Fourth Sunday of Easter
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.
Peter (said) to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call." Acts 2:38-39
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. John 10:7-9
Piety
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.
In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me;
You restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name.
Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage.
You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/041308.shtml
What I give my life to is my choice. Christ freely offers his life for us. The sheep know the voice of their shepherd and follow him. It is the voice of Christ I hear when I am willing to give of my money, time, and energy for another. Wherever there is love, God is there. The very desire in our hearts to do good for those we care about is the voice of the Lord inviting us to give of ourselves. The very hurts of brothers and sisters we minister to is the response to the voice of the Lord in the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the prisoners and anyone else whose need touches our lives. What we do for others joins us to the Good Shepherd.
By the wounds of Christ we are healed. How hard it is to let another suffer for ourselves. What a challenge it is to offer our pain for the sake of others. It is not a common event to see one who protects us by putting his life on the line for us. As the Good Shepherd, Christ calls himself the gate. He opens the gate to let us out or in as the case might be. We follow Christ because we recognize his voice. The faith that does justice is a response to the voice of Christ in the needy. We are called not only to put ourselves out for the sake of others, but we are also putting ourselves in the place of Christ love when we are willing to need another. We are twice blessed when we need another.
Action
Christ identifies with our need and we are blessed by his taking over our need. We are blessed when we are the recipients of another’s love in our need because Christ in us is the recipient of the help another gives us.
By the wounds of Christ we are healed. Christ is guardian of our souls.
He calls us together to become his flock. He walks ahead of us as our good shepherd to lead us to the refreshing waters. Because Christ is our shepherd, we shall not want. The restful waters he leads us by are the Sacramental Life of the Church. We can have as much Christ as we are wiling to accept because he brings us into his own life by each Eucharist we feed on. Christ is our food of life and in him we have the best part of ourselves in heaven already. He leads us by having gone before us. He Is our Good Shepherd.
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