Tuesday 28 April 2026
St Peter Chanel
Acts 11:19-26. All you nations, praise the Lord – Ps 86(87):1-7. John 10:22-30.
The loving shepherd
The image of belonging is strong in Jesus’ response to the religious authorities who are grilling him in the temple portico about his identity. The sheep belong to Jesus who in John’s Gospel is so often presented as the Good Shepherd. Jesus belongs to the Father. They are inseparably one. Such belonging in Christ is a place and an experience of safe shelter. It is a gentle hand. The other hand, the one that seeks to snatch and steal, is anything but gentle. The community in Antioch emerges too as a place of warm belonging and identity; the first place that followers of Jesus, that good shepherd, are called Christians.
St Peter Chanel started out as a shepherd as a child in France. His vocation to priesthood and missionary work was motivated by love. Love for Jesus and Mary and the people he served, whether in Europe or the South Pacific. Peter Chanel brings to mind the gentle hand, the loving shepherd.
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