April 24-25: Preparing for this Weekend’s Mass

When people go to Rome on pilgrimage, they usually try to include a visit to what are called the Catacombs, the earliest Christian cemeteries in existence. The earliest Christian art is found there in the catacombs. The artistic images are very simple and unadorned compared to the art that would emerge in later centuries. Yet these drawings and paintings are very striking because of their simplicity and directness. One of the images of Jesus most frequently found in the catacombs is that of the Good Shepherd. For example, in the Catacomb of San Callistus, there is a painting of a young beardless man with a sheep draped around his shoulders and holding a bucket of water in his right hand. Clearly, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd (which we find in today’s Gospel) spoke to believers from the earliest days of the Church.

Why did the shepherd image appeal to people from the start? Because it conveyed the personal nature of the relationship between Jesus and His followers; it portrays the close personal care that the shepherd has for the sheep. Jesus Himself had told the story of the shepherd who had gone looking for the one sheep that had wandered off; having found it, the shepherd took it home upon his shoulders to the rest of the flock (Luke 15,1-7). The parable’s meaning is that there is an intimate bond between the shepherd and the one sheep. That is what Jesus conveys in today’s Gospel (John 10,11-18).

Jesus declares that He knows His own and His own know Him, just as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father. It is an extraordinary statement to make! After all, Jesus is “one in being” with the Father. Therefore, the very personal relationship Jesus has with His heavenly Father is the model for the equally personal relationship He has with each one of us. Obviously, there is a great deal here to ponder: when it comes to the Lord, we are not just one of a crowd, lost in a sea of faces. In a way that we will never fully understand, the Lord knows each one of us intimately; He relates to us in a personal way and He invites us to relate to Him in a personal way, too.

From the moment of our Baptism, we are called to be the Lord’s disciples, to faithfully follow the Good Shepherd. However, the way we do that will be unique to each one of us. The particular way in which the Lord works through us is unique to each one of us. We are challenged to make these words our own: “I can do something for the Lord today that only I can do.” Each one of us has a unique contribution to make to “the work of the Lord” in the world, to the life of the Church, and that contribution is just as vital as anyone else’s contribution. We each have a unique vocation and each vocation is equally significant. When each of us responds to our unique vocation, we offer an inspiration and we give a lift to everyone else. When any one of us fails to respond to that vocation, we are all a little bit impoverished.

Let us pray. “Good and gentle Shepherd, help us as we strive to build on earth what you have promised us in heaven. In the face of all hardship, struggle, and even calamity (present and yet to come), let us lead our neighbors beside quiet waters, the quiet waters that only you can provide. In your Name we pray. Amen.”

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