Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Jn 10: 1-10
April 30, 2023 | Sunday

Today’s Gospel

Truly, I say to you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. But the shepherd of the sheep enters by the gate. The keeper opens the gate to him and the sheep hear his voice; he calls each of his sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather they will run away from him, because they don’t recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this comparison, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. All who came were thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved; he will go in and out freely and find food. The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He lays His life for His sheep. The shepherd cannot be well until each of his sheep is well. The God of Christians is not well in heaven, He comes down and offers Himself. A Christian cannot be well until His brother is well. As a prayer response to Jesus, our Good Shepherd, we may take Psalm 23 as a prayer as Pope Benedict XVI says, “The psalm as a beautiful analogy of God’s love and protection for every human soul and for all humanity. The image evokes an  matmosphere of trust, intimacy, and tenderness. The shepherd knows his sheep individually, he calls them by name and they follow him because they recognize and trust him.” /Vulnerasti, 2023