Reflections on the Sunday Readings for 5/3/09 by Dawn

You can find the full Scripture Readings for this Sunday at http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/050309.shtml

Jesus said:
"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."
John 10:14-15

Music is incredibly important to me. The lyrics of a song can capture my attention for days. Recent surveys of practicing Catholics reveal that I'm not alone. When asked to name the top three things they value during a liturgy, music is mentioned nearly every time. I developed a bad habit shortly after I learned how to read: every Sunday as soon as we got to church I would race through my prayers so that I could open up the music book and see what songs we were singing that day. If I liked the songs I knew it would be a good day, if they weren't my favorite... well, things didn't look too good! I've since learned that there is a huge amount of work in choosing music for liturgy. Good pastoral musicians spend much time in selecting appropriate songs. They have to take into account the Scripture of that Sunday, the Liturgical Season, the make-up of the congregation, and the song leader - just to name a few.

All this is talk about music does have a point. One of my very favorite hymns is "The King of Love My Shepherd Is". It is a very old Irish tune, attributed to St Columba, the words are by Henry W Baker. I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I do. Here are a few of the verses:

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness fails me never,
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever...

Perverse and foolish I have strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me...

And so through all the length of days
Your goodness fails me never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Your praise
Within Your house forever.

"Perverse and foolish I have strayed, but yet in love He sought me, and on His shoulder gently laid, and home, rejoicing, brought me." - these are my favorite lines in perhaps all the hymns we sing. There's not a better image of the Good Shepherd. Jesus says in the Gospel today, I know my sheep. He knows us inside and out, we can do or think nothing He does not know, yet He still chooses to love us and call us His own.

I was thinking about that fact today during Communion. I have had the privilege for many years to be a Eucharistic Minister at St Mary's. By now I know many of the faces that come through my "line". I've learned some of the stories behind the eyes I look into - the mother who lost her daughter, the daughters who bring Communion to their frail mother, the teen who has struggled with depression, the man whose wife recently died. Yet, although I think I know these people, how much more intimately does our Heavenly Father know each one of us, better than we know ourselves. While that can be a scary thought, it is also freeing - we don't have to pretend to be anyone else in His presence, we are who we are and He loves us.

He is the Good Shepherd.


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