DAILY GRACE
May 4, 2020, Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Scripture: John 10:11-18
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“I know my own and my own know me.”
Do you ever feel that you want someone to really know you? Does it sometimes seem that events in your life are taking you away from where you really want to be or from the “true you?” In the passage above from John’s Gospel Jesus tells us he is the Good Shepherd, that he is personally involved in our life. Jesus is the one who calls us by name and knows us as no one else ever will. He chooses to accompany us on our journey, wherever it leads. When we hear his voice we find the direction toward our true self and our true home. We may have other companions and friends on our journey, but only One knows us through and through and calls us by our deepest name. Jesus leads us to life, to springs of living water, through the gift of his own life.
Prayer
Lord, I long for someone to know how I feel and to give me direction. I hear your voice calling my name in the quiet of prayer and in the silence of contemplation, and it does not depend on how I feel. I can entrust the secrets of my heart to you.
Contemplation
The Lord is my shepherd.