April 25 and 26

Fourth Sunday of Easter

From Deacon Dick~

          The Good Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name … he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him.” According to Pope Francis, what is it about the relationship between shepherd and sheep that makes them follow? And where does Christ, the Shepherd, lead his followers?

          “He knows his sheep. But this does not only mean that he knows many things about us. To know in the biblical sense also means to love. It means that the Lord, ‘while he reads our inner beings,’ loves us. … Jesus seeks a warm friendship, trust, intimacy. He wants to give us a new and marvelous awareness—that of knowing we are always loved by him and, therefore, that we are never left alone by ourselves.

          [He knows his sheep.] … They listen, they feel they are known to the Lord and they follow the Lord who is their shepherd. … They go where he goes, along the same path, in the same direction. They go to seek those who are lost (cf. Lk 15:4), they take an interest in those who are far away, take to heart the situation of those who suffer, know how to weep with those who weep, they reach out their hands to their neighbors, carrying them on their shoulders.”

                              —Pope Francis, Fourth Sunday of Easter; Angelus May 8, 2022