Being a Good Shepherd

Gospel Reflection For Sunday, The 21st day of April in the year of Our Lord, 2024

Gospel

John 10:11-18

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. 12 But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep: 13 And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me. 15 As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep.

16 And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18 No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

When I was in college, I dated a lovely Jewish girl. She was a stunning redhead and very intelligent. She was a few years older than me and already a practicing psychiatrist. Her parents were atheists. She believed in Jesus and in the Catholic Church. But, there were several barriers to her full acceptance of the Gospel. The first was that becoming Christian would have meant both alienation among her secularist peers and her Jewish relatives. But, there were also issues due to her compassionate nature.

Specifically, she struggled greatly with our Lord’s Agony in the Garden and the suffering He experienced in the Crucifixion. These passages made her cry and made her angry. Quite reasonably, she would ask why an omnipotent God would allow His son to suffer so horribly. I tried to help her understand, but I am not sure that I ever did. Her profession took her to California, while I remained on the east coast. Eventually, we lost touch.

Today’s Gospel makes clear that Jesus suffered by His own choice for us. No one forced Him. He was not compelled. He freely sacrificed Himself for each one of use, suffering for the cumulative sins of humanity so that we might be saved. It was His choice to lay down His life and He had the power to rise again. He conquered both sin and death, because He is the good shepherd who will do all it takes to save even one lost soul.

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Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January-June, 2024. It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q

and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic