4th Sunday of Eastertide
In this Sunday’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus states that he freely lays down his life, yet in other parts of the Gospel we hear of what an enormous struggle it was for him to be obedient unto death. On one hand he freely, with love, goes to his death and, on the other hand, he sweats blood over the prospect of his tortuous death. Often in life, we too face this sense of being torn apart. Relationships in which we dearly love someone can be hard and demanding. Work that we must do to support ourselves and our families can be a source of humiliation and failure. We may live with chronic, extreme pain which may make us feel we want to end it all yet we want to trust in God. Sometimes we can only live through the experience, other times we need to make difficult and delicate decisions. How much we need a Shepherd! And one of our hearts and minds. Often all we can do is turn in constant, humble prayer, asking Jesus to be with, to give us his wisdom and to shepherd our hearts into his peace.
Sr Kym Harris OSB |