In the Shepherd’s Grasp by Fr. Chris House
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally nicknamed “Good Shepherd Sunday” because, you guessed it, the Gospel for this Sunday always speaks of Jesus being the Good Shepherd. When I envision a shepherd, two main qualities come to mind: one who protects and one who leads.
In the Shepherd’s Grasp
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally nicknamed “Good Shepherd Sunday” because, you guessed it, the Gospel for this Sunday always speaks of Jesus being the Good Shepherd. When I envision a shepherd, two main qualities come to mind: one who protects and one who leads. The Lord Jesus seeks to do both for us. He offers us grace upon grace to aid us in the struggle against evil, sin, and temptation. The challenge for us is to open up and direct our lives to receiving these graces from the Lord. When we do, not only will we have divine aid in our struggle against sin and temptation but we will also find ourselves being led more and more to detachment from the world, and detachment leads us to true freedom in Christ.
In this Sunday’s Gospel from John, Jesus tells us that no one can take his sheep from his hand. That is a very comforting and reassuring thought, but there should be an asterisk at the end of that statement. It is completely true that if we have placed ourselves firmly in the Lord’s grasp that nothing nor anyone who can take us from him…except ourselves. We can remove ourselves from the loving embrace of the Lord directly or indirectly by our actions and attitudes. The good news for us is that if we realize that we have leaped out of the Lord’s embrace, we can always place ourselves back there. May we have the grace to consciously remain in the Lord’s hands or, if we are not where we need to be, may we have the grace to acknowledge our error and return to where we need to be, firmly in the Lord’s care.
Happy Mother’s Day
To all of our moms, whether you are a mom by birth, adoption, or by fulfilling that role for someone in their lives, may the Lord bless you abundantly for your goodness and strengthen you with his grace. For those moms who have gone before us in faith, may the Lord, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, grant them light, joy, and peace forever in heaven.
Help Wanted: Liturgical Ministers
The parish needs more parishioners so please consider serving as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, readers, ushers, and greeters. We have a very dedicated, but small group of ministers, many of whom serve on a weekly basis and we need to grow their number. More information will be coming in the bulletin, but please begin to consider if you would be willing to give the gift of service in one or more of these needed ministries.
Reverend Monsignor David Lantz, Pastor Emeritus of Christ the King Parish
Many of you recently saw that Msgr. Lantz was appointed Pastor Emeritus of CTK; so what does this mean? Effective July 1, Msgr. Lantz is retiring from active ministry. Bishop Paprocki does not like referring to priests as “retired” because a priest never stops being a priest and that is why he started the custom in our diocese of designating priests who retire from active ministry as pastors emeriti. CTK holds a special place in Msgr. Lantz’s heart as he spent more time here as both a parochial vicar and pastor than in any other of his assignments, thus he was named pastor emeritus here. The title is purely honorific and comes with no rights or responsibilities, and Msgr. Lantz will have his own private residence. While Msgr. Lantz is always welcome here at CTK, and I hope that we might see more of him, nothing changes at the parish regarding the current pastoral staff.
CTK Men’s Club Golf Outing
Thank you to everyone who helped to make the Men’s Club golf outing a success. A big thank you to the Men’s Club for their hard work and generosity to our parish and school.
Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead!
Father Chris House
