SUNDAY APRIL 22, 2018 – FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Jesus said:
“I am the good Shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good Shepherd, and I know mine and mine know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My Own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father.”
“I am the good Shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good Shepherd, and I know mine and mine know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My Own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
609 By embracing in His human Heart the Father’s love for men, Jesus “loved them to the end,” for “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men. Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: “No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of My Own accord.” Hence the sovereign freedom of God’s Son as he went out to His death.
754 “The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. It is also the flock of which God himself foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ Himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave His life for his sheep.
From “Door to Heaven” Testimony of Catalina Rivas (DH 75:5)
5) Little children, I am the Good Shepherd, I know how many sheep I have and I will find them all. I have chosen My sheep, they have not chosen Me.
From “The Great Crusade of Love” Testimony of Catalina Rivas (CL 181:6)
6) Do not oppress God’s Word nor keep it from being known, because His Word is eternal, like eternal is His Being. Nothing has changed in Me. I am Mercy, Forgiveness, and Love. The Good Shepherd watches over His flock and His sheep will hear His Voice, and it will become one sheepfold under one Shepherd. Time does not count; what counts is eternity. When everything seems lost, that is when everything is won. Do not be afraid, My little flock; My Name is Redeemer and Savior.
From “The Great Crusade of Mercy” Testimony of Catalina Rivas (CM 132:1-2)
1) I am the Good Shepherd and I know all My sheep, every one of them, and they know Me. They listen readily to My voice with gladness and I hear them bleating. I come from afar and like a flash of lightening, I approach My sheep who are in anguish. The sheep of the world are all Mine, but many of them do not know that I am all for them. They approach Me like blind
creatures and then they turn back; they drink from the fountain that I present to them but soon they retrace their steps. I know My sheep and I want to give My life to all of them. For the sake of them all, I have given the human life that I took from Mary.
2) I call you My sheep. Oh! If you were as docile as they are, how much better it would make you! And how happy you would be! I tell you that I am your good Shepherd, and if you knew how much Love I have for you, you would believe that for Me, being a Shepherd means only one thing: to give My life, the human life that I lived in Palestine and My Divine life that I live with the Father and with Love. That is what being the good Shepherd means to Me.
by Thomas Cremona
by Thomas Cremona
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