I. The Good Shepherd is where the Divine Mercy (the Blood and Water) Flows
While the 2nd Sunday of Easter is known as Divine
Mercy Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd
Sunday.
In the Cycle B (Year B of the Liturgical Cycle), the Gospel
reading for Good Shepherd Sunday is taken from a middle part of the Good Shepherd narrative,
which is John 10. To be precise, it is John 10:11-18.
The punch line of the reading should be: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays
down his life for his sheep (John 10:11).
Now, if Jesus is the good shepherd, who are his sheep, for
whom he is willing to lay his own life?
Of course, that is us, the ones whom Jesus, the good
shepherd, knows and who know him - just
as the Father knows the good shepherd,
and as the good shepherd knows the Father(John 10:14-15). It is because we also
know Psalm 100:3, “Know that the Lord is
God, our maker to whom we belong, whose people we are, God’s well-tended flock”.
Who else could be his sheep?
Those who do not believe in him – those who reject him, are
not considered as sheep of the Lord. Rather, they are goats to be sent
elsewhere, while sheep will be led into the God’s pasture, namely, the Kingdom,
at the time of the Judgement (Matthew 25:32). They are also the ones who reject
the stone that builders rejected (Psalm 118:22).
In other words, our faith in Christ makes us his sheep and
entitle ourselves to his care.
The care that Jesus, the good shepherd, provides for us is
his very life, in order to save us. It is important to note that Jesus repeats
his willingness to lay his own life for us repeatedly in this Good Shepherd
Sunday Gospel narrative (John 10:11,15, 17, and 18). It is obvious that Jesus
wants to emphasize that he lays his own life for us, his sheep. And this is also in the Father’s will (John
10:17-18).
As you read John 10:11-18, the 4th Sunday of
Easter (Year B) Gospel’s Good Shepherd
narrative, you notice that Jesus is, in fact, making reference to his death on
the Cross, as his salvific sacrifice. Remember, in his agonizing prayer in
Gethsemane on the night before his death, following the Last Supper, his
passion and death are according to the Father’s will, which Jesus humbly and
obediently accepted (Matthew 26:36-46//Mark 14:32-42//Luke 23:40-46).
Jesus demonstrated what he means by he is the good shepherd,
who lays his life for his sheep, on the Cross.
As I mentioned in my blog article, the self-sacrifice of
Jesus on the Cross, to save us from God’s wrath, has two aspects: Passover sacrifice offering and Yom Kippur
sacrifice offering. The former is to save us from the judgement as the Passover
sacrifice let the tenth plague safely pass over God’s people, while destroying
those who are not. The latter is to atone our sin with God, rectifying our
clocked relationship with God. In either way, there is a blood to be shed from
the sacrificial offering.
Remember, when Jesus died on the Cross, blood, along with
water, gushed out of his body, as a Roman soldier pierced his lance into Jesus’
body (John 19:34). This very blood, along with water, flowing out of the body
of Jesus, sprinkling over those who were at the foot of his Cross, is a new
covenant (i.e. Luke 22:20), as the blood of the sacrifice animal for Passover
was an old covenant (Exodus 24:6-8), and is what protect us and gives us
eternal life. In fact, it is the life that Jesus, the good shepherd, promise to
give us under his protection (John 10:10). Because, the sacrifice of Jesus, as
he laid his own life, for us, is not only to save us but also to make our
atonement with God, the blood the good shepherd shed for us is for us to be
forgiven (Matthew 26:28).
Now, you can see the connection between Good Shepherd Sunday
and Divine Mercy Sunday here.
The blood and water flowing out of the wound of Jesus’ body
on the Cross, as he laid his life, as he has promised in John 10, as the good
shepherd, symbolize what Divine Mercy is - as in St. Faustina’s Diary 187 and
as also cited in the 3 O’Clock Prayer of the Divine Mercy Cheplet:
“You expired, Jesus, but the source of life
gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O
Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole word and empty
Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of
Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in you! Jesus, I trust in you! Jesus,
I trust in you! Jesus, I trust in you!”
The way Jesus has fulfilled his promise to protect us
(Passover) and to atone for us (Yom Kippur), as the good shepherd, is kenoptic
expression of the Divine Mercy, as well reflected in the 3 O’Clock Prayer.
