WEDNESDAY REFLECTION
Wednesday of the 4th Week in Easter-tide.
Did you read the Gospel on Sunday? Good Shepherd Sunday, we call it. If you did, you may have noticed that Jesus, twice within seven verses says, “I tell you most solemnly…” The Revised Standard Version translates it as, “Truly, truly…” and Monsignor Knox as, “Believe me…” and other versions as, “Amen, amen I say to you.” Twice in seven verses? In fact, I read recently that in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks this phrase fifty times! It must, therefore, be very important. In fact, that’s the point. What Jesus is about to say is of enormous importance. Jesus uses this device to indicate how crucial is the teaching He is about to give. Last year when I was taking the place of the priest in Eriskay in the Western Islands, there was a flock of sheep in the field right beside the parish house. Whenever the shepherd approached in his car, the sheep would run to the point where he would enter the field and they would gather around him. I rather fancifully thought it would be nice to have a photograph of myself with the sheep around me but whenever I approached, they would scatter! I might not have had the smell of the sheep about me but I consoled myself with the thought that they were not the sheep of my concern.
St John focuses upon the imagery of sheep and their shepherd. Jesus calls himself a gate. He is the gate or the door of the sheep-hold. What a seemingly strange thing to say. But you see, when the sheep see the gate, they see only a barrier. When we see it, we see a way in. So he says, “Truly, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.” We are to be members of His flock. There is a rather splendid photograph of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in the middle of a pasture in Jerusalem, holding a new-born lamb in his arms. The impression is that he was caught unawares. But the man who took the photograph happened to be the renowned photographer, Yousuf Karsh the Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer famous for his portraits of notable individuals. Maybe not so unawares, after all! I’m sure that being among the flock the Archbishop would have noticed that they are, indeed, rather smelly creatures. But a good shepherd knows them all one by one and he leads them to safety. Our Good Shepherd, knows each of us one by one, each of us by our name, and in spite of the “smelliness” of our sinful ways, He lays down His life for us.
Let us Pray:
Heavenly God, receive our thanksgiving for our school pupils and teachers as they grow in confidence adapting to a new way of being together during this pandemic.
For you alone are holy and good, the source of peace and life.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Monsignor Monaghan
