4th Sunday of Easter

To The Epiphany Family 
Hearing, Knowing, Following: The Tender Call of the Good Shepherd 
The Fourth Sunday of Easter, John 10: 27-30, (11 May, 2025) 

The Fourth Sunday of the Season of Easter is characterized by the Gospel of the Good Shepherd in chapter ten of St John which is read every year. The Gospel for today’s Liturgy speaks to us about the bond that exists between the Lord and each one of us (See Jn 10:27-30). To do so, Jesus uses a tender image, a beautiful image of the shepherd who stays with the sheep. And he explains it with three verbs: “My sheep”, Jesus says, “hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10: 27). 

Three verbs: to hear, to know, to follow. Let us take a look at these three verbs. 

(Pope Francis, Angelus, Regina Caeli, 2022) 

Dear brothers and sisters of the Epiphany, on this Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday, we are invited into one of the most tender and powerful images that Jesus gives us of himself: am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. (John 10:14). This image is not sentimental. It is profoundly radical. The Shepherd Who Lays Down His Life In Jesus’ time, shepherds were not gentle-looking men holding fluffy lambs—they were rugged, brave, and responsible for protecting their flock at all costs. A hired hand runs when danger comes, but the shepherd stays. Jesus tells us plainly: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” This is not just a poetic metaphor. It’s a prophecy of the Cross. Our Lord laid down His life, not by accident, but by choice. He died for us personally—by name. He died for the ones who would follow Him and even for those who might never choose to. 

The Shepherd Who Knows Us 

Jesus does not just protect us—He knows us: “I know my own and my own know me.” The word “knows” here is deep—it implies intimacy, love, and understanding. He knows your struggles, your doubts, your wounds, and your hopes. And He calls you by name, not as part of a crowd, but as a beloved child of God. This echoes the second reading from 1 John: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” Our identity is not in what we achieve or how we feel, but in being known and loved by God. 

The Shepherd Who Calls and Unites 

Jesus also says something unexpected: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice.” This is a call to mission, to unity, and to evangelization. The Church is not a closed circle. The Good Shepherd seeks all, including those on the margins, the forgotten, the distant. He is still calling. Are we helping others hear His voice? How do we deepen our knowledge of the Good Shepherd? 

Dear friends, first of all, the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd. The initiative always comes from the Lord. Everything comes from his grace: it is he who calls us to communion with him. But this communion comes about if we open ourselves to listen. If we are deaf, he cannot grant us this communion. 

Opening ourselves to listening, because listening means being available, it means docility, it means time dedicated to dialogue. Today, we are overwhelmed by words and by the urgency to always have something to say or do. Indeed, how often when two people are talking, one does not wait for the other to finish his or her thought, but cuts the other off mid-sentence, and responds. 

But if we do not allow another to speak, there is no listening. This is an ailment of our time. Today, we are overwhelmed by words, by the urgency to always have something to say or do. We are afraid of silence. How hard it is to listen to one other! To listen till the end, to let the other express him or herself, to listen to one another in our families, to listen to one another at school, to listen to one another at work, and even in the Church! But for the Lord, it is first of all necessary to listen. He is the Word of the Father, and the Christian is a listening child, called to live with the Word of God at hand. Let us ask ourselves today if we are listening children, if we find time for the Word of God, if we give space and attention to our brothers and sisters, if we know how to listen until the other has fully expressed them self, without cutting off what the other is saying. 

Second of all, listening to Jesus thus becomes the way for us to discover that he knows us. This is the second verb that concerns the Good Shepherd. He knows his sheep. But this does not only mean that he knows many things about us. To know in the biblical sense also means to love. It means that the Lord, “while he reads our inner beings”, loves us, he does not condemn us. If we listen to him, we discover this — that the Lord loves us. The way to discover the Lord’s love is to listen to him. Thus, our relationship with him will no longer be impersonal, cold or a front. Jesus seeks a warm friendship, trust, intimacy. 

Being with the Good Shepherd allows us to live the experience that the Psalm speaks about: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me” (Ps 23:4). Above all in our sufferings, in our difficulties, in our crises, which are darkness. He sustains us by going through them with us. Thus, it is precisely in difficult situations that we can discover that we are known and loved by the Lord. So, let us ask ourselves: Do I let the Lord know me? Do I make room for him in my life? Do I bring what I am living to him? 

Lastly, the third verb: the sheep who hear, and who discover they are known, follow: they listen, they feel they are known to the Lord and they follow the Lord who is their shepherd. What do those who follow Christ do? They go where he goes, along the same path, in the same direction. They go to seek those who are lost (See Luke 15:4), they take an interest in those who are far away, take to heart the situation of those who suffer, know how to weep with those who weep, they reach out their hands to their neighbors, carrying them on their shoulders. And me? Do I let Jesus love me, and from allowing him to love me, do I begin to love him, to imitate him? 

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we also mark the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. We pray especially that more hearts will respond to the Shepherd’s call—whether to the priesthood, religious life, marriage, or single consecration. Each vocation is a unique way of echoing the Shepherd’s voice in the world. 

Dear Epiphany, let us take time to listen again. The Good Shepherd speaks to each of us. He does not just lead from afar—He walks with us, calls us by name, and gives His life for us. May we respond with open hearts, trust Him more deeply, and help others come to know His voice. 

May the Holy Virgin help us listen to Christ, know him always more and follow him on the way of service. Hearing him, knowing him, following him. May the Blessed Virgin help us as we pray to her by reciting our daily Most Holy Rosary during this Month of May. 

A special God’s Blessings to all the Mothers of our Epiphany. May the Blessed Ever Virgin Mary intercede for all of them. Happy Mother’s Day! 

Fraternally, 
Fr. John Peter Lazaar SAC, Pastor