Community of the Shepherd

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to maintain the mission of our Baptismal anointing by living with piety, study, and action to enhance our opportunities to be agents of the Love of Christ.

Community of Care

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the Church at Antioch.

* [11:19–26] The Jewish Christian antipathy to the mixed community was reflected by the early missionaries generally. The few among them who entertained a different view succeeded in introducing Gentiles into the community at Antioch (in Syria). When the disconcerted Jerusalem community sent Barnabas to investigate, he was so favorably impressed by what he observed that he persuaded his friend Saul to participate in the Antioch mission.

* [11:26] Christians: “Christians” is first applied to the members of the community at Antioch because the Gentile members of the community enable it to stand out clearly from Judaism. (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 87 is a song of Zion.

* [Psalm 87] A song of Zion, like Ps 46; 48; 76; 132.

* [87:2] The gates: the city itself, a common Hebrew idiom.

* [87:5–6] The bond between the exile and the holy city was so strong as to override the exile’s citizenship of lesser cities. (Psalms, PSALM 87 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of John presents Jesus' attendance at the Feast of the Dedication.

* [10:22] Feast of the Dedication: an eight-day festival of lights (Hebrew, Hanukkah) held in December, three months after the feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:2), to celebrate the Maccabees’ rededication of the altar and reconsecration of the temple in 164 B.C., after their desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Dn 8:13; 9:27; cf. 1 Mc 4:36–59; 2 Mc 1:18–2:19; 10:1–8).

* [10:23] Portico of Solomon: on the east side of the temple area, offering protection against the cold winds from the desert.

* [10:24] Keep us in suspense: literally, “How long will you take away our life?” Cf. Jn 11:48–50. If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly: cf. Lk 22:67. This is the climax of Jesus’ encounters with the Jewish authorities. There has never yet been an open confession before them.

* [10:25] I told you: probably at Jn 8:25 which was an evasive answer.

* [10:29] The textual evidence for the first clause is very divided; it may also be translated: “As for the Father, what he has given me is greater than all,” or “My Father is greater than all, in what he has given me.”

* [10:30] This is justification for Jn 10:29; it asserts unity of power and reveals that the words and deeds of Jesus are the words and deeds of God. (John, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)

Carol Zuegner asks if she lets the voice of the Shepherd get drowned out by the noise that surrounds her?

I know Jesus loves me and forgives me. Do I do the same for my neighbor? My family? My colleagues? Do my actions in my everyday life serve as an echo of what Jesus says? Are my intentions good but are my actual responses weak?  What can I do today to filter out the cacophony of temptations and distractions that keep me from hearing in my heart what God wants from me? How can I brush aside my ego, my desire to be in charge and surrender to God? How can I be still amid the clanging and banging of what seems important to really hear that voice of God?

I pray that I find that stillness today, that I listen for God’s voice and that voice reverberates in my actions and my life. (Zuegner, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “Abiding in Christ,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

" Jesus recommended to us His Body and Blood in bread and wine, elements that are reduced into one out of many constituents. What is meant by eating that food and taking that drink is this: to remain in Christ and have Him remaining in us." (excerpt from Sermon on John 26,112) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 10:22-30 comments that we know that Jesus is our Good Shepherd and that we are among the sheep who hear his voice. But sometimes we, too, have our own expectations of who Jesus should be and what he should say to us. And these expectations can make it harder for us to hear his voice or let his words find a home in our hearts.

Today, take the time to hear Jesus’ voice. Try to quiet the noise around you, along with the noise in your head. Sit or kneel silently in adoration and wait for him to speak to you. You may not hear him right away, but keep listening. Trust that he will speak to you, and then follow the Good Shepherd wherever he leads you.

“Lord Jesus, help me to hear your voice and follow you, today and every day.” (Meditation on John 10:22-30, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the narrative in Acts that describes the response of the disciples to persecution that led them to expand contact with Gentiles in Phoenicia and Antioch. Jesus trips to Jerusalem during feasts in John shows the resistance of those who did not belong to Him or the Father. Friar Jude reminds us that faith is a gift that some may not have deeply received while underlining that the greater gift requires the greater response.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, recognizes in Mary a feminine symbol or archetype for the divine presence in creation. Fr. Richard borrows the language of Carl Jung, an “archetype”—an image that constellates a whole host of meanings that cannot be communicated logically but is grounded in our collective unconscious.  

What is the very ubiquity of this image saying on the soul level? I think it looks something like this:  

The first incarnation (creation) is symbolized by Sophia-Incarnate, a beautiful, feminine, multicolored, graceful Mary.  

She is invariably offering us Jesus, God incarnated into vulnerability and nakedness.  

Mary became the symbol of the first universal incarnation.  

She then hands the second incarnation on to us, while remaining in the background; the focus is always on the child.  

Earth Mother presenting Spiritual Son, the two first stages of the incarnation.  

Feminine Receptivity, handing on the fruit of her yes.  

And inviting us to offer our own yes. (Rohr, n.d.) 

 

We consider our membership in the community of disciples of Christ and implore the Spirit to inspire our outreach and support our continuing contact with the One Who brings Life.

References

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved May 13, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/11?19 

John, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved May 13, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/10?22 

Meditation on John 10:22-30. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved May 13, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/05/13/1274734/ 

Psalms, PSALM 87 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved May 13, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/87?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved May 13, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/mary-a-feminine-face-of-god/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). My Sheep Hear My Voice. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 13, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=may13 

Zuegner, C. (2025, May 13). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved May 13, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/051325.html 

 

Attending to Life with the Shepherd

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present the expansion of Christianity to the Gentile world and the promise of Jesus of life to the full in relationship with Christ.

