By Fr. Antony Christy, SDB –
Imagine it in real: can sheep become the shepherd? Sheep are sheep, and the Shepherd is a human being – thinks, plans, acts, helps and serves! Can sheep truly become shepherd? That is what the Lord invites us to… that is what our Shepherd invites us to… from Sheep to become Shepherd! And with God nothing is impossible!
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is celebrated as the Shepherd Sunday and in the Universal Church, this day is suggested to be celebrated as Vocation Sunday – just to remind of the transformation that we are called to in our life.
Here is our Shepherd… who Saves us, Summons us and Sends us…
He saved us… ready to give up his life, ready to totally surrender himself to God, his Father! We have been saved, when blood of the lamb was strewn the wood that was planted between the heaven and the earth. The sheep had already become the Shepherd, laying his life down for the Sheep…that is our Shepherd, identified by the Father himself and given to us, for our salvation! Do we recognise and acknowledge what the Shepherd has really done for us?
He summons us… the Shepherd summons us, that we come to him and be saved, he bids us that we may come to him drink from his life giving streams, he invites us that we may come to him and become the children of God, yes that is what we are made by that sacrifice and our belief in that sacrifice: for to those who believed in him and accepted him, he gave the power to become children of God (Jn 1:12). In our daily life and situations, do we hear this call coming to us constantly to make a difference wherever we are, to tell ourselves and the world that we are truly children of God, the sheep of the Shepherd who made such a huge difference in and through his life?
He sends us… the Shepherd sends us on a mission, to announce the name of this Shepherd, the name in which everyone shall be saved, summoned and be sent! We do not announce the name of an emperor or a dictator, we announce the name of a Shepherd – who reaches out to serve, save and give life. Yes, we are sent.. sent on a mission, sent to be shepherds – in our families shepherds to each other; in our society shepherds to the weak, in our faith community shepherds to the children of God. Are we truly, shepherds after the heart of that One True Shepherd?
We fall in line with this Shepherd only in as much as we accept that salvation that comes from the Shepherd, respond to the summon and be ready to be sent in our daily life, to be shepherds after the heart of that Shepherd, our Shepherd, my Shepherd!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.