The second reading, from the Book of Revelation, gives us biblical imagery of what Heaven is like. St. John the Apostle, the author of this book, saw a vision of the heavenly city. Just like cities have boundaries and entrances and streets, so does the heavenly one. The last paragraph from this reading tells us something that is quite remarkable. There is no need for the sun or the moon for illumination in Heaven because the lamp of the city is the Lamb. We know that Jesus is the light of the world. St. John, in his Gospel, uses this image more than once. Jesus is the light that has shone in the darkness. This will reach its fullness in Heaven, as the light of the world, Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God, will be the light that illuminates everything in Heaven.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel that we are to love others as He loves us. He told the Apostles this on the night of the Last Supper. He displayed the next day what this really looks like, as He suffered and died for us on the Cross. That’s how He loves us. That’s how we are to love. What does love mean? What is the definition of love? A great definition of love means to will the good of the other. Love cannot be a feeling because feelings come and go. We know this just from experience. Do we always feel like loving our parents or siblings when we’re growing up? Do we always feel like loving our spouse or our children when we’re adults? The answer is no. We don’t always feel like loving another person every moment of every day, but if we have come to the intellectual conviction that we have love for another person, to express it we have to will it.

This weekend is the 4th Sunday of Easter, also referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday. We get an insight into how Jesus shepherds His flock, which is the Church. Last weekend Jesus told Peter to feed His flock. Now we see how Jesus tends and cares for His people. This past year the old wound of clerical abuse was opened up again. We heard, yet again, about priests and bishops behaving badly. Numerous priests, including a cardinal, were shown to have abused many youth and vulnerable young adults. Likewise, it was revealed that many bishops handled these situations very poorly, to say the least. They were not following the example of Christ the Good Shepherd.