4^TH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR C: REFLECTION BY FR. JULIAN EKEH

THEME: THE UNDETACHABLE BOND OF THE FATHER, THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP

(John 10:27-30)

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter is the Good Shepherd Sunday. Let us reflect on the undetachable connection existing between God as the Father and owner of the sheepfold, Jesus as His beloved Son to whom the care and safety of the Sheep is entrusted and the Sheep for whom the Owner and the Shepherd dares to give all.

Speaking about this bond, Jesus maintained that they are undetachable. No one can snatch them from Him and invariably from the Father because He is One with the Father, and if the Sheep behaves as expected, their safety is assured.

The confidence and courage of Shepherds is indeed a fascinating one! They so much believe in themselves, in their ability to look after the Sheep, and to make the Sheep owners to be happy with them as well as the productivity of the Sheep.

In order to throw light on today's Gospel, let us know the role of the Father, the Shepherd, and the Sheep within the context of Shepherding.

 

THE FATHER

In cultures where shepherding was practised, families had their Sheep. The father as the head of the family usually used His children or servants as the case may be to tend his sheep. The Father was the sole owner of the herds and did with each one what he willed. He calls for the account to be updated about his flocks from time to time. He supervises to know who among the shepherds is getting it right or wrong. The Father commands what to do with each sheep and its product.

With regard to the gospel of today, God is the Father and the Owner of the Sheep.

 

THE SHEPHERD

The Shepherd is the one who has direct contact with the sheep. He takes them out, stays with them, feeds them, watches over them, defends them, heals them, carries them on the shoulder when weakness threatens, searches for them when they stray, plays with them, takes them to flowing waters and brings them back.

The Shepherd is classified into Good and the Bad. The one who fulfils the above-mentioned qualities of a Shepherd and others is good, while the one who does the contrary is bad. In the Gospel of today, we are not just talking about a good shepherd, but The Good Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the ideal Shepherd and the Shepherd per excellent.

 

THE SHEEP

The Sheep is the docile and dependent creature, source of wealth, and property belonging to the Father, entrusted to the Son or Servant.

The Sheep follows, obeys, and recognises the Shepherd who takes them to their owner's compound after each day's successful pasturing.

There is also good and bad sheep.

Be that as it may, we the people of the Lord are the Sheep of His flock. We are invited to remain the good Sheep of Our Good Shepherd to the glory of our Good heavenly Father.

 

WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES THAT MAKE THE SHEEP GOOD?

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to whose direct care the flock of the Father was entrusted, enumerates the qualities that make a Sheep good. These qualities make Him the Good Shepherd fulfilled. They include:

 

HEARING

Shepherds' device sounds they make, which only their own sheep understands even when they are with a multitude of other people's flock.

 

Are you a good hearer? When you hear, do you understand who is calling? In the midst of the many noises in our world today, do you know the voice of your own master? The social media calls, the proliferated churches and ideologies shout, the secular opinions of the world invite, the materialistic advertisements lure. The neo-paganistic forces and satanic mesmerisms ring bells on a daily basis. From these distracting voices, can you decipher the true voice of your Good Shepherd? May God help us.

 

KNOWS AND FOLLOWS

The real Good Sheep identifies with the Shepherd. He doesn't hide from the shepherd. They will never follow a stranger. Some bad and foolish Sheep follows anyone carrying what looks like food. Some bad and dubious Shepherds do enlarge their sheepfold by walking past the sheep of another with food. The sheep that doesn't know its owner follows the stranger and meets its end. Even a fowl knows its owner. But a bad fowl follows a stranger who throws corn on the floor for it into the pot.

May we know Christ our Good Shepherd and follow His paths all the days of our life.

 

BENEFITS OF BEING A GOOD SHEEP

Jesus the Good Shepherd has enlisted His qualities as a Good Shepherd, namely, His ability to know the Sheep that belongs to Him and His mission of giving them eternal life.

He therefore promises those who are good and docile sheep the following:

"I give them eternal life,"

"They shall never perish,"

" No one shall snatch them out of my hand," Alleluia!

