Sunday, April 25, 2021

Good Shepherd Sunday

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, a day in our Catholic Easter Tradition to celebrate Jesus' role as Good Shepherd. Our priest during the 5pm mass spoke of the vocation to priesthood for men. In my mind I wanted to say men and women, however, in my heart and prayer God called to mind that we are all called to be good shepherds. My life has been filled with many good shepherds, first and foremost, my God "Jesus." My own father, Vernon has been my shepherd. He has been a gentle soul from my youth and to today.  My father has been my source of comfort, support and a role model in so many ways of service. My mother, now deceased, still shepherd's me with her mantras like "the better my attitude, the better my day," waking us in the morning, with "this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and get up," and "brush your teeth you will feel better." My sisters and brothers have been my shepherd during times when I needed help in a variety of ways, most especially during the suffering from breakups with boy friends, life's disappointments and even in sharing my successes.   My husband, my beloved Joe, even named after St. Joseph, Jesus' father. My Joe as I affectionately refer to him is a very good shepherd to me and to our family. How do I shepherd? I think of Jamie and Roxanna and now my brother's boys. I see that I have times when I am the sheep and when I become the shepherd. This blog was to be about Holy Communion, for in attending the 5pm mass I felt so happy to be with our St. Catherine's community and in sharing communion, I was uplifted deeply. In the going, and being with community, I realized how often the people of St. Catherine's have shepherded me over my 35 years as part of St. Catherine's "flock," when on occasion, the only reason I showed up was to be held by community. The shepherd of our St. Catherine's in the formal sense is Fr. Ryan who has taught all of us how to be good shepherd's by his life as good shepherd and our pastor.

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