Do you know what the Master wants for you?

This Sunday’s Gospel is a long passage in which the Lord speaks to us of his desire for us to share a deep and lasting friendship with him. The passage opens with Our Blessed Lord calling us his “little flock” and he says that he does not want us to be afraid.

In the Old Testament this fear was very real for the little nation of people of Israel, surrounded as they were by great nations all around them. They never knew when some other bigger power would invade their territory and take everything away from them. They knew they had no one to rely on for their protection but the Lord God. There are many stories in the Old Testament when the chosen people decide to go it alone without God’s direction and even enter into political arrangements with their neighbours. In cases when they “go it alone” they always end up in bigger trouble, even being taken into exile.

God comes to take way fear from our hearts. He wants us to know that for him we are special to him as his “little flock”. He is the Good Shepherd who will lay down his life for his people. He won’t run away when the enemy approaches. As Pope Benedict teaches us “Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus…he will never betray your trust. He alone can satisfy your deepest longings”. And I would add to these words “he alone can take away our deepest fears”. 

The more we trust in Him and open ourselves to Jesus in our lives the more we will receive from him and the more love will fill our hearts and the greater the peace we receive.

This is what the Master wants for you: for you to live without fear and to be at peace. Only Jesus the Good Shepherd and Prince of Peace can truly give you these gifts.

Fr. John Harris OP