Fourth Sunday of Easter

Lectionary: 50

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.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

The familiar hymn, Christ beside me; Christ within me, is a musical version of Saint Patrick's Lorica, the Deer's Cry. It's said that the Saint with his troupe of missionaries was travelling through a dense forest. He knew there was a hostile force nearby, waiting to attack and kill them. And so he composed and taught the monks this prayer and they sang it together. The enemy saw and heard only a passing rangale of deer. 

The prayer begins,  "I arise today / through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity..."  Like many of the psalms, it's a personal prayer. An individual stands before God helpless, alone, and needy; and prays for help. A petitioner before the Almighty cannot pretend to be powerful, righteous, or worthy. We have no claim on God except the name of Jesus; or, as Patrick says, the name of the Trinity. 

A Christian knows the mystery of the Trinity, "a mystery hidden from ages and from generations past, but now manifested to his holy ones." Like the mysterious deer, this enigma stands in plain sight of the enemy and yet they cannot perceive it. But it is lorica to the faithful individual, "a shell-like protective outer covering," or "a Roman corselet or cuirass of leather." 

As I have recited this prayer each morning for many years, I feel the reassuring presence of our Good Shepherd. He is "my strength, the LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock of refuge, my shield, my saving horn my stronghold!" Psalm 18

I suppose anyone who greatly admires a leader believes that individual would enjoy their company. Many people felt they could sit down and drink a beer with George W Bush, rather than his opponent Al Gore in  2000. If he actually won that election, it was in part for his folksy manner. He cultivated that appearance despite his prolific reading and his predilection for Catholic advisors. In 2024, many people feel an intense bond of affection for Donald Trump despite his fabled wealth and notorious contempt for advisors. He has only to repeat whatever falsehoods his admirers believe to win their undying loyalty. 

The Christian feels that reassurance in the presence of our Good Shepherd. We know the Lord is with us even before we respond, "...and with your spirit." We see his companionship in Bethlehem's manger, on Calvary's cross, and the road to Emmaus. Hearing the Gospel, we sign ourselves with a cross on the forehead, the lips, and the heart. We pray to be always aware of his care and concern for us. When that day comes -- that dies irae, dies illa -- we'll know his call to "Come out!" and like Lazarus we'll come dancing. 

The Good Shepherd accompanies and reassures us as we navigate the wilderness of this 21st century. If the "apocalypse" happens when we no longer recognize the world as familiar, we live in a post-apocalyptic age not unlike that of Moses and his tribes in the Sinai wilderness. 

The LORD answered: I myself will go along, to give you rest. Moses replied, “If you are not going yourself, do not make us go up from here. For how can it be known that I and your people have found favor with you, except by your going with us? Then we, your people and I, will be singled out from every other people on the surface of the earth.” The LORD said to Moses: This request, too, which you have made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend. (Exodus 33:14-17)

Jesus knows our distress for he has passed out of this Egypt through the harrowing Red Sea into the Promised Land. But he has not left us behind for he who knows the way is the Way. He is the Truth and foundation of our Life. Standing far taller than his sheep, with an endless view of the future and a serene understanding of our past, the Shepherd leads us in the most direct route to the meadows of our true homeland.