By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted April 24, 2026

(See the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter)

Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved readings in the psalter. Listening to or reading the words conjures the beautiful image of being gathered and led in love. The troubles, tribulations and anxieties of the world somehow recede even for a moment as we are reminded of God’s ever present care.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” God who is the source of life is all that we need to truly live. He nourishes us in love, with love and through love. There is nothing that has the power to separate us from His love or lessen His love, for He is Love.

“In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.” He leads us to a state of contentment and peace, a place of rest and rejuvenation. “He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake.” He shows us how to lead lives that are good; on paths that lead from life to life. He affords us a share in the abundance of divine life which is love.

“Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side. With your rod and staff that give me courage.” God is our protector and with Him in whom there is no greater, there is no reason to fear. There is no power or force that can separate us from His love. So that whenever we encounter the “dark valleys” of life, He is there to lead us with his light. He affords us courage through His presence.

“You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.” He provides for all our needs with tender care and compassion beyond all our expectations, for his love is limitless. “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.” Goodness and kindness are with us always because God is the fullness of goodness and kindness. He is ever present to us and shares with us his goodness and kindness. He invites us to live eternally in his “house” through offering us a share His divine life of love.

Psalm 23 invites us to reflect on the reality of God’s eternal love and care for each one of us.

God is the shepherd. In the life of Israel, we see Him use mediators to share in His shepherding of the people of God. Moses was a shepherd of sheep before being called to shepherd the Hebrews from the bondage of slavery to freedom. David was also a shepherd before being anointed King to shepherd the Israelites. These two prepared the way for Jesus in whom, as the “Word become flesh,” God shepherds all peoples and leads them to His heavenly home.

God’s revelation to us as a shepherd finds its fulfillment in Jesus. In the Gospel According to John, Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd” (cf. John 17:1ff). In doing so we might think of Moses and David but that association is a limited one. He certainly has a mediating role between us and the Father but that is not all. He shares a prophetic and kingly role but that too is not all.

In Jesus, God himself becomes the visible shepherd for His people, the “Good Shepherd.” God’s love in Christ is a perfect and intimate love. Perfect, or complete, in that the “Good Shepherd” is one who will sacrifice himself for his flock; in Jesus’ words “will lay down his life for his sheep.” These are not mere words for Jesus did just that. He offered Himself in love. There is nothing that will hold Him back from loving and we see in His resurrection there is nothing that can hinder that love.

This love between the Good Shepherd and His flock is personal and intimate, as Jesus says: “I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” The relationship extends through Jesus to the Father Himself.

In the passage from this Sunday’s liturgy from John chapter 10, Jesus uses a related image, the “sheep gate,” through which he highlights this connection. He says: “Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” Jesus is the shepherd who so unites us with Himself that he leads us to His father as one. In that union, or communion, we share in His life, the life of love.

The shepherd literally lays down His life as He is crucified. His love knows no bounds. He accepts the most brutal of all executions accompanied by a torturous scourging and crowning with thorns. The Father lovingly embraces the shepherd now sacrificed as a sheep, raising Him to life. We continue to celebrate this life of love as we continue our Easter observance.

The first reading, from Acts of the Apostles, recalls another of the early proclamations and witness of the Church: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” The people respond looking for a share in this life. Peter responds to their question, “What are we to do brothers?” saying, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.”

The second reading from 1 Peter emphasizes, once again, that the shepherd willingly embraced suffering and death so that the sheep may have life: “When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”

The celebration of Easter joy continues today. We celebrate the love that God has for us as our shepherd. In Him, we want for nothing for He has given everything that we might have life in abundance. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who by laying down His life in love opens the gates of divine life and leads us to our heavenly home.

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Penndel and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Read more reflections by Msgr. Prior here.