The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” as we celebrate the grace of abundant life that has been made available to us through Jesus, the Good Shepherd. He is “the shepherd and guardian of your souls”, (1 Pt 2,25) as St. Peter reminds us. It is the Lord who is our shepherd and leads us even through the dark valley of death (Ps 23,4). He is able to lead us safely through this dark valley because he himself has already traveled there and conquered death forever.

Pope Benedict in his encyclical entitled, “Saved in Hope”, spoke to us of the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd: “The true shepherd is one who knows even the path that passes through the valley of death: one who walks with me even on the path of final solitude, where no one can accompany me, guiding me through: he himself has walked this path, he has descended into the kingdom of death, he has conquered death, and he has returned to accompany us now and to give us the certainty that, together with him, we can find a way through…this was the new “hope” that arose over the life of believers.” (Spe Salvi, 6)

In this Easter season of the resurrection, we are reminded of our hope for eternal life. We do not need to fear the evil of death because we will never be alone in the darkness of death. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, walks before us and leads us safely to the far pastures of the Father’s house where we may be fed at the table of plenty on food that gives us eternal life, our heads anointed with oil and our cups overflowing. This is the abundant life that is promised and that Jesus has come to give to us, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10,10)

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. If we follow his voice and are known to him in a personal way, as friends, then we may pass safely into the house of the Father. Jesus is the gate that leads to the Father. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus and no one can enter into the kingdom of the Father without passing through the gate which is Jesus. This excludes no one for Jesus himself says, “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.” (Jn 10,16)

Our hope has a solid foundation for we already possess the means of salvation in Christ Jesus. We already are assured of a way which leads us surely and safely to the Father and eternal and abundant life: Jesus, the Way. Our hope is not just wishful thinking that we might attain a good outcome in the end but rather, it is a certainty that we live even now. We pass even now in and out of the gate, experiencing a foretaste of eternal life in the abundant life of Christ that we share now in the Eucharist and in our own personal relationship of prayer and our journey of faith with the Good Shepherd. Christian faith gives us the substance of things that are hoped for (Heb 11,1) as we live our faith even now in Christ. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the Sheep-gate, has opened for us the gates of heaven, and even now we may feast on the riches from his table in the Eucharist.

As sheep, there should be nothing more important to us than to listen to the voice of the Shepherd, to know him in an intimate way, and to place our trust in the way in which he leads us. Prayer, sacrament, scripture, liturgy, and service all lead us closer to Christ and allow us to know him intimately and to hear him call us by name, in the tenderness of a friend. As shepherds, in the manner of the Good Shepherd, we must be willing to love our sheep, know them personally and lay down our selves for them in a ministry of service and self-sacrifice.

This Sunday is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Every vocation has as its model the ministry of the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep, who leads them into a more abundant life, who protects them from the harm of false shepherds, and who provides a “gate” for them to pass through into life. Pope Francis reminds us in his Address for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, “In the depths of their heart, all missionary disciples hear this divine voice bidding them to “go about”, as Jesus did, “doing good and healing all” (cf. Acts 10:38). I have mentioned that, by virtue of baptism, every Christian is a “Christopher”, a bearer of Christ, to his brothers and sisters (cf. Catechesis, 30 January 2016).” Today we pray that every person would discern their vocation to share in the mission of the Good Shepherd of doing good and healing all.