Dear Parishioner,

Today, the 4th Sunday of Easter, is traditionally Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocation Sunday. Last week we heard Jesus commission Simon Peter to look after his sheep and lambs, and today Jesus shows how he, one with the Father, is the good shepherd.

I imagine that not many of us feel comfortable, or affirmed in our dignity, in being compared with a sheep – but when the image of sheep and shepherd is used in the Bible, we see that the emphasis is actually focused on the role of the shepherd. Sheep, as we might be prepared to admit about ourselves also, need to be cared for. The shepherd’s task is to provide food, water and shelter, to protect the flock against predators and manage each sheep’s health – those who watch programmes about farming life may have some insights into what all this involves today. In Jesus’ time the shepherd was a familiar figure on the stony Judaean uplands, and people could see how the shepherd took patient care of his flock, with constant vigilance and with courage that risked his own life. In the Second Reading from Revelations, the self-sacrifice of the Lamb of God leads to the Lamb being declared the shepherd of that great multitude, who will guide them to God’s comforting.

It seems that it is literally true that the sheep know and follow the Eastern shepherd’s voice and that the shepherds lead the flock. Today, we can pray for each other that we may hear and follow Jesus’ voice as he leads us through the coming week – probably a quiet voice, not a commanding voice, that keeps us aware of others who are also ‘the flock’. That voice may encourage us to reach out further, as Paul and Barnabas did in sharing the good news, in whatever way presents itself this week.

On this Sunday we ask the Father, to whom the sheep belong, to gift our priests with the heart of a good shepherd and to call more shepherds for his flock. As I’m writing this, the Conclave has not started: let us earnestly pray for the new Pope, whoever he may be, that he might ‘smell of the sheep’ as Pope Francis liked to say, with a pastor’s concern for all the flock in our complex and beautiful world.

Sr. Catherine M. Afr