Hear My Voice
April 21, 2013
Fourth Sunday of Easter 2013 C
By Rev. Joe McCloskey,
SJ
The Jews, however,
incited the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the
city, stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them
from their territory. So they shook the
dust from their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the
Holy Spirit. Acts 13:50-51
The one who sits on
the throne will shelter them. They will
not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the
throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:15b-17
“My sheep hear my
voice; I know them, and they follow me. I
give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out
of my hand." John 10:27-29
Piety
Our piety nourishes all our brothers and sisters in the
faith of Christ. Piety is how we share
Christ with those who know and do not know him.
We reach out to the needs of our brothers and sisters and give them
ourselves in the name of Christ. Time
and effort are the mainstays of love expressed.
The Good Shepherd is our model. We are one with Christ when we give our lives
out of love for our neighbors. Christ is
our Good Shepherd because he gives his life for us. Our sharing ourselves with those who need us
makes us into good shepherds. The life
giving waters are our Baptisms. Christ
went into the water of the Jordan to make all water holy. The water that comes from the side of Christ
is the water of our baptisms. The humanness and the love of Christ live on
in the Sacraments of the Church.
Study
Studying Paul and
Barnabas teaches us how to speak out boldly the good news of God. Because the Jews did not welcome the good
news that Christ is, Paul brought the good news to the rest of us. Christ is the good news. How we put ourselves into his shoes and bring
the good news of God’s love for us to the world is our job. The good news is that God loves us so much he
want to be one of us in his son, Christ, and God want to be all of us in our
life in Christ. Our study allows us to
deepen our relationship to Christ.
Action
Our actions in Christ
allow us to be his word to our world. We
light up our world by living the love of Christ with one another. Our reading of the Scriptures allows us to
put on the mind and the heart of Christ.
Our sharing the words of Scripture by applying them to our time and age
by living out the word in in all of our actions allows us to become the update
of Christ to our world. Christ who is
the same yesterday and tomorrow is the beauty of our love of one another. We can change the world we live in by
allowing our world to realize how much Christians love each other. Selfishness can be replaced by selflessness
and our world can know and end to poverty and war. Our actions can make us instruments of
salvation to our entire world. John’s
vision of heaven can have its beginning in our world. The Lamb will lead us to the springs of
life-giving water. We will be his sheep
and he will be our good shepherd.
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