Reflection for Good Shepherd Sunday

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John’s words “the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep” set the tone for us this Good Shepherd Sunday. As a child I was fascinated by the start of the Good Friday liturgy where the clergy would lie flat on the church floor. With enthusiasm, I also wanted to be lying down at that moment.

We all make sacrifices in this life, often in ways hidden to many, but seen by God (think of the widow’s mite). In loving others, sacrifice is always involved as we reach out of ourselves and seek to understand the other, and this helps us understand the power of the call to lay down our lives.

Laying down ourselves is not about being a doormat or self-neglect. Rather, as Pope John Paul II reminded us, we are called to be bridges (pontifex) in helping people reach God through the way we reveal the love of God incarnate in the concrete reality of our lives.

We are all called to be shepherds, then, and we lie down every day and not just on Good Friday. Let us give thanks, too, for the shepherds and shepherdesses whom we have known and who have helped reveal something of the face of God, bridging the gap between heaven and earth. 

Fr Ryan Service, Holy Trinity, Sutton Coldfield