Jesus the Good Shepherd

Introduction

MAKING JESUS CHRIST KNOWN.

PAGE u I am the Good Shepherd. Other sheep I have that are not of this fold " (John x. 11, 16) 9

Chapter I. How Could Jesus Christ Call Himself The True Shepherd ?

He was sent to the Men of His Day. — He taught a Heavenly Doctrine. — He sought out the Lost Sheep. — He suffered and died for Men 11

Chapter II. God Will Have Men To Be Governed By Men

Heads of Families and Communities. — High -Priests under the Old Law. — Promise of a Ruler to come, who was to be Pontiff and Victim 14

4 Contents.

Chapter III. Promise Op The Messias

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The Messias was to be the Saviour, the Ruler in whom all Generations were to be blessed. — He was to be the High-Priest of the Most High God 17

Chapter IV. Jesus Christ Is The Ruler Or Shepherd Promised

The Prophecies and the Gospel Narrative compared. 25 CHAPTER V.

JESUS CHRIST THE SHEPHERD OF OUR SOULS.

His Goodness. — His Heavenly Doctrine Food for our Minds and Nourishment for our Souls. — Promise of Heaven. — The Word Incarnate 30

THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN THE PARISH.

The Parish Priest. — Duties of the People toward him 124

Contents. ?

Chapter XVIII. "iam With You."

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How the Good Shepherd continues with His Flock to the End of the World 135

APPENDIX I.

Detailed Account of the Martyrdom and Death of St. Peter, sent by St. Linus, his First Successor, to the Churches of the East 143

APPENDIX II.

The Relics of St. Peter in the Cathedral of Burlington, Vt 161

Translation of the Relics 168

Account of the Celebration on August 5, 1894 174

Prayers to St. Peter 189

Hymn to St. Peter ... 191

JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

INTKODUCTIOK

MAKING JESUS CHRIST KNOWN.

" I am the Good Shepherd. Other sheep I have that are not of this fold ' ' (John x. 11, 16).

Nearly two thousand years have elapsed since these remarkable words were pronounced. He who spoke them was and is now named Jesus. This is a name most sweet, most dear and sacred to millions of people. Pious mothers teach their infants to lisp it ; children love this name and everything which reminds them of one who appeared on earth as one of themselves. The name Jesus is dear to the poor, for He loved the poor, and lived with them ; the name Jesus is held in grateful veneration by laboring men — the fishermen, the carpenters, the tillers of the soil — for He was as one of them, and He chose His apostles from among them ; the name Jesus is the comfort of the sick, whom He was wont to visit ; but this name is pre-eminently gratefully venerated by all

10 Making Jesus Christ Known.

who are acquainted with the object of His life and labors.

All that has been done by Him whose name is Jesus, all that He taught, is rehearsed every day in thousands of pulpits, related in books innumerable, inscribed on monuments of all kinds.

Many there are, nevertheless, who are ignorant of the nature of Jesus Christ, and especially of the doctrine which He taught and the precepts which He gave to the world.

This ignorance, this state of doubt which makes them miserable, is not always due to their fault, for they are ready to embrace the truth wher ever they find it. They put me in mind of holy Tobias, who had lost the use of his sight. To him Raphael had said in saluting him : " Joy be to thee always. And Tobias said, What manner of joy shall be to me who sit in darkness and see not the light of heaven V 9 (Tobias v. 11, 12.) God grant that I may be to these as another guiding angel, till I have led them to the feet of Him who is in reality their shepherd, although they see Him not. He who said " I am the true Shepherd" is our shepherd also, although He lived on earth so many thousand years before our day.