 

CHALLENGES OF TODAY'S CELEBRATION

We are all called to learn from Christ the Good Shepherd as we perform our various roles of shepherding at different levels. A society of failed leadership is invited to be passionate and selfless in protecting and ensuring the safety of the people entrusted to their care. They should stop playing politics with human lives. They should put an end to the flow of blood in the land. They should understand that they must account for the mismanagement of opportunities given to them by God to care for the flock of God.

The government that sleeps and snores while her citizens are on strike, without payment of salaries and not schooling, has failed to provide for the sheep of her pasture.

The government that does practically nothing to ameliorate the hardship of the citizens has failed to nourish them while preferring to milk them.

The Church should not forget her shepherding roles. In a special way, her leaders are called pastors. Let the Bishops, priests, deacons, etc. feed the people well with unadulterated word of God so that the many poisons of the world may not attract them. Let them be led by holy hands towards holy lives to save the sheep under their watch from the many wolves out there. Let them not allow ephemerals to distract them from their calling to lead the people to God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.

Fathers and mothers, you are Shepherds, you know that. Endeavour to lead your family to Christ. Don't allow them to be snatched away from you by social media madness, by peer associations, secret societies, and diabolical practices. Keep an eye on them to avoid them swallowing the poisons of immorality, being beaten by the serpents of  drug addiction, indecency, and secularism.

Let us all unite our efforts in leading all men to God by the examples of Christ The Ideal Shepherd.

 

BLESSINGS

May Jesus give you eternal life, May you never perish, May no power snatch you away from the Lord. May you be one with God, and with Jesus the Good Shepherd of your soul.

May God bless our bishops and continue to bless us with good shepherds. May the goodness and mercy of the Lord who is your Shepherd grant you all your desires. May you be bonded with God in Christ by the power of the Spirit who reigns forever and ever. Amen.

Happy Good Shepherd Sunday to you

Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh

 16th Sunday, Year B: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

Theme: Message to all shepherds of God’s flock

Reading: Jer 23:1-6; Eph 2:13-18; Mk 6:30-34

Dear friends in Christ, on this sixteenth Sunday of the year, the Church has a message for all shepherds of the flock of God. But the question we should ask is: who are the shepherds of God’s flock or shepherds of God’s children?

The shepherds of the children of God in the Church are the priests and all those who preach or teach the word of God in the church. Then, the shepherds of God’s children in the families are the parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties, and all those under whose care children grow up in the family. Therefore, today’s message to shepherds touches both the shepherds in the church and those in the families.

In the first place, we thank shepherds who bring up God’s children according to the will of God, those who guide and feed God’s children with what God intended so that they will not be lost. However, the rate at which many children are growing up with little or no faith in God and lack of good moral behaviour in the society calls for proper examination on how well the shepherds of our time are doing their duties. In today’s gospel, our Lord Jesus looked at the people of Israel that followed Him and said they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Indeed, there is no better way to describe the condition of many youths of our time than to say that they are living as if they never had shepherds in their lives; many of them lack the capacity to distinguish between what is good and what is bad, and as a result, they swing from one erroneous ideology about life to another; many of them lack good moral values and care less about holy life, respect for people, and family or societal values; many of them have shallow faith in God, little or no respect for God and prayer life, and for that reason, they don't care about attending Masses on Sundays and see nothing wrong about it.

The religious and social life of many youths raise doubts about how serious their shepherds were with their training/upbringing. One thing that is certain is that shepherds who do not train their children in good moral and spiritual life will regret it as their children grow into adults, because youths who do not respect God and other people will not respect their parents too.

In the first reading of today, God warned all the shepherds who have failed in their duties of taking good care of the sheep entrusted to them, and the shepherds who are still failing in their responsibilities to give good upbringing to their children and wards. He said He will treat them according to their deeds. Then, He promised that He will send a shepherd that will give them the care they need. Dear friends, this is a warning to all of us to be very careful with the kind of formation we give to our children. If we do not form them well, we will attract the anger and punishment of God. In fact, God will judge us according to the kind of formation we gave to our children.

