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Pastor’s Letter: April 21, 2024

Dear friend,

This Sunday is the annual Good Shepherd Sunday because the Good Shepherd Gospel passage is read at Mass. Jesus used many ordinary aspects of 1^st century life to explain deep spiritual realities. The occupation of the shepherd was common, as well as the agricultural society and the cycles of the seasons. From the beginning of the Bible, God created humanity to work. God made us to produce. One of the seven deadly sins is sloth or a spiritual laziness when one fails to use gifts and talents for the greater good. The Bible calls us to understand our gifts so they benefit others. The times when communal life is embraced in the scriptures, we read that it wasn’t forced. Service of the other, self-sacrificial love puts the other first. This is one of the main Biblical invitations: to live as God calls us to live; to live in the way that is for our good and the good of others.

The Church says that the Eucharist, the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, is the source and summit of our faith. The meaning here is that the Eucharist is Jesus. All of Jesus’ Biblical stories illustrate that He is God, He is the one to imitate. He is the one who sets the standard for human life. As Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd, he invites the reflection about what it means to be a “good” shepherd. The Bible is filled with teachings about what is good and what is bad. Jesus discusses many of the common and ordinary known ways people live, succeed and fail. Jesus lives like us in all things but sin so that we all might have a model for living and call ourselves Christians. The Good Shepherd is not just the one who loves the sheep, although He does love us all, the Good Shepherd is the one who set the perfect standard. Jesus is the objective..