Good Shepherd - Risen Lord
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.”
Anthony Falbo shows us the Good Shepherd, who bears up in his arms his prodigal sheep, in this painting, titled after the incipit of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Falbo’s cubestractive style fits the subject well. Jesus can be, at once, crucified and ascended: he is broken open, as embracive as the landscape, receiving to himself all manner of sheep, and even also the varieties of heavenly and earthly powers.
He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
— Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior (John 10:2-3)
Third Sunday of Easter
Texts for Today
Prayer
O God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd of your people: Grant that, when we hear his voice, we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.
Good Shepherd, we are not alone
The prolific contemporary hymnographer Carolyn Winfrey Gillette has lately penned a lovely hymn that fits beautifully with this Sunday. She suggests that it should be sung to the tune of the classic PUER NOBIS NASCITUR, which dates back to at least the 16th C. In modern hymnals, the tune has been translated principally into Easter season — which is well and good: we could do with a few more Easter carols! The text most frequently sung to it is “That Easter Day with Joy was Bright,” an ancient breviary hymn often attributed to Ambrose, but likely the product of later Benedictine editors, which came into English repertory through the labors of the inimitable John Mason Neale. Here is from the 1940 Hymnal, and a contemporary arrangement, by the Anglican musician Josh Bales.
I could only find a few recordings of the hymn; many of them set to an alternate tune, the 19th C melody MARYTON, of H. Percy Smith. As such, the recording leaves something to be desired, but a few listens, and the melody lodges in the heart, giving wings to the text, and enabling our hearts to be fixed in the delicious imagery of John 10, to which this week is customarily dedicated.
