Shepherds and Corner Stones

The images from the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today include shepherds and corner stones. In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter declares that the power and person responsible for the miraculous healing of the man lame from birth is Jesus Christ, the one who the authorities have put to death. Peter compares Jesus to the stone rejected by the builders, praised by the psalmist today, which has become the corner stone. One aspect of being shepherd is to advocate for, live in service of, protect, and attend to the needs of loved ones. This shepherd witness is visible in life around us everyday. Certainly the witness of the shepherds gives hope that love truly exists. The Letter of John proclaims that we are God's children. It explains that the world does not see the shepherds and the Good Shepherd because it has not known the love of the Father. The Gospel of John, according to Friar Jude Winkler, places explicit emphasis on the Divinity of Jesus. The Life within Jesus, the realized eschatology, is the consequence of accepting the leadership of the Good Shepherd. This Way will involve the development through prayer and life experiences of the faith that the power of God to lay down our lives for our sheep and to have them restored through our communion with the Divine will act for us and ours to sharpen our ability, as Father Larry Gillick suggests, to hear Jesus voice over the the voices of our ego, fears and culture which may be the "hired hands" who do not care for sheep. This activity as brothers and sisters of the Good Shepherd is likely to bring us into interrogation by and disagreement with some of the hired hands. The Holy Spirit which fills the Followers of the Way is the Divine power to transcend all obstacles, even death, as we accept the invitation to Live within the flock of the Shepherd.