Good Shepherd Sunday - Second Sunday After Easter

I. Background Reading -
Read the following Psalm.

Psalm 23 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
    he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
    he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
    thy rod and thy staff,
    they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil,
    my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    for ever. 

• This psalm compares God to a shepherd. We can identify a few key features of what it means for God to be our Shepherd. 

1. He provides for us. 
2. He gives us peace and comfort when we are frightened. 
3. He protects us from danger and evil. 
4. He shows us the way we should go. 

• In the last half of the psalm there is what literary critics call a "turn." A turn is where the author slightly changes subjects. He begins to apply each of the four characteristics that he had earlier used to describe God as a shepherd to his everyday life. 

II. The Epistle Reading, 1 Peter 2, 21-25

• If God is like a shepherd, then perhaps we are rather like sheep. How does St. Peter, the first pope, compare us to sheep in this reading? 
• And yet, St. Peter also compares Jesus to a lamb in this passage. Read this passage from Isaiah.

Isaiah 53: 1-11 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

• Who has believed what we have heard?
      And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
  For he grew up before him like a young plant,
      and like a root out of dry ground;
  he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,
      and no beauty that we should desire him.
  He was despised and rejected by men;
      a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
  and as one from whom men hide their faces
      he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
  Surely he has borne our griefs
      and carried our sorrows;
  yet we esteemed him stricken,
      smitten by God, and afflicted.
  But he was wounded for our transgressions,
      he was bruised for our iniquities;
  upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
      and with his stripes we are healed.
  All we like sheep have gone astray;
      we have turned every one to his own way;
  and the Lord has laid on him
      the iniquity of us all.
  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
      yet he opened not his mouth;
  like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
      and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb,
      so he opened not his mouth.
  By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
      and as for his generation, who considered
  that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
      stricken for the transgression of my people?
  And they made his grave with the wicked
      and with a rich man in his death,
  although he had done no violence,
      and there was no deceit in his mouth.
  Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him;
      he has put him to grief;
  when he makes himself an offering for sin,
      he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days;
  the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand;
      he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;
  by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
      make many to be accounted righteous;
      and he shall bear their iniquities.
• Can you spot the similarities and the Epistle from St. Peter? In what way does St. Peter compare Jesus to a lamb? How does this relate to what we learned two weeks ago about the "Passover"?

III. Gospel Reading, John 10, 11-16

• In this passage, Jesus compares himself to a shepherd. Can you identify the ways that Jesus fits the description of the Good Shepherd from Psalm 22(23)? 

IV. Catechism Lesson
Penny Catechism, no. 141-146; 

141. What is prayer?

   

Prayer is the raising up of the mind and heart to God.

 

142. How do we raise up our mind and heart to God?

   

We raise up our mind and heart to God by thinking of God; by adoring, praising, and thanking him; and by begging of him all blessings for soul and body.

 

143. Do those pray well who, at their prayers, think neither of God nor of what they say?

   

Those who, at their prayers, think neither of God nor of what they say, do not pray well; but they offend God, if their distractions are willful.

144. Which is the best of all prayers?

   

The best of all prayers is the 'Our Father', or the Lord's Prayer.

 

145. Who made the Lord's Prayer?

   

Jesus Christ himself made the Lord's Prayer.

 

 146. Say the Lord's Prayer.

 

   

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; 

thy kingdom come; 

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; 

give us this day our daily bread; 

and forgive us our trespasses, 

as we forgive those who trespass against us; 

and lead us not into temptation; 

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. 

Adveniat regnum tuum. 

Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. 

Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, 

et dimitte nobis debita nostra 

sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. 

Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, 

sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

V. Catechism Review Questions (for next week) 

1. What is prayer? 
2. How should we recite our prayers? 
3. What is the best prayer? Who wrote it? 
4. Say the "Our Father" in English. 
5. Say the first line of the "Our Father" in Latin. 

VI. Classroom Activities: 

1. Begin by reciting the Lord's Prayer with the students. If the children have already learned how to sing the Pater Noster, sing it with them. 
2. Go over the Catechism Review Questions from last week. 
3. Read Psalm 22(23) with the children. Explain that today is called "Good Shepherd Sunday" because each of the Bible Lessons mention God as our "Shepherd." Make sure that the children know what a shepherd is. 
4. Discuss the psalm using the prompts provided in the Background reading. 
5. Read each of the lessons from Mass and discuss the questions that follow. 
6. Recite the catechism lesson chorally. Remind students to prepare for next week by studying their catechism questions and answering the review questions that follow in their own words.