Fourth Sunday of Easter

Here are the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 29, 2012:

 

Acts 4: 8-12

Psalm 118: 1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28-29
1 John 3: 1-2

Luke 10: 11-18

Some of the earliest Christian portrayals of Jesus on the walls of catacombs portray Jesus not on the crucifix, but as the Good Shepherd. And further symbolism and Scripture link Jesus not only as our shepherd, but as the sacrificial lamb whose blood spared the Hebrews from death at Passover, and whose blood now frees us from eternal death.

Good Shepherd, from the Catacombs of St. Callisto
(visited on parish pilgrimage in November 2011)

One commentary on this Gospel muses on the difference between the good shepherd and the hireling, and using Peter as an example of the hireling in his denial of Jesus after his arrest, and running away and hiding (unlike the Beloved Disciple who stood at the cross with Mary). And yet-- doesn't this say that there's hope for us all.. that the hireling CAN come back, can learn courage, and can become a good shepherd?

• How in your life are you like the Good Shepherd?
• How in your life are you like the Hireling?
• When do you feel like the well-cared for sheep?

At Mystagogia this week, we will be doing an exercise using the rosary and scripture.