We Are His People: Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, when we, still in the season of Easter, contemplate Our Lord as the Good Shepherd. In the Gospel today Our Lord quite clearly uses the language of sheep and shepherd:

My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.

What is important to remember about this relationship is not, perhaps, the loyalty of Our Lord to those who belong to His fold, this cannot be denied (see 2 Timothy 2:13), but His power:

No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.

The “no one” being referred to here is, of course, the Devil and his minions. The devil can have no power over those who belong to Christ. Which is why, my dear brothers and sisters, we who belong to Christ must not fear demonic possession. Too often I have seen Catholics obsessed with the devil! Possession by the devil is nearly impossible for those who belong to Christ and remain faithful to the grace of God. More than once, I have heard priests assure us that most often what we think is demonic possession is simply psychological disorder and needs medical assistance. Demonic possession is rare, and we should not give the devil any undue attention.

This is not to say that the Devil, and his minions, do not attack us, or prey, on our fears and desires. Of course, he does! He has been doing so since the beginning of time. However, it is important to know that for those of us who cling firmly to Christ, there is no danger. Every time we are tempted, and succumb to this temptation, we can return to Our Lord through the sacrament of confession and subsequently through Holy Communion. Pope Francis has gained fame for saying that the shepherd must smell of his sheep. Our divine Shepherd, however, by giving us His Own Body and Blood, makes sure that we smell of Him!

These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

All of this is to say that we are safe in the embrace of the Shepherd against all kind of demonic attack because no one can take us out of His hand. There is just one person who can do that, however, and that is ourselves. Our God is a generous God who gives us free will. He does not bind us to His love, even though it is the best thing that can happen to us. He gives us the will to accept or depart. And so, my dear brothers and sisters, while no one can snatch us away from the hand of God, we are able to fall from his hands only if we are negligent.

And our negligence is very difficult to come by if we follow the teachings of the Church and live a sacramental life: confess regularly, go to Mass every Sunday, receive Holy Communion, and make sure you do not receive Holy Communion unless you have made a good confession recently, especially if you have committed a mortal sin. One could also add that we should use the sacramentals frequently, blessed water, for example.

And there is one more thing, we must pray to the saints, not for any material favours, though it does not hurt to do so, but primarily to grow in virtue. We must ask the saints to help us to be more like them and imitate them actively. There are so many saints in the Church of Our Lord, each marked by definite virtues. Pray to a number of them that we may grow in the virtues they embodied! Growth in the virtuous life, supported by an active sacramental life, will ensure that we are always in the tight embrace of the Good Shepherd.

These are very, VERY, simple requirements my dear brothers and sisters, and if we reject them, then in the words of the apostles Paul and Barnabas, we condemn ourselves as unworthy of eternal life.

For this reason, I join my voice with that of the apostles and urge you “to remain faithful to the grace of God.”

(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the Thanksgiving Mass celebrated with and for the parishioners of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatorda on 11 May 2025.)

(Image reference: The Good Shepherd, Mosaic of the bezel above the entrance door of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, c.425, via www.meisterdrucke.uk, Ravenna.)