In the gospel of today, we saw this shepherd sent by God, Jesus Christ, tending to the sheep that have been scattered by those who were supposed to be their shepherds, and also showing us one of the qualities of a good shepherd. Jesus was heading to a place to rest his head, but when He saw the helpless people, he had compassion on them and sacrificed His comfort to make sure He lifted them from their misery. A good shepherd in the church and in the family must be compassionate in his relationship with those entrusted to his care and must sacrifice his comfort, must give his all, for the good of the sheep. He must be close to the sheep so that he can know them and provide their needs even at the expense of his own comfort. We must provide the material, spiritual and moral needs of our children, even when doing so will lead to insults and misunderstanding from the people.

Finally, the second reading of today showed us another quality of the Good Shepherd, which is that of restoring what has been damaged by wicked shepherds. Wicked shepherds created enmity between God’s people, but Jesus, our Good Shepherd, restored peace between them with His death. So, good shepherds of God’s children have the duty of restoring/correcting what has been damaged in the life of their children by the secular society; they have the duty to fish out the wrong teachings that society has imparted on their children and correct/fix them for the good of their families.  

Happy Sunday, dear friends

Fr Isaac Chima

 

4^TH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YR. B (GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY): HOMILY BY FR. JUSTIN ADIELE

THEME: “YOU TOO CAN BE A GOOD SHEPHERD”

INTRODUCTION:

Today is the fourth Sunday of Easter, otherwise called “Good Shepherd Sunday”. Today, we remember and extol Christ the Good Shepherd of our souls and bodies, who never wished for any of his sheep to go astray, who has always led the way for his sheep to follow, and who certainly died for the safety and the life of his Sheep. The celebration of today is meant to elicit special love and care from us towards all those placed under our care by being like him; Christ our Good Shepherd.

 

THE FIRST READING (ACTS. 4: 8 – 12)

In the first reading, St. Peter made us understand that Jesus did not only come as our Good Shepherd to heal, save and deliver us; but even after his death and resurrection, by his name we are still healed and saved today like the cripple at the beautiful gate. Hence, we cannot continue to live in opposition and in denial of that name Jesus. By him, any fallen sheep would rise and stand again; and by his name, any lost sheep would be found again.

 

THE SECOND READING (1 JN. 3: 1 – 2)

In the second reading, St. John expounds the special character of Christ the Good Shepherd. He talked about the great love our Good Shepherd has for us that we should be called not even his sheep, but his children and his friends. Christ our Shepherd treats us like his children and really wants us to be like him. He teaches and empowers us to be like him; to have his spirit, his wisdom, his gifts, his powers and his virtues. And his apostles and disciples followed suite and became like him, good shepherds of souls and bodies as well.

 

THE GOSPEL READING (JN. 10: 11 – 18)

The gospel reading summarized some of the sublime characters of Jesus our Good Shepherd; as one who never lets go of the sheep; one who cares for the life and safety of the sheep; as one who lays down his life for the sheep; and as one who guides, leads and defends the sheep not for any ransom/pay, but for love of the sheep. St. John painted a beautiful picture of Jesus the Good shepherd who is not ready to lose any one of his sheep to any destructive aggressor or intruder. Jesus our Good shepherd till tomorrow, has already instituted contingent measures to safeguard his sheep from the destructive aggression and intrusion of sin through the sacraments of His Church.

 

CONCLUSION:

Pope John XXIII, when he was still a Cardinal (Cardinal Roncalli), played a beautiful role of a good shepherd to one of his derailing priest in Venice. One of his priests became an alcoholic and would spend every evening at the bars drinking. When the Cardinal heard about him, one evening, the Cardinal went to the bar and asked for the priest. People gathered to see what the Cardinal was doing in front of a bar. To his shock, the priest was informed that his cardinal was waiting for him outside the bar. The priest came out expecting to be scolded, sanctioned, suspended or fired. Instead, the Cardinal said to him; “Father, you are a priest, and I want to make my confession to you.” And so he took him aside and made his confessions, and the priest absolved his Cardinal. Cardinal Roncalli then said to him; “Remember, this is what you are a priest for. This is the power God has given you”. And from that moment, the priest gave up his habit of drinking. He realized how much God loves and cares for him. You too can be a good shepherd for someone going astray; you too can also love and care for others like Jesus the Good Shepherd. Yes we have seen how God operates; and we can and shall be like Him as John decreed in the second reading of today!

 

Happy Sunday!

