Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 26 2026
John 10:1-10
Throughout the liturgical texts of this fourth Sunday after Easter, we celebrate the Good Shepherd.
We can find a link, a harmonizing, between the basic themes surfaced through the two Gospel texts: that of the second Sunday after Easter, also called Divine Mercy Sunday (John 20: 19-31) and that of the fourth Sunday, (the Good Shepherd (Jn 10: 1-10).
Mercy is one of the defining characteristics which marked the person of Jesus. With Thomas, the unbeliever who is converted, Jesus demonstrates his tenderness and mercy. He forgives Thomas’ unbelief, but at the same time, invites him to a life which is richer and more fulfilling. “Stop doubting but believe. Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” (Jn 19:28).
The same attitude of mercy describes the person of the Good Shepherd about whom Jesus speaks in the parable. It is love which dominates the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, especially the one who wanders away. The shepherd seeks him out. It is a true love, concrete and palpable, marked by a climate of mutual confidence.
Knowledge then becomes the foundation of this love, this mutual confidence. Without this knowledge, the sheep would not respond to the call of the shepherd. But here, “the sheep listen to his voice… he calls them one by one and leads them out.” (Jn 10:3).
We Christians, following the spirit of the Evangelical Counsels, become the flock of the Lord in his Church of which he is the Good Pastor.
By His choice, made out of love, we have become the privileged recipients of the marks of tenderness from His Boundlessly Loving Heart!
To live like the Good Shepherd requires sacrifice, a life of endurance and dedication; a total gift for those one loves. By attachment to one’s sheep, the shepherd must often forget self not to seek selfish interests, but the well-being of one’s sheep.
The savanna serves as a habitat for animals. The sheep find happiness there. It is there where they feed in complete freedom. It is not the same for the shepherd. But by love for his sheep, he remains faithfully there to assure their protection.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, remains the only assurance of our Christian and consecrated life. He is the beginning and the end. The text of the Gospel highlights clearly this living reality. “When he has brought out all those that are his, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.” (Jn 10:4).
By our vocation, we live in this relationship with Christ. It is he, our guide, who leads us to the Father, for he himself is the way. This is why he walked before his flock. As long as we walk behind him, following his footsteps and in his spirit, we are sure that we are living in God.
Because Jesus has first loved us, we must move beyond our own milieu, built by humans (family, clan, tribe, nation…). He walks before us, and we follow him to the pastures he chooses where, in our turn, we should lead and nourish other sheep and lambs throughout the world.
We only accomplish this mission by following the Good Shepherd who is Jesus himself. With him, we will find the way to make known to each person, “How good is the Good God.”
In this way, let us unite our hearts and voices in singing:
Mu luzingu lwamo lum’vimba, Landa yikulanda!
Lord Jesus, I will follow you throughout all my life,
I will follow you, I will follow you.
John 10:1-10
Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
Meet Sister Marie Angèle Kitewo, SNDdeN
