Fourth Sunday of Easter

Fourth Sunday of Easter
Brother Alan Parham, FSC
​Spiritual Advisor

The fourth Sunday of Easter is better known a Good Shepherd Sunday. In this time of polarization, we have a Pope who encourages us to go after the lost sheep and even to “smell like the sheep.” We can be very devoted to Jesus as the way, truth, and life without being exclusive. In so many parables, Jesus encourages us to be inclusive. His mercy overflows in the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. In the latter parable, it is important to notice than it was sometimes the most religious people who lacked compassion.

When St. Peter says in the first reading from Acts: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under Heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved,” he is exhorting us to minister in Jesus’ Name and act as he did. One other incident sheds light on Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 15:27). The woman wanted healing, but Jesus told her she wasn’t Jewish, and that is whom He came for. But she appealed to him by saying that even dogs got the crumbs that fell of the table.

Many years ago, a boy wanted a dog. His parents took him to what was then called the dog pound. As the boy looked at the dogs there, his father pointed out some cleaner dogs which were of pure breeds. But the boy’s attention was drawn to the dirtiest dog in the pen. He had also noticed that, when the dog tried to eat, the other dogs bullied him and wouldn’t let him. Despite his father’s observations, the boy chose the dirty one. What a surprise when they took him home and washed him! It was actually a Springer Spaniel, a beautiful black and white dog. Thus began many years of friendship and love between the boy and his dog.

If you haven’t guessed, that boy was me. Pongo, the dog’s name, ended up getting more than crumbs from the table. The entire family learned to accept this dirty dog, who gave much joy to their lives. By including the dog a part of their family, they indeed redeemed the “lost sheep.”