Daily Mass - the fourth Sunday of Easter

I meant to set something out for the blog yesterday, but I couldn't find time at last. Mass was offered for the people of the parish yesterday morning, remembering all of you and our parishioners now deceased. When I arrived at Saint Joseph's, I was running through the sacristy and found a forest of scented candles in the cupboards. I thought, isn't that nice, we should find a use for those. This Sunday, I picked a couple of fat ones and set them on the ledge supporting our Saint Joseph statue. Until I can find a better solution for lights by the statue, those fat candles will be lit at every Sunday Mass. I'm hoping to eventually find little brass candlesticks for our Saint. 

The primary reading at Mass was the gospel reading, which spoke of a Sheepfold and the Shepherd. In the Gospels, the Sheepfold is a keyword for the Church, as is also, for example, the Kingdom of God. But the Sheepfold in Sunday's reading has the distinct image of a gated community, protected by the Shepherd and his vicars (especially the successor of Saint Peter, but including other cooperators), but which is susceptible to attack from villains coming over the fences. The trouble is that there are Christians with the mind of the Shepherd and other Christians who are not. The latter and all other would-be shepherds and messiahs (there was no shortage of them in the time of Christ, and there has been no shortage of them since) are a little like thieves and robbers, sowing doubt and leading their fellows astray. We know from experience that this is so. And Christ says in our gospel reading that His sheep will not follow strangers, since they recognise the voice of the Master alone. I AM the gate, He said, in another one of the list of I AM statements from the Gospel of S. John. The only true members of the flock, those who hear his voice, are those who enter the Sheepfold through Him. It is through Him that life is had, and had in abundance.

Traditionally, one of the Sundays of Easter has been named Good Shepherd Sunday, on account of this particular parable in the gospel reading. In the Catholic Church, with its roots in the Apostolic Church and the commission given to Saint Peter, we look to the bishops and the priests, with the faithful Religious working together with the Successor of Peter as the custodians of the Sheepfold and associates and helpers. And on the fourth Sunday of Easter we ask God for more of them.