This coming weekend: Good Shepherd Sunday





Good Shepherd Sunday
The Fourth Sunday of Easter 


The Fourth Sunday of Easter is fondly known as 'Good Shepherd Sunday' on account of the lectionary readings which include the Good Shepherd Psalm (Psalm 23) and shepherd references in the gospel reading (- see below).


Services this weekend:


Sat 10 May: 

- Evening Prayer, Turlough, led by Fiona Kelly, Parish Reader

Sunday 11 May:

- 10am, Morning Prayer, Christ Church Castlebar, followed by tea in the church
- 12 noon, Holy Communion, Westport congregation (in St Mary's Church, S Mall), followed by tea in Carrowbeg House
- 3pm, Evening Prayer, St Thomas's Dugort, Achill






Good Shepherd icon, in the Rectory, Westport


Psalm 23 (NRSV)

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 right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint 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
my whole life long.







The Gospel John 10: 22-30


At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’

Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.’




The Parable of the Good Shepherd, videos for children:

https://youtu.be/gRimsz0boEI

https://youtu.be/smvcsgMv6Dw



The Good Shepherd in Art

The image of the Good Shepherd is among the oldest surviving depictions of Jesus in Christian Art. It dates at least to 235 A.D. and was discovered in the baptistery of the house church at Dura-Europos. It also appears in the Roman Catacombs from the period of imperial persecution, perhaps because the image could plausibly pass as a pagan depiction of kriophoruscarrying a ram. Like the anchor and the fish, it functioned as a symbolic code of Jesus, pointing especially to his sacrifice and the hope of resurrection.

(See https://anglicancompass.com/good-shepherd-sunday-a-rookie-anglican-guide/ )



c. 300–350, discovered in the 18th century 
at the Catacomb of Callixtus, Rome.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32602697

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