The Good Shepherd and Full Life

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter visits the house of the Gentile Cornelius.

* [11:1–18] The Jewish Christians of Jerusalem were scandalized to learn of Peter’s sojourn in the house of the Gentile Cornelius. Nonetheless, they had to accept the divine directions given to both Peter and Cornelius. They concluded that the setting aside of the legal barriers between Jew and Gentile was an exceptional ordinance of God to indicate that the apostolic kerygma was also to be directed to the Gentiles. Only in Acts 15 at the “Council” in Jerusalem does the evangelization of the Gentiles become the official position of the church leadership in Jerusalem.

* [11:3] You entered…: alternatively, this could be punctuated as a question.

* [11:12] These six brothers: companions from the Christian community of Joppa (see Acts 10:23). (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 42 forms a single lament of three sections.

* [Psalms 42–43] Ps 42–43 form a single lament of three sections, each section ending in an identical refrain (Ps 42:6, 12; 43:5). The psalmist is far from Jerusalem, and longs for the divine presence that Israel experienced in the Temple liturgy. Despite sadness, the psalmist hopes once again to join the worshiping crowds. (Psalms, PSALM 42 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of John declares full life with The Good Shepherd.

* [10:1–21] The good shepherd discourse continues the theme of attack on the Pharisees that ends Jn 9. The figure is allegorical: the hired hands are the Pharisees who excommunicated the cured blind man. It serves as a commentary on Jn 9. For the shepherd motif, used of Yahweh in the Old Testament, cf. Ex 34; Gn 48:15; 49:24; Mi 7:14; Ps 23:1–4; 80:1.

* [10:1] Sheepfold: a low stone wall open to the sky.

* [10:4] Recognize his voice: the Pharisees do not recognize Jesus, but the people of God, symbolized by the blind man, do.

* [10:6] Figure of speech: John uses a different word for illustrative speech than the “parable” of the synoptics, but the idea is similar.

* [10:7–10] In Jn 10:7–8, the figure is of a gate for the shepherd to come to the sheep; in Jn 10:9–10, the figure is of a gate for the sheep to come in and go out.

* [10:8] [Before me]: these words are omitted in many good early manuscripts and versions. (John, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)

David Crawford comments that that we need a greater level of familiarity with the voice of our Shepherd, the One who came “so that [we] might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Loving God, forgive us for our inattention.  Thank you for being our gate to salvation.  We want to be close to you.  We want to hear you.  Help us to listen constantly so that we recognize and follow your voice.  Amen. (Crawford, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Green pastures and still waters,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"The pastures that this good shepherd has prepared for you, in which he has settled you for you to take your fill, are not various kinds of grasses and green things, among which some are sweet to the taste, some extremely bitter, which as the seasons succeed one another are sometimes there and sometimes not. Your pastures are the words of God and his commandments, and they have all been sown as sweet grasses. These pastures had been tasted by that man who said to God, 'How sweet are your words to my palate, more so than honey and the honeycomb in my mouth!'" (excerpt from Sermon 366,3,1) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 11:1-18 comments that the Catholic Church teaches, our oneness in Christ is something we share with everyone who has been baptized into the Lord, regardless of their faith tradition. But like Peter, we sometimes understand our unity more clearly when we see the Spirit working in a variety of ways among our brothers and sisters who come from different Christian backgrounds.

God wants to bring all his children together in Christ. Just as Peter discovered, his plan is always bigger and wider in scope than anything we can conceive on our own. Let’s widen our horizons today and thank God for the love and fellowship we can experience with Christians of every tradition. Let’s pray that together we can witness to the power of the Spirit working among us!

“Lord Jesus, help me to experience the unity that the Spirit brings whenever he moves among us.” (Meditation on Acts 11:1-18, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes the expansion of preaching the Gospel from Aramaic Jews, to Greek Jews, to God-fearers, and to Cornelius, a Gentile. A theme in Acts identifies the growth of the Church guided by the Spirit. Friar Jude reminds us of the role of the Sheep Gate that Jesus takes in John to protect the sheep from those who sound religious but may be seeking control and manipulation.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces novelist Sue Monk Kidd who describes why cultivating an image of the Sacred Feminine is so important, particularly for women raised within Christianity. Public theologian Christena Cleveland explores how an exclusively white, male image of God is limiting and even oppressive. She shares a mystical experience of encountering the unconditional love of the Sacred Black Feminine while on a mindfulness retreat.

I had never before experienced formidable strength in the form of Love and it undid me. I marveled that after an entire day of earnestly clearing my mind of fearful clutter, what lay beneath it all was not another to-do list from whitemalegod…. No, Love was underneath it all, just as I had hoped. That day, I discovered that at the heart of reality … flows wave after wave after wave of Love … for me….   

This experience showed me that no matter what is going on around me and no matter how much fear tries to consume me, the Sacred Black Feminine is always available to guide me into Love. [2]  (Rohr, n.d.)

We are invited to the fullness of life as the experience that accompanies our journey inspired by the Spirit as followers of Jesus.

References

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/11?1 

Crawford, D. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. OnlineMinistries. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/051225.html 

John, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/10?1 

Meditation on Acts 11:1-18. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/05/12/1274068/ 

Psalms, PSALM 42 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/42?2 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/why-she-matters/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). I Came That They May Have Life Abundantly. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=may12