Sunday Meditation: The Voice of the Good Shepherd

Sheep factored prominently last week but they are even more front and center on the Fourth Sunday of Easter.  Every Fourth Sunday of Easter is called Good Shepherd Sunday.  Every Fourth Sunday of Easter we get a reading from the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel with the stipulation that each year it’s a different part of the tenth chapter.  In Year A, we get John 10:1-10 with Jesus being the “gate” to the sheepfold.  You can read about it here.  In Year B, we get Jesus claiming to be “the Good Shepherd” in John 10:11-18, and you can read about that here.  Today in Year C, Jesus tells us that all who hear His voice follow him.

 

Jesus said:

“My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

No one can take them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.

The Father and I are one.”

~Jn 10:27-30

 

Today’s main homily will be from Fr. Tim Peters who connects the Good Shepherd to the Old Testament metaphors of the shepherd and contrasts with the very poor shepherds in Israel’s history.

And so, Christ’s voice says: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart.” 

Today is also Mother’s Day, and Fr. Sam French, the Average Shepherd as he calls himself, has a homily that combines the Good Shepherd Sunday with Mother’s Day!

 

Actually, isn’t a mother just like a shepherd?  I think so.

 

Sunday Meditation: “My sheep hear my voice."

 

For Mother’s Day, I am going to stray from a hymn and embed this beautiful country song by Anne Wilson and Hillary Scott, “Mamas.”  

 

Here are the lyrics to this heart-tugging song.

 

Mamas

[Verse 1: Anne Wilson]

I don't know why God made one-bedroom apartments out of state

I don't know why He made hometowns if it's somewhere I can't stay

I don't know why He made growing up but I guess that we're all gonna

Yeah, I don't know a lot of things but I know why God made mamas

 

[Chorus: Anne Wilson]

For the open arms to fall into

For the when you don't know what to do

For the phone call sayin', "Don't forget, I'm always in your corner"

For the heart that makes a house a home

For the knowing that you're not alone

For the "Darling, don't you dare give up even when you wanna"

Yeah, that's why God made mamas

 

[Verse 2: Hillary Scott]

For putting band-aids on a scrapеd up knee and wiping tears away

For picking up the piecеs when that dream don't go your way

For always giving more than taking, always knowing what ya need

And showing you that fighting's always best done on your knees

 

[Chorus: Anne Wilson]

For the open arms to fall into

For the when you don't know what to do

For the phone call sayin', "Don't forget, I'm always in your corner"

For the heart that makes a house a home

For the knowing that you're not alone

For the "Darling, don't you dare give up even when you wanna"

Yeah, that's why God made mamas

 

 [Post-Chorus: Anne Wilson & Hillary Scott]

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh (Oh-oh-oh-oh)

Mamas, mamas

 

[Bridge: Anne Wilson & Hillary Scott]

I don't know why God made living life down here so hard to do

But I know why God made mamas 'cause He knew I needed you

Oh-oh, oh-oh

 

[Chorus: Anne Wilson & Hillary Scott]

For the open arms to fall into (To fall into)

For the when you don't know what to do (Know what to do)

For the phone call sayin', "Don't forget, I'm always in your corner"

(I'm always in your corner)

For the heart that makes a house a home

For the knowing that you're not alone (Not alone)

For the "Darling, don't you dare give up even when you wanna"

Yeah, that's why God made mamas (Mamas)

 

[Post-Chorus: Anne Wilson]

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh (Mamas)

Oh-oh-oh-oh (Mamas)

(Mamas)

Mm-mm-mm (Mamas)

 

Sunday Meditation: The Gatekeeper of the Sheep

Are you a smelly sheep like I am?  The Fourth Sunday of Easter is for you then.

 

Jesus said:

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate

but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.

But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,

as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has driven out all his own,

he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,

because they recognize his voice.

But they will not follow a stranger;

they will run away from him,

because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."

Although Jesus used this figure of speech,

the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

 

So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,

I am the gate for the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers,

but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the gate.

Whoever enters through me will be saved,

and will come in and go out and find pasture.

A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."                Jn 10:1-10

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and I in my fleshy stupidity truly feel like a sheep needing to be shepherd.  I like Brant Pitre’s exegesis on this passage.

 

Did you know about the connection to that passage from Ezekiel?  I didn’t.  Now that is enlightening.  That is a thorough explanation of the passage, and so it seems that this line, which catches my attention and seems to stick out of place, now makes sense:

“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly." 

Take a moment to meditate on that.

Sunday Meditation: The Good Shepherd and Mother’s Day

Today’s Gospel reading is very short, the reading on The Good Shepherd Sunday.

 

Jesus said:

“My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

No one can take them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.

The Father and I are one.”        

- John 10:27-30

Contemplate that for a bit and then contemplate this for Mother’s Day.  Who is our first human shepherd but our mother?  Whose voice do we first hear but our mother’s, probably from inside the womb?  We hear that voice in the womb and we pine for it.  What must that child feel after the trauma of exiting into a new world?  How comforting then to hear the mother’s voice, familiar to him or her that was from the security of the amniotic sac.  We are then placed on our mother’s breast and we feel the comfort of a greater hand.  The Good Shepherd works through our mother.

So on this Mother’s Day I want to contemplate some mothers who were good shepherds, and I’ll do it through the various novels I can recall where mothers were good shepherds.  So I made a list of mothers who played central roles in various novels.  Here are the best five mothers in no particular order that I can recall from novels I have read.  I’ll provide a bare summary of their heroism.

1. Katie Nolan from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

Katie is an immigrant to the US who struggles to raise her daughter despite an alcoholic and ne’er-do-well husband.  Her strength is what makes her daughter Francie succeed. 

2. Fantine from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

A young woman who bears a child out of wedlock and is forced to prostitution to support the child.  Tears still come to my eyes when I recall Fantine on her death bed pinning for her little Cosette.

3. Hester Prynne from The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Believing her husband had died, Hester Prynne bears a child out of an adulterous relationship.  Hester, ostracized by her Puritan society, raises her daughter Pearl in quiet dignity. 

4. Mrs. Ramsey from To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

Mrs. Ramsey, mother of a large family, is the cornerstone of the family, and the lighthouse that guides the children’s vision.  Her sudden death leaves a disintegrated family, but ultimately her memory heals the wounds.

5. Ántonia Shimerda from My Ántonia by Willa Cather.

Ántonia, a ten year old immigrant to the prairies of US, overcomes cultural differences and poverty, overcomes having a child out of wedlock, and ultimately through her hard work and sacrifices buys her own farm and raise ten more children.

All five of these mothers shepherd their children in a most moving way that should be recalled on a day dedicated to motherhood.  Can you think of any others?

Happy Mother’s Day.

Sunday Meditation: Collecting the Sheep

Without Jesus, we are just scattered sheep.

 

“So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.

People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.

They hastened there on foot from all the towns

and arrived at the place before them.

 

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,

his heart was moved with pity for them,

for they were like sheep without a shepherd;

and he began to teach them many things.”

       -Mark 6:32-34

 Collect us O Lord and show us the way to the pasture.