Fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday)

Mass Readings

• First Reading Acts 4:8-12
• Responsorial Psalm Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
• Second Reading 1 John 3:1-2
• Gospel John 10:11-18

Open the Mass Readings on USCCB.org →

Step Into the Story

Israel’s kings were called shepherds, and its greatest king had actually been one. In exile in Babylon, Ezekiel blasted the shepherds of Israel who fed themselves and not the flock. In Acts 4 Peter stands before the Sanhedrin, with Annas among them. Rome had deposed Annas as high priest in 15 A.D., but he remained the power behind the office; Caiaphas was his son-in-law, and five of his sons held the office after him. A Galilean fisherman tells these grandees that the stone they rejected has become the cornerstone.

1. c. 20 B.C.Herod begins the Temple
2. 15 A.D.Rome deposes Annas
3. c. 18 A.D.Caiaphas becomes high priest
4. 26 A.D.Pilate becomes prefect
5. This week’s scene: c. 29 A.D.“I am the good shepherd”

John gives this teaching in Jerusalem, likely around 29 A.D., but its pictures come from the hills outside. So go out before dawn to a stone sheepfold on a Judean hillside. Several flocks have spent the night penned together behind a low wall topped with thorns, a gatekeeper sleeping by the single opening. Smell the wool, the dung and the cold dew on the grass.

Watch the first shepherd come up the path. The gatekeeper opens. The shepherd calls, a few plain sounds, and some of the sheep lift their heads and push toward him, his own and no others. He walks out ahead, and they follow his voice. Stand by the gate in the grey light and listen. Then turn to the One who says He is that shepherd.

Encounter the Lord

Imagine a hillside at dusk outside Bethlehem. A wolf circles the flock. The hired man drops his staff and runs. The shepherd steps between the wolf and the sheep. Jesus says, “That is what I do for you.”

He does not only protect you; He knows you. “I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” The love between the Father and the Son is the measure of how Jesus knows you. He laid down His life for you freely, and He continues to shepherd you through the bishops and priests He has given His Church. They need your prayers, because, as St. Gregory says, they must be sanctified in order to sanctify.

Today, pray by name for your pastor and your bishop. Then ask the Good Shepherd whom He may be calling, perhaps in your own family, to the priesthood or religious life.

Know Your Faith

Christ, the Good Shepherd

The Church is a sheepfold whose one gate is Christ, and a flock led and nourished by Christ Himself, the Good Shepherd, who gave His life for His sheep (CCC 754). Christ died for all without exception (CCC 605).

Shepherds in His Name

In the ordained minister it is Christ Himself who is present to His Church as Shepherd of His flock; the priest acts in the person of Christ the Head (CCC 1548). This priesthood is a service, entirely related to Christ and to men (CCC 1551).

The Cornerstone

The Lord compared Himself to the stone the builders rejected, which became the cornerstone. On this foundation the Church is built by the apostles (CCC 756). There is salvation in no other name (CCC 432, 452).

Children of God

By the sacraments of rebirth Christians have become children of God and partakers of the divine nature (CCC 1692). Then we shall see God “as he is,” face to face (CCC 163, 1023).