5th Sunday of Easter
(Sunday 24th April 2016)
Loving one another as Jesus loves us – John 13:31-33, 34-35
Sheep as we know are one of the most vulnerable animals known to mankind. They have no attack or defence abilities to ward off predators when they come upon them. That is why sheep need shepherds or else they run the risk of straying into unfamiliar paths and into danger. We read in the Gospel’s that Jesus associated himself with sheep, being the shepherd of sheep, looking after his sheep, and always leading them to safety and into green pastures.
The shepherds we know in Ireland of today are otherwise known as sheep farmers. These farmers are highly experienced people. I visited a sheep farmer recently who brought me out to a huge shed with many sheep and newly born lambs, moving and running around here and there and everywhere in it. The sheep and their lambs were being kept in the shed until the weather suited for them to go out into the fields. To my surprise, in a maze of sheep and lambs, the farmer was able to tell me what lambs belonged to what sheep. The farmer knew the sheep and the sheep, it seemed, knew their farmer.
I was reminded of my time with the sheep farmer when Jesus said in St. John’s Gospel: ‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice: I know them and they follow me.’ Jesus was speaking metaphorically when he said this. The true sheep Jesus was talking about is you and me and all his members baptised into his one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Jesus is the head of his Church and we are the body, one body in Christ.
In the Gospel of this fourth Sunday of Easter which is also vocations Sunday, Jesus says that those who belong to him listen to his voice and follow him. He says they will never be lost or stolen and will ultimately gain eternal life. This is what everyone searches for and lives for, the path God has set out for them, which leads to eternal life. Listening to Jesus and following him or listening to where Jesus is calling you and me in life and answering that call, Jesus promises us that we won’t be led astray and that we will gain eternal life. What a great promise from God, what a huge encouragement to listen to Jesus and to follow him and to answer his call. Whether our call in life is to priesthood, or to religious life or to matrimony.
The call of Jesus, the call of God, is a call that we should not be afraid to listen to and more importantly, answer. ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ So let us pray this Easter vocations Sunday that those God is calling will listen to his voice and follow him, answering their call on the sure and certain path in life, to life.
Fr. Noel Weir