Good Shepherd Sunday!

Here's a snippet of what the priest in the church that I go to about the analogous relationship between us and sheep in the hands of a good shepherd.

What was the first thing that a good shepherd would do when a sheep is born? The good shepherd would cut its tail! Its main purpose is to help in shearing its wool and helps preventing faecal and urinary contamination on their rear end, which would be bad for the sheep! 

What was the first thing that we do as a Christian? We would get baptized, to cut off our own "tail" of original sin!

After the sheep mature, wools would start to grow on them and every spring, the good shepherd would shear their wool. The sheep would feel as if they're born again! 

What do we do? We would go to confession, to cut out the sins that had been committed and came out feeling like a newborn child again. (on a side note: spring = lent. Was it a coincidence that the church chose the time for repentance around the same time of wool shearing?) 

What else would a shepherd do? He would feed them grass and water instead of poison ivy or mud! Jesus came to feed us with His own body and blood! 

During the summer, flies, mosquitos and other things would lay eggs on the sheep's head area. Once the egg grows, it would become maggots and the sheep would feel really itchy and sometimes would kill themselves by running towards a tree. (remember: they don't have hands to scratch their head!) What would a good shepherd do? 

He would put oil on their heads every morning so that the eggs and the maggots would go away! We are anointed with oil during confirmation so that the Holy Spirit would dwell in us! 

And what happen when wolves attack their sheep? A good shepherd would lay down his life for his sheep! Jesus laid down his life as a ransom for us all as we saw on the crucifix! 

I didn't bother fact checking all this details, so I assume that it's all right. Such a wonderful analogy that the church and the Lord purposefully draw upon for us as their children to learn from. Obviously, when the church was still in an agricultural era, the follower of Christ would see its connection and saw that how interconnected the spiritual and the material, the temporal and the eternal life of each one of us. The material and the temporal are really just a foreshadowing of what is yet to come!

So, let us all grow in our wonders and amazement of this life while grazing on this pasture called earth. Let Christ be our source and our only hope!