Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, it is also Vocations Sunday and most importantly it is Mother’s Day.

St. Therese of Lisieux once said about Mothers, 

“The loveliest masterpiece……. of the heart of God. Is the heart of a mother”!

It is widely believed that a caring mother’s love for her children is the closest a human can get to understanding God’s love for each of us.

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we are reminded just how much God loves and cares for each of us. His love for us is related to a Shepherd and his Sheep.

The role of a shepherd is to care for and feed his sheep and lead them continuously to greener pastures. Sheep know their shepherd from the sound of his voice or his whistling. They stay close to the shepherd for there is danger if they lose the shepherd, if they wander off, they may get lost, or they could be attacked by wolves.

It is hard to be a good Catholic these days. Our secular world is a difficult place at best to hold onto our values, our beliefs and indeed, our faith.

That is why we follow Jesus closely, to allow him to lead the way and provide protection and comfort.

We stay close, by celebrating the sacraments and strengthening our prayer life. We are encouraged to pray our daily prayer, the rosary, divine mercy chaplet and eucharistic adoration, most of all we need the Holy Sacrifice of The Mass.

In addition, we are called to turn our lives over to God and therefore all aspects of our life are to be offered up as a prayer. For we are called to a higher standard.

This Sunday we to recognize the need for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

We understand that it is a great sacrifice and a wonderful gift to hand over your life to God through the priesthood. We are blessed to be served by priests who share their lives and are available to meet our needs.

We here at St. Faustina as a community are obligated to support and encourage our priests and we too are to encourage our children to seek the will of God in their lives. 

As we move forward this week let us remember the first line in Psalm 23

“The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want”. ( Deacon Tom)

 

Let us continue to pray for each other and with each other as we share the message of God's Divine Mercy during the Easter Season.

Fr. Gerard Monaghan