Year C

4TH SUNDAY
OF EASTER

► Text of Sunday Reflection

“Why do we have to call you Father…”
by Fr Eunan McDonnell SDB

“Why do we have to call you Father, can we not call you dad it’s shorter?” I took a deep breath, some of the kids laughed out loud, others said “don’t be silly.” I didn’t get a chance to respond because another student piped up, “as a chaplain, how long will you be with us?” This question was interrupted by another, “I’ve got 48 bad notes, can you give me a good note?”

As I reflected on these questions I asked myself: what is God saying to me through them? I began to recognize the hunger in their hearts: I need to be loved but I don’t have a dad; can I trust you or will you leave me like my father; can someone please tell me that I’m good enough?

The group of students I was with were the ones who always ended up in detention or being suspended considered the usual suspects. It is so easy to stop at external behaviour, it takes compassion to see the wound that lies underneath

What a wonderful vocation it is to be a parent – Even in her later years when I would visit my mother to take over from the carers at home, her face would break out into the most radiant smile. In her presence I would change from being a 40 watt bulb to a 100 watt bulb instantly. The carers looking on would say we lit each other up like Christmas trees. I thank God every day for the gift she was in my life.

The vocation of a mother or father is to transfigure their children through their words and deeds – how blessed are those children that receive such love. This very human experience of being loved is a launching pad that opens us up to the even greater mystery of God’s love.

But there are many children who are not transfigured but disfigured by life’s experience – the negative judgments, the words said in anger – why can’t you be like your brother or sister; you’ll never measure up to anything. For whatever reason, an absent parent or a critical parent leaves a huge wound in the life of the child who constantly needs reassurance.

We can be critical of parents who fail their children, but this raises another question: How have their lives been disfigured in childhood? Are they only passing on what they have received themselves?

The fundamental call or vocation of every human person is to love. Married or single, priest, religious or lay, we are called to love: Called to enter into this broken, fragile and wounded world of ours so as to make a difference; Called to transfigure the lives of others with words and deeds of love.  As Jesus entered into our wounded humanity and became one of us, he now calls to us through the wounds of others. We are his body.

Each human person, with their joys and sorrows belong to him. There is no-one to be excluded. We belong to him because the Father has given us to him.

You, yes you, the Father gives you to Jesus.

We are called to remind each person of this dignity that we belong to him and through him we belong to each other.

Can we call you dad? Yes because you have a Father in heaven who loves you without measure.

How long will you be with us? Remember I am with you always.

Can you give me a good note?  And God saw all that he had made and it was good.

► Readings, Reflections & Prayers

Scripture readings: Association for Catholic Priests
– www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie
Reflections and Prayers by Fr Jack Finnegan SDB

1st Reading – Acts 13:14, 43-52

They went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down…. When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken by Paul. Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Geniles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers. Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region. So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Reflection

Our first reading today is situated at Antioch during Paul’s first missionary journey there, and it reveals a pattern of events that become familiar as Paul and Barnabas visit different cities. First, they preach in the synagogue. Then, some join the new Christian community while others reject their message stirring up opposition. Finally, Paul and Barnabas declare their intention to turn to the Gentiles. The lesson for each of us is crystal clear: proclaiming God’s word is absolutely essential but success is not guaranteed even among friends and family. Our task is to proclaim the word faithfully. The rest is up to those who hear. Are you troubled by your failure to pass on the faith? Perhaps you are seeking a success that not even Jesus or St Paul knew? In either case we are called to rejoice because the word has been proclaimed and good example given.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, Paul and Barnabas carried your word on their lips and in their hearts. May we too carry your living word, your love, your beauty, and your kindness as we journey. May we too touch the world with your delightful smile and joy! Fill our hearts with your love. Fill our hands with your healing touch. Make us a light to those who do not know you. Make us instruments of peace in a troubled land. May we be alive in you and rejoice with you! May we honour the name of Christian and be one with you always! Now and forever. Amen. Alleluia!

Psalm 100:1-3, 5

Reflection

We used to call this Sunday Jubilate Sunday because Easter is a time of joy and rejoicing. Jubilate means Rejoice! Unlike the joy of Advent which is the joy of looking forward in anticipation, or the joy of Laetare Sunday in the middle of Lent, which is the joy of relief, today we embrace the fullness of joy, the joy of sorrow spent and victory won. We stand in the glory of God’s goodness. There, we meet the Good Shepherd, the Lamb once slain who lives forever! We rejoice in the presence of the Risen One! We dance and sing. We begin to see that in him all is one! We sing joyfully. We sing glad songs because we are God’s people, women and men who have experienced the awesome touch of God’s kindness and compassion, the healing touch of oneness with God. Rejoice and be glad for the Lord is risen indeed!

