb animals that we often take them to be. They are discerning for they recognise only too well the shepherd and his voice. They will not heed or hear the voice of strangers. Jesus is our shepherd. We are His sheep. The community is His flock and the Church His fold. The sheep that belong to Him listen to His voice. We live in a world wherein we hear many voices: the voice of the media that pursues and plagues us with its messages even in the privacy of our homes; the voice of self-styled and self-appointed godmen and godwomen peddling their own brand of teaching; the voice of a secular world that is at times so distorted and disoriented that runs contrary to genuinely human and Christian values and virtues. If we are not awake and alert, we can easily be led astray. Where then can we hear the authentic voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd? We hear it first and foremost in the Word of God. When the Scriptures are proclaimed, Jesus speaks to us. When Jesus speaks to us, our hearts must burn with delight! He alone has the message of eternal life. We hear the voice of Jesus in the official teaching of the Church in matters that pertain to faith and morals. To the Church Jesus has entrusted the deposit of the faith. To the Church Jesus has given the authority of guiding us in our private and public life. We hear the voice of Jesus in the stillness and silence of a well formed conscience. Our conscience is well formed when it is founded on the Word of God and the teaching of the Church. We may deceive the world but we cannot deceive ourselves for when we do wrong our conscience, if it is alive, rightly convicts us.

Sometimes when we drive we meet with sheep along the road that have strayed from the flock and the fold. We are advised to slow down because they are at risk of being run over. These sheep that have strayed have left the flock and the fold. They seem to enjoy a false freedom. But away from the flock and the fold, they remain unprotected and unprovided, exposed and endangered. This is what happens to us when we leave the flock of the community and the fold of the Church. We go our own way and get lost risking our security and safety and exposing ourselves to thieves and brigands who come to steal, kill and destroy our soul. We need to be alert and awake and even if we have strayed we need to return to the flock and the fold.

To conclude, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, does not merely show us the way that leads to pastures of peace. He goes the way; even more, he leads us. Even more, He is the way. If we follow Him, we shall never go astray. We may not always know where He leads us; that does not really matter. What matters is to know that Jesus leads us and that He guides us along the right path. Even if we walk in the valley of darkness we need not fear for He is there with His crook and His staff to give us comfort. Amen.

[St.Tudwal Church, Barmouth – Msgr. Alex Rebello (650 Words)]