4th Week of Lent, Tuesday

"The Lord is my shepherd;

there is nothing I shall want.

Fresh and green are the pastures 

where he gives me repose,

near restful waters he leads me."

(Communion Antiphon)

What is a shepherd? 
What does a shepherd look after?

That's right, a shepherd looks after sheep.

In Jesus' time, sheep were looked after very carefully. If one was lost, the shepherd would go and look for it until he found it.

Jesus looks after His sheep the same way. He knows each one by name, and calls each one to follow Him.

If a sheep gets lost or can't find Him, He comes looking for it to bring it back home. He does this because He loves each one of His sheep so much. He does not want any sheep to be apart from Him.

Who might Jesus' sheep be? (Don't give them the answer - they don't have to figure it out straight away, or even today. Just let them think about it. It means much more when they figure it out for themselves.)

Lord, thank you for looking so carefully after each of Your sheep.

Thank you for being such a good Shepherd.

(If they've figured out that they're the sheep: It is wonderful to be a sheep of such a loving Good Shepherd; thank you for loving your sheep so much.)


(Read out the quote again and/or ask them to read it themselves, if they can. Encourage them to say something to Jesus in response to it.)