Prayer

Lord, Adonai, we are your people the sheep of your flock! We come before you with shouts of joy, songs of praise ever on our lips! The days of sorrow have passed. The time of rejoicing has come. Death has been conquered. Our hearts have been rescued from the tyranny of darkness. And so we exult in your glorious presence! We revel in your awesome radiance! May we raise a storm of praise for you today! You are our God! Holy are you! Holy and good! Holy and strong! Our shepherd! Your kindness lasts forever, your faithfulness from age to age! You bless us forever! May we be bearers of your amazing love wherever we are. Now and forever. Amen. Alleluia!

2nd Reading: Revelation 7:9, 14-17

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Reflection

Today we meditate on John’s consoling vision of a vast multitude of people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, a vision he had at a time of great difficulty for the Church, not unlike the times in which we live. Can you envision them standing in the presence of the Lamb of God wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. John is told that these are the women and men who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, the martyrs whose sorrow has been turned into joy everlasting. Are we ready to let the Lamb of God be our Shepherd and lead us to the joyful springs of living water? Are we ready to listen to his voice? Do we feel safe with our Good Shepherd? Can we glimpse the reality of oneness?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we’ve all known of men and women who gave their lives for you, who gave their lives to your people. Thank you for Oscar Romero, Maximilian Kolbe and Pierre Claverie. Thank you for Edith Stein, Dorothy Day and Veronica Antal. Like so many other men and women they embodied your care and love. They embodied your hunger and thirst for the welfare of the poor and the lost and the different. Bless us with men and women like them today. Bless us with saints to wipe the tears of the anxious. Send us women and men on fire with humane solutions to the world’s needs. Send us fearless carriers of your blessings, people alive with your integrity, your wisdom and your love, people who live oneness with you. Now and forever. Amen. Alleluia!

Gospel Reading: John 10:27-30

And Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Reflection

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Jewish Feast of Dedication, Hanukah. There are echoes in today’s gospel of the Good Shepherd theme that is more clearly visible at the beginning of this chapter. But now the focus is on us and our faith rather than the Lord. For example, eternal life is not something for the future. It is already here for us. It means authentic life, life in abundance. When Jesus says, The Father and I are one he invites us to become part of that luminous mystery. If we truly are disciples, we will hear Christ’s voice and follow his way to the Father in the world without ifs, buts and maybes. We will rejoice that we meet God in relationship with a person rather than a place. And then, through our deepening relationship with Jesus, we will begin to know what it is to experience oneness with God. As we grow in trust of Christ, we will be drawn by the Spirit into an ever more profound sharing in divine life. We will discover the divine at the centre of our soul. As we follow Christ, we will be transformed into his likeness in the world. We will become glad bearers of his love and compassion. More to the point, we are assured that he will lead us through the world’s ambiguities and afflictions, contradictions and divisions. He will share with us his gift of inner peace. Are we ready to trust him? Are we ready to spend time with him? Are we ready for oneness? Are we ready to be bearers of Christ’s awesome joy and peace today?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you have no twitter or Facebook accounts. You carry no mobile phone. Yet you continue to speak to the world through the scriptures and the lives of your friends. You touch our lives and so we follow you! Strengthen our faith today. Bathe us in the healing waters of your love. Open our ears to hear your voice. Let no one snatch us away from your hand. Let no ill wind blow us out of the circles of your blessing. Draw us ever more deeply into your divine life. May we be like you for all the people we meet! Send your Spirit to deepen our trust. Lead us through the afflictions of our times. Bring us safely to your place of peace. Now and forever. Amen. Alleluia!

► Lectio Divina

Introduction to Lectio Divine

When Jesus had finished speaking about himself as the Good Shepherd, he went on to describe briefly his relationship with his sheep, and his relationship with his Father. Jesus and the Father are inseparable. With his disciples he is the Good Shepherd.  He continues to share his life with his flock. They listen to him and follow him. He gives his life for his flock and he knows that none of them will be lost. However, the main focus of his attention is God. He is one with the Father and therefore he cannot lose anything that the Father has given him. The intimate relationship of the Son with the Father guarantees the Shepherd’s sharing of his life with his flock. He cannot endanger his filial relationship with the Father because he wants to ensure that none of the flock is lost. The goodness of the Shepherd depends on his inseparable communion with the Father.

