Getting Ready to Pray                     

We are encouraged to pray for the strength and courage to lay down our lives as did the Good Shepherd. We all will die of course, but how we live our days of life will be the measure of our following Jesus. We are encouraged not so much to “die” for Christ, but “live” for Christ.

Most of us are laying down our lives for some person or persons. We pray today for the freedom and joy which it takes to really live while dying to ourselves.

Some Thoughts 

What we hear in today’s First Reading is Peters explanation and direct confrontation with the leaders. The “name” and the “power” are the same. Jesus, crucified by these same leaders, but who the very God of Israel has raised has also raised to health this man who had been crippled. The elders are the “builders” and they have rejected Jesus Who is the “Cornerstone” of salvation. This is a scriptural image referring to a line from Psalm 118. Peter affirms Jesus as the one and only source for salvation, given to the world by the God of these religious leaders of Israel.

Peter and John have done a “good deed” and in keeping with the ways of Jesus, good deeds done in his name, can result in opposition and fear-based persecution. From its earliest days, the Church and the followers of Jesus have been called out, knocked down, and done in by those forces of darkness and fear. It follows then that when there is persecution of the Church, the Church must be doing something good.

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus say twice “I am the good shepherd.” John has Jesus continue Jesus’ discussion and confrontation with the Pharisees after His having healed a man who was born blind. This man, who was blind, first heard the voice of Jesus and through believing in that voice came to believe and that was his new way of seeing.

Each time John presents Jesus as saying “I am,” John is also saying that Jesus claims his followers as those who can also say with confidence, “I am” and “we are.” In this section we are not sheep, but listeners who learn the tenor and timber of his voice and message. We have learned and continue to learn the other voices within and around us. They can sound so inviting, comforting, and of Grace. They just might truly be, but it takes a long time to be so in tune with the voice of Jesus, that we need experiences of life and prayer to figure out the difference. Our egos need attention but not constant indulgence. Our fears are to be respected, but not adored. Our cultures’ ways are to be influential, but not conformed to entirely.

Most of us, upon listening to our own recorded voices, wonder if that is really us! What we sound like to others is not the exact way we sound to ourselves. People who are visually impaired learn quickly who is who by their footsteps, pace, noisiness as well as their voices.

Jesus is telling us that he will keep calling in the same voice and when we begin to follow, he will keep speaking. There will always be other voices, from within ourselves and from outside. How will we ever learn to recognize his voice as different from our self-centered voices! One sure way (I know you are not going to like this), is to trust the mystery. It seems that is part of his voice pattern. The Good Shepherd seems to be calling always to his sheep to follow him into the unfamiliar, the pastures, yonder, over there, and of his fidelity.

The Good Shepherd is risen!
He who laid down his life for his sheep,
who died for his flock, he is risen, alleluia.
Communion Antiphon