Mystagogy: Week Four This Sunday, known as Good Shepherd Sunday, Jesus uses the metaphor of a shepherd and his sheep to illustrate his relationship with all His followers. Moreover, He notes that He is the gate for the sheep, laying down His life for them. This is in opposition to those who are thieves and robbers, the fraudulent “saviors” of the world who are out for themselves—they come to steal and take—there is no noble good in their words or actions.

In the first reading, Peter calls all to conversion. The psalm reminds us that God is always caring for us just as a shepherd cares for his sheep. The second reading tells us that when we stray, we can return to the Lord. Then in the gospel, Jesus promises to lead his people to safety and warns us to be cautious about who we choose follow. Remember last Sunday’s call to know our faith, not just be able to recite lines of scripture but rather to understand the meaning and purpose of His teachings, which will aid us in not being fooled by false prophets from Hollywood, the sports world or politics.

Jesus as the Good Shepherd: This image illustrates a love that knows and cares for his sheep, willing to give up His life for them. Jesus says that his sheep hear his voice—because it speaks Truth—and they follow him. This theme emphasizes Jesus’ love for His followers and His willingness to protect and guide them through life.

The relationship between Jesus and His followers: This theme, related closely to the first one, also focuses on the idea of Jesus’ followers recognizing His voice and following Him. The Gospel reading for this Sunday emphasizes the intimate relationship between Jesus and his sheep, and the idea that they are able to recognize and trust him because of their close connection, what they have learned from Him and His Truths. Personal relationship with Jesus is key. In decades past, many Catholics were uncomfortable with the phrase “personal relationship with Christ.” It sounded Protestant and beyond the realm of a God-human relationship, after all, we are not worthy. However, our faith teaches us to know Christ—not just to “know of” Him. In addition, to also understand the meaning of His Love, His Mercy and His Forgiveness, which spring from Divine Love—an unconditional, unending love that seeks the excellence of the other. With all that then, how can we not come to know Him and truly seek His Eternal Life?

The above-mentioned themes remind us that we cannot come to know Jesus if we do not spend time with Him. We can spend time with Jesus in many ways:

• At the Mass, offered every day of the week and most importantly on Sunday, the Lord’s Day. In Mass we receive Him in Word (as we hear His Truths), In Eucharist (as Catholics we can actually experience the Real Presence) in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity; and, in community as like-minded people connect and share in Christ (the collective Catholic Action of the Church);
• We come to know Christ in prayer—at home, in church, out in the field, along the country road and at the beach—any place that His Beauty is visible and appreciated—whether we say a rosary, the Our Father, pray the Hours, in meditation, or just talk with Him telling Him our joys, sorrows and doubts;
• We come to know Christ in the lived experience of faith when we help others in need—feeding the hungry (one of our many parish ministries), caring for the sick (supporting the Knights of Malta or caring for a sick child or struggling parent), teaching the ignorant (helping in a faith formation class);
• Jesus is present in the study of Sacred Scripture. His Word is alive and applicable to every time and place, every person in every age. One may enter into a parish Bible study program to whet your appetite and then further that experience of Christ by joining the New England Catholic Biblical School right here in the Archdiocese of Hartford. This is a treasure, as we are the only Archdiocese with an accredited Catholic Biblical School—out of the 196 dioceses in the United States; and,
• We acknowledge and find Christ in our well-celebrated marriages, when we forgive and seek mercy, when we lift others up rather than ridicule or mock, and when we seek the excellence of those in our world.

This is how we come to know and understand Him, become friends, in a most personal, deep, and intimate way. In addition, when we know Him personally, we become like Him. For He is the Shepherd and the Gate to-and-through which we find Eternal Life. This is His kind of Love: Divine, Unconditional, and Unending, filled with Truth, Goodness and Beauty.

Isn’t Mystagogy grand!