Anyone who follows Christ and lives with him knows that he belongs to Christ, and therefore he belongs also to the Father. Anyone who follows the path of the Good Shepherd knows that he is in the hands of the Father of Jesus. Following Jesus means being a son of God. In one way, Jesus needs to take care of us because God cares for us as he cares for his own Son. That is how much we are worth! When Jesus takes care of us, we feel that we are cared for by the Father as his children.

Read: understand what the text is saying, focussing on how it says it

The liturgical text is hard to understand because it is so short and because no historical or literary context is given. To whom is Jesus speaking? What went before and what comes after his words? It is hard for us to see what gave rise to the discourse.  We have to depend on what he said, and he said very little.

In this text, Jesus is answering those who cannot believe, because they do not belong to his sheepfold (Jn 10, 26). The criterion might surprise us, but it reflects the Christian awareness and concept of discipleship. Only those who feel protected by Christ can trust in him.  If some do not follow him (Jn10, 3), it is because they do not listen to his voice and so do not recognize him. Being a disciple means sharing life with him, recognizing him and being recognized by him (Jn10, 27; cf 10, 14-15). Those who follow him will not be lost. Nothing can snatch them from his hand (Jn 20, 28). The hand of God is a biblical image of divine power and attention (Dt.32, 39; Is.43, 13). Belonging to Jesus is a gift from God (Jn 6. 37, 39, 44). Indeed, the ultimate reason for this life without end, which is promised to those who follow him, lies in our being entrusted to Jesus. The people that the Son holds in his hands are those entrusted to him by the Father (Jn 10, 28-29). Nothing is more important than the Father. No power is greater than his. Nothing that he cares for will be lost. Anyone who believes in Jesus is in good hands, those of the Father.

Jesus defines himself as a Shepherd, at the same time defining the link that binds him to the flock that listens to him, follows him and receives eternal life from him. The Father, to whom both Shepherd and flock belong, is the one who has entrusted the flock to the Son, who cannot lose any of the flock, because no one can snatch them from him.

Jesus’ flock remains safe, because they know him well and constantly listen to his voice. The flock can listen to him because they live with him and follow him always.

The Son’s initiative reflects that of the Father. He does what the Father does (Jn.5, 17). Moreover, the Father and the Son are one (Jn.10, 30). They guard those who believe in him. Their unity is functional, not personal. They are united in the saving action. In the Temple, the sacred place of the presence of God, Jesus proclaims that God’s action is present. In so doing, he confirms the principal functions of the Temple and its need for salvation. There was no expectation that the Messiah would replace the Temple.

One fundamental aspect needs to be emphasized: the relationship between Jesus and his flock leads to the Father. The Father appointed him; no one can take this office to himself. Jesus cares for the flock as the Son of God and shepherd of the Father’s flock. In caring for the flock, the Father and Jesus act in identical manner. They will not allow anyone to steal the flock from their hands. Because they are united to the flock, the Father and Jesus are one. The two are one only, because they are guardians and guides of the same flock. Guiding the flock is what makes the Son a Shepherd, and the Father God.

Meditate: apply what the text says to life

I have God as my protector: am I at peace in facing an uncertain future? However painful and insecure the journey may be, his hand defends and guides me. But do I believe this? Do I believe Jesus when he assures me that he is one with God, and that he will not allow me to be snatched from his hands? I fear that I am losing a lot, lost as I am among many things, together with so many people, in the middle of various situations, nourishing so many illusions which distract me from Jesus and his word!  If I listen again to his word, it will bring me back to his hands, safe for the whole of my life.

Even though they are brief, these words of Jesus are full of comfort and consolation. They are part of a longer discourse which Jesus addressed to the Jews during a feast in the Temple. Jesus compares himself to a Shepherd who is so good that he is willing to lay down his life for his flock. His words met with the incredulity of his listeners. The Jews then, like the people of today, did not believe that a person of sound mind would be willing to give his life for others, much less that a shepherd would sacrifice his life for his sheep.

