El cuarto Domingo de Pascua siempre nos recuerda la belleza del Señor Jesús como Buen Pastor. En el Evangelio, Jesús describe cómo es el trabajo de un pastor. Nos dice que, lo primero es dar la vida por sus ovejas. Segundo, cuidarlas y protegerlas de todo peligro. Y tercero, un buen pastor no cobra un salario, no trabaja a sueldo. Más, sin embargo, da la vida por su propio rebaño.

What a wonderful joy fills us today as we ponder the inexhaustible mercy of God. "Mercy is the heart of God," Pope Francis tells us. The image of a heart has been used to point to the very life source of a person as it is the organ that allows life to flow through our veins and sustain us. Mercy is the heart of God. Imagine this dynamic, powerful, compassionate, piercing, embracing, loving, propelling, penetrating, absorbing, and enveloping, transforming presence of God flowing into the very depth of our souls. It is God's mercy that allows blood to flow through our veins. It is God's mercy that forms every atom of our being and leads us to what is true. God's mercy reveals all superficiality and falsehood, and lays bare all distortions, empty promises, weakness, and sin.

Who are you? This question was most assuredly asked of Jesus on the day of resurrection and it is a question asked of each of us. Our identities can be described in so many ways. We can start with our gifts and our talents, expertise and unique personality expressions. We can describe things we like and things we prefer to set aside. As descriptive and captivating as these can be, none come close to our essence, our real and true self. While accurate in their own right, the self who lives and interacts with the world is the self we want others to see, the one we project. But there is much more to us just as there is much more to Jesus.