The blood, along with water, of our good shepherd, is the
redeeming blood for us. It cleanses us (1 John 1:7), and it atones us with God
(Matthew 26:28) as it is the blood of the new covenant (Luke 22:20). And, this
is what the Divine Mercy is as Jesus told St. Faustina (Diary 187).
Realizing this, it is no surprise that the Divine Mercy
Novena begins on Good Friday, the very day that Jesus showed to the whole word
to redeem what he meant by the good shepherd, who lays his life for his
sheep (John 10:11, 15, 17, 18) as his
Christological identity.
Also as read in
the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Gospel of Year B, the
wound mark of Jesus’ resurrected boy that Thomas had to put his finger in, in
order for him to believe in the Resurrection (John 20:24-31), reminds us where the Divine Mercy, as the blood and
water, of Jesus flow, as the good shepherd has laid his life for us – for our
redemption and atonement.
Through his blood with water, the Divine Mercy, the good
shepherd purifies us and gives us eternal life, as we continue to hear his
voice. We follow him because we know him better as we have witnessed his
passion and death during the Paschal Triduum and believe in his Resurrection
through Eastertide.
II. The Divine Mercy as the Eucharist - The Blood of the Water from the Agnus Dei
Yes, this Divine Mercy is also received in the challis as
the Sacrament of the Eucharist – Corporis et Sanguinis Christi, nostra Pastor
Bonus. The Sanguinis Christi comes to through the challis that is offered up
during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, accompanied with Eucharistic prayer.
First, in preparation of the wine, the presiding priest says
in presenting and preparing the gifts
(bread and wine received at the alter).
When the priest mixes water into wine, he says:
Per huius aquæ et vini mystérium eius
efficiámur divinitátis consórtes, qui humanitátis nostræ fíeri dignátus est
párticeps (By the mystery of this water and wine may
we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our
humanity). i.e. 2 Maccabees
15:39; 2 Peter 1:4; John 19:34; Romans 5:2; Philippians 2:8
Followed
by:
Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your
goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become our spiritual drink.
To this, we
respond, “Blessed be God forever”.
Then, the priest
brings the challis of wine to the bread and say the prayer of :
Lord God, we ask you to receive us and be pleased with the
sacrifice we offer you with humble and contrite hearts.
Pray, brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be
acceptable to God, the almighty Father.
(We all say) May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands,
for the praise and glory of his name, for our good, and the good of all his
Church.
Then, the
priest moves on to cite Eucharistic Prayer through the Prayer over the
Offerings, Eucharistic Preface Dialogue (The
Lord be with you…Let us give thanks to the Lord our God….. It is right and just.)
, Preface Prayer (It is truly right and just….we declare your glory, as with one voice we
acclaim) and Preface Acclamation (Holy,
Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts…Hosanna in the Highest).
In this
Eucharistic prayer, the priest says:
Therefore, Lord, we pray: graciously accept
this oblation of our service that your whole family; which we make to you also
for those whom you have been pleased to give the new birth of water and the
Holy Spirit, granting them forgiveness of all their sins.
Upon these
prayers, Epiklesis takes place as the priest proclaims these words of Jesus at
the Last Supper, holding the bread and wine to be transubstantiated into corpris et sanguinis Christi:
Take this, all of you,
and eat of it; for this is my body which will be given up for you. Take this,
all of you, and drink from it; for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of
the new and eternal covenant. which will be poured out for you and for
many for the forgiveness of sins . Do
this in memory of me.
These words of the Institution of the Eucharist are followed
by the Memorial Acclaim (When we eat this
bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again – Form B) to
continue more Eucharistic prayer and to lead to proclaim:
Through him, and with
him, and in him, O God , almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all
glory and honor is yours, forever and ever.
Now, compare this flow in the Liturgy of the Eucharist to
these words cited in the Divine Mercy chaplet:
“Eternal Father,
I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity, of your dearly beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world”
(Diary 475).
Since this is the time of the year when children are
receiving the First Communion upon the First Confession, let us guide them to
link the Blood of Christ to the Divine Mercy, which gushes from the Body of our
Good Shepherd as he has laid his life for us.
We, the sheep of the Lord, are forever grateful for the
Divine Mercy that gushes out of the wound of our Good Shepherd as he has laid
his life on the Cross. The Divine Mercy
continues to flow even after he is risen.
Thank you Lord! Praise the Lord! Alleluia!
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