Happy Good Shepherd Sunday! I love the image of Christ the Good Shepherd. Many other Christian denominations celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday, as Catholics do on the 4th Sunday of Easter. The image of a "good shepherd" is so compelling that Hermes, the Greek god of shepherds, among other things, was called The Good Shepherd in ancient times. Christians may have adopted this title as one applied to Christ, who, in today's Gospel from John, calls himself "The Gate of the Sheepfold" through which believers "go in and out" and are "safe".
This is also where Christ proclaims his purpose in having come: I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. "The thief," Christ says, "comes only to steal and kill and destroy."
The above image is nice variation on Christ as the Good Shepherd because He is carrying the black sheep to safety and abundance. Let's learn to rest in the arms of the Good Shepherd whom God sent to give us abundant life.
Me, too!
ReplyDeleteI'm rather a city boy than otherwise. But, I love the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. 5000 years of civilization makes the concept of the loving shepherd very appealing and familiar. I hve several holy cards of these images. I keep one on my closet shelf.
There is a reason the 23rd Psalm is so popular!
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