A sacrifice so great is so rare that it is not credible. Jesus insists and, returning to the comparison with the shepherd, speaks about the intimate relationship that he has with his disciples. Not only does he give his life for them: he wants to continue to remain united with them, to guide them and to care for them. To make sure that his words are not forgotten, it would be no harm for us to ask ourselves about our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Do we really have a personal relationship with him, or do we at least desire it? How do we cultivate our relationship with Jesus? What are we missing, if we are deprived of the certainty that Christ is our Good Shepherd? How can we help feeling lost at times, if we do not feel that we are guided every day by Jesus Christ? Where does my insecurity come from? What is my future? What do I follow in life, and how much effort do I make to save my life? Whom do I follow? Jesus himself has given us some criteria in the gospel to check whether or not we belong to him.

“My sheep,” says the Lord, ”listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.” Jesus maintains with his disciples a genuine sharing of his life and destiny, like the life of the shepherd who devotes himself completely to his flock.

The sheep follow the shepherd they know, and they know him because he lives his life with them, sharing sleep and work, rest and fatigue, meals and free time. They get to know him, even though he is different from them. This is the kind of relationship Jesus has with his followers. They feel safe in following him, because they know him well. And they know him because they listen to him constantly. They can hear him because they live with him. Jesus’ disciples know that they can trust in God, as the sheep trust the shepherd, because he stays by their side, day and night, sharing work, rest and food, and all other preoccupations.

When the disciples of Jesus know that they are guided by God, they can live without fear, knowing that they are being well looked after. Like sheep, Christians do not need to worry about where they are going today, or where they will rest tomorrow. Knowing that we are led and protected by God ensures that every uncertainty is overcome by the certainty that he is close to us, facing the same danger and walking the same path.   We are protected by God and so we can face the future, even if it is uncertain. It does not matter how difficult or insecure life may be, his hand is there to defend and guide us.

However, if we are to feel God’s protection, we need to accept the person of Jesus and follow his guidance. Anyone who does not walk with him will never feel that he is near. If we do not make an effort to follow him, we have no right to expect that he will accompany us on life’s journey.  It is enough for us to have the courage to allow him to go before us. We know that he will accompany us and protect us if we dedicate some time to him, and listen to him. If we give him a bigger space in our lives, he will hold us safe in his hands, take care of us in this life and give us eternal life. Many of us are lost, it seems, like strangers among so many people and things, in situations that distract us from Christ and from his word. Let us start listening again to his word, if we want him to guide and defend our lives.

Anyone who follows Jesus closely and obeys him, has no reason to fear: “they shall never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” There is no reason to be anxious when we belong to his flock. He will not lose any of his sheep and none of them will be stolen from him.

The Father holds Jesus in his hands and Jesus holds his disciples in his arms, ready to risk his own life rather than allow any of those who belong to him to be captured or lost. Knowing that we are being cared for by Jesus does not mean that we are free from all necessities, but we know that he shares the same life, and this should be enough for us. Knowing that we belong to his flock does not mean that all our problems are solved, but it gives us the assurance that we will not face them alone. Christ the Shepherd goes before us and we follow him. Before he reaches us, he has already taken on our difficulties. We will overcome our fears if we know we are accompanied by Christ. And we will be accompanied by Christ if we go wherever he wants to lead us. As long as we follow him wherever he goes, there will be no danger to our salvation. It is not the difficulties of life that make life hard for us. The hardest thing for us is following Christ wherever he leads us. It is not that life is bad, but that we are not good Christians. We should ask ourselves again, why we live our faith with such uncertainty, with so little hope, so much fear and so little joy. Why do we ask for so many proofs from God to help us to live in peace, knowing that he is with us?  The reason is not easy, and it is hard for us to admit: we do not know where God is leading us, and we do not like going there, because we do not want to do his will. We do not feel loved by God. If we refuse to follow him, we cannot pretend to belong to his company. When we look to others and search elsewhere for assurance, it makes us doubt all the more about where God is leading us, and we lose the certainty of having him close to us. It follows that we ought to have God as our companion and follow him. If we are attentive to his demands, we can feel sure that he will attend to us. If we respond to his voice, we will have the answer to all our needs. The Good Shepherd satisfies the desires of those who satisfy his desires. Listening to Jesus and obeying him, knowing him personally and following him closely, will be our strength in all our difficulties in this life, now and always. He will recognize us as his followers, in all our needs in this present life, and in the future after our death.

He has given us his word. It is up to us to trust him. Is there anyone who can promise us more? The fact that he asks to be our shepherd is the greatest consolation we can hear today. Let us live our lives as members of his flock, listening to him and getting to know him. If we follow him and share in his life, we will never regret it.