Daily Gospel Reflection – Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Bishop Robert Barron
May 1, 2023
Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Gospel: Jn 10:11-18
Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”
*United States Conference of Catholic
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares: “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” He specifies that he knows intimately those whom he will gather—and that they know him.
A good shepherd will be able to recognize clearly which sheep are of his flock, and the sheep themselves will be able to distinguish the voice of their shepherd from the array of voices and sounds that surround them.
What is it that leads people to accept Jesus Christ? What is it that appeals to them when they read Scripture or they approach the sacraments? We could say that it is only custom or background or luck that leads them to say yes, but I think that something much deeper is going on. There is a resonance when Christ’s voice is heard precisely because the whole world has been wired to hear it.
It’s not unlike the acorn theory of personal development. When a child encounters what they are “meant” to be, somehow it grabs them and chooses them. So it goes with the voice of Jesus. We lost sheep implicitly recognize it and respond.
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