Fr. Justin

 

4th Sunday of Easter, Yr. B (Good Shepherd Sunday): Homily by Fr. Isaac Chima

Theme: Shepherds after the mind of Christ

Readings: Acts 4:8-12; 1Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18

Dear friends in Christ, today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is called the Good Shepherd Sunday. The opening sentence of the Gospel of today points to this fact. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of our lives. He knows us profoundly and lays down His life for our salvation. Also, on this Sunday, the Church invites us to pray for vocations in our world: vocations to the priesthood, to the family life and to all good services to humanity.

By their vocations, bishops, priests, religious men and women are shepherds in our Christian communities. They take care of the spiritual and moral needs of the flock of God. By their offices, government officials are shepherds in our states and communities too; they care for our material needs and organize the political, economic, and social courses of our lives. Hence, it may not be wrong if someone says that the homily of today should be preached to these people listed here, including myself as a priest and a shepherd.

However, each one of us, as Christians, is a shepherd according to different degrees of assignments, services and relationships. Parents are shepherds in their families to their children and others who depend on them. Elder brothers and sisters are shepherds to their younger ones. Uncles and aunts are shepherd to their nephews and nieces. Medical doctors and nurses are shepherds to their sick patients. Professors and teachers are shepherds to their students. Businessmen and women and those who work in private offices are shepherds to their customers and other workers or employees. In fact, dear friends, we are all shepherds and sheep at the same time. So, the homily of today about the good shepherd touches all of us.

The gospel of today outlined the essential qualities of a good shepherd, which are already known to us. A good shepherd loves, cares and sacrifices himself (lays down his life) for the good of his flock. The first reading of today gave us a vivid demonstration of the power of the risen Christ, who is our shepherd. As a good shepherd, Jesus laid down his life for his sheep on the cross on Good Friday, and on Easter Sunday, He took it up again by rising from the dead. In the story of the first reading, through the power of His name, one of the sheep of His flock regained freedom and healing from sickness. Peter testified that it was in the name of Jesus that the crippled man was healed. He is the stone that the builders rejected, which has become the corner stone. There is no salvation anywhere else except in Him. There is no other name under the earth that can save us if not the name of Jesus.

Jesus is the shepherd that leads us from sickness to good health; He always wants to free us of anything that deprives us of the joy of our life. Therefore, dear friends, are you sick? Are you in a difficult moment? Be calm and open yourself to Jesus. He is the shepherd who will not abandon you to the power of sickness and difficulties. A good shepherd takes care of his sheep. He does not abandon them to be devoured or scattered by wolves, sicknesses, and worries.

Another quality worth noting in the gospel of today says: “the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. To underline the seriousness of this particular quality in the life of every shepherd, Jesus mentioned ‘laying down His life for His sheep’ five times in the Gospel of today. What does laying down one’s life for the good of the flock mean for a shepherd? The answer is boldly written in the life of Jesus. It means sacrificing of joy and comfort for the good of the flock; it means placing the good of the flock first in everything.

Parents who lay down their lives for their children are those who take care of the spiritual, moral and material needs of their children. They are those who will not allow their children to be lost to the influence of bad friends, they are always guarding them from physical, moral and spiritual dangers. They are those who will pass on good behaviors to their children, those who will be good role models to their children. Are you a role model to your children?

Medical doctors and nurses who lay down their lives for their flock are those who are patient with their sick patients, those who treat the sick with care, love, passion, sympathy and attention. Politicians and public office holders who lay down their lives for others are those who say no to corruption, those who treat their position with justice, transparency, sincerity, and integrity. They are those who represent the interest of the people they serve.  Businessmen and women who lay down their lives for others are those who treat their customers with love, dedication, and attention; they are those who do not cheat their customers, those who give to their employees what is due to them and place the interests of these employees first in everything. Teachers and professors who lay down their life for others are those whose sacrifice their comforts and joy for the good of their students, those to whom the good future of the students is not negotiable. Priests who lay down their lives for the flock of God are those who do not feed on the people, but love and treat them as Jesus willed.    

Dearest shepherds, let us ask the good Lord to help us to fulfil our roles as leaders and guardians of the sheep of God’s pasture. Let us be worthy role models to all those entrusted to us.

Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima