2nd Sunday after Easter
John 10:1-16
“Yes,
the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door,
but breaks into the fold elsewhere, is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by
the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
To him, the
doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by
name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open.
When he has brought them out, he walks before them,
and the sheep follow
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| Yong Sun Kim |
after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will
not follow, but rather flee because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”
Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures,
but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then Jesus went on. “Yes, the truth out of the
spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were
thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.
I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will
find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond,
and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief
comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down
his life for the sheep. He who works for wages, and who is no true shepherd,
whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and
flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is only a hireling
and he cares nothing for the sheep.
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me,
and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I
know the being of the Father; and I offer my life for the sheep.
Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not
of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one
day there will be one flock, one Shepherd.
2nd Sunday after Easter
April 26, 2020
John 10:1-21
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| Jorge Sanz-Cordona |
A doorway is an opening that leads from one space to another.
The door can either open or close off the access. In our everyday lives we
encounter many doors; not only the physical ones in rooms and buildings, but
also the portals between one state of soul and another.
One such doorway is waking and sleeping. At night we are
meant to move calmly and easily through the doorway of sleep. The doorway to
our earthly concerns closes behind us, and we move out into the starry pastures
where our souls are nourished, and our bodies refreshed. And then, at the right
time, we are called back to our earthly home.
But fear and worry, clinging to earthly concerns, can hold
us back at the gateway to sleep, or bring us rushing back too soon.
At the beginning of our earthly lives, we stood before a
similar portal. We were called into life, onto earthly fields. And at the end
we will be called back again to our heavenly home.
Christ is the one who calls us to both our homes, the
earthly one and the heavenly. For He Himself is at home both here on the earth
and in the starry expanses. He is the one who leads us to the thresholds of
sleep and of life. He is the one who opens the door. Day after day, night after
night, life after life, we can follow His call. He walks in the spirit ahead of
us. We can trust in the calling of His voice. For His is the voice that summons
our deepest self. His is the voice of nurture, the voice of the purest, most
accepting, all-forgiving love.
So, as a ‘sleep aid’ we can say the following prayer:
May the events that seek me
Come unto me.
May I receive them
With a quiet mind
Through the Father’s ground of peace
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| Jorge Sanz-Cordona |
On which we walk.
May the people who seek me
Come unto me.
May I receive them
With an understanding heart
Through the Christ’s stream of love
In which we live.
May the spirits which seek me
Come unto me.
May I receive them
With a clear soul
Through the healing Spirit’s Light
By which we see.*
And then we can awaken from the Good Shepherd’s nourishing
fields of sleep, the kind of sleep that
I sleep where I will
wake with the
strength to
deeply
love….**
**Theresa of Avila, (1515-1582), “Clarity is Freedom” in
Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 279
