Feed my sheep!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThen Jesus predicted how Peter would one day die for the sheep of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Gospel describes the death and resurrection of Jesus.<\/p>\n
It describes the cowardice of Peter in running away.<\/p>\n
It also describes how Peter, in the end, would die while faithfully feeding and tending the sheep of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Read again part of today\u2019s Gospel, and see how it foretells Peter running away at the arrest of Jesus.<\/p>\n
A hired man, who is not a shepherd,
\nand whose sheep are not his own,
\nsees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
\nand the wolf \u2026 scatters them.
\nThis is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nToday\u2019s Gospel describes Jesus; but it also describes the faithful ending of Peter\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
I am the good shepherd.
\nA good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nAs we have seen, the next and last time Jesus speaks of sheep and shepherd will be when he asks Peter if he really loves him.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Gospel, then, about shepherd and sheep, is also about real love.<\/p>\n
Real love is self-sacrifice for the good of others.<\/p>\n
Feed my lambs!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nTend my sheep!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nFeed my sheep!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nA good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThere is something mysterious about the death of Jesus the good shepherd; and he speaks today of the mystery.<\/p>\n
\u2026 I lay down my life
\nin order to TAKE IT UP AGAIN.
\nNo one TAKES it from me,
\nBUT I lay it down ON MY OWN.
\nI have power to lay it down,
\nand power to TAKE IT UP AGAIN.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nReal love, then, not only lays down its own life for the good of others.<\/p>\n
Real love even has power to rise from the dead.<\/p>\n
Let us take courage from that when real love demands self-sacrifice from us.<\/p>\n
When Jesus asked Peter, \u201cDo you love me?\u201d Jesus was not asking about Peter\u2019s feelings.<\/p>\n
Peter and his \u201cfeelings\u201d RAN AWAY<\/strong><\/span> when the soldiers arrested Jesus.<\/p>\nWhen Jesus asked Peter, \u201cDo you love me?\u201d Jesus was asking for a decision, a choice, not for feelings.<\/p>\n
Real love is not a mere feeling.<\/p>\n
Real love is a decision, a choice, a conscious use of freedom, an act of the will.<\/p>\n
That is the reason for the last words Jesus spoke today about his own life.<\/p>\n
I have power to lay it down\u2026.
\n<\/em><\/strong>This COMMAND I have received from my Father.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nObedience to the command of real love comes from making a decision, from the will, not from the feelings.<\/p>\n
It is true that feelings, often strong feelings, go hand in hand with real love.<\/p>\n
However, our feelings and the demands of real love also go at each other in hand-to-hand combat.<\/p>\n
Real love does demand choices that sometimes contradict our feelings.<\/p>\n
Natural common sense tells us that.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t need divine revelation for us to know that.<\/p>\n
Our own parents show us that the strength of love for children and for spouses does not lie in feelings, but in the choice to serve even at the cost of one\u2019s feelings and one\u2019s self-sacrifice.<\/p>\n
Christ is the Good Shepherd.<\/p>\n
Parents, too, are shepherds, feeding their lambs and tending their sheep.<\/p>\n
In his Eucharist, Christ the Good Shepherd, is also a Lamb, the Lamb of God, giving himself as food for the sheep, taking away on his own back the sins of the sheep, laying down his life in sacrifice to save the sheep and to give glory to the Father.<\/p>\n
God is real love: the freedom and the power to lay down his life, the freedom and the power to take it up again<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Turn. Love. Repeat.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. \u00a0 John 10:11-18 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter \u00a0 The next and last time Jesus will speak about a shepherd and sheep will be in a confrontation with his apostle Peter. We know that when Jesus was arrested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4282,"featured_media":3860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1039,418],"class_list":["post-3854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-i-am-the-good-shepherd","tag-sheep"],"yoast_head":"\n
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