Fourth Sunday of Easter

Good Shepherd’s Sunday

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

 

April 25, 2021

The stone that the architects discarded is now the cornerstone.

Look what love the Father has had for us to call ourselves children of God.

“I am the good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.”

 

 

Readings

 

First reading

Reading of the Acts of the Apostles 4, 8-12

In those days, filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter said:
“Chiefs of the people and elders: Because we have done a favor to a sick person, they question us today to find out what power has cured that man; make it clear to all of you and to all of Israel that it was the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead; By this Name, this healthy man presents himself to you. He is the ‘stone that you, the architects, rejected and that has become the cornerstone’; there is no salvation in any other; for under heaven no other name has been given to men by which we must save ourselves ”.

Psalm

Sal. 117, 1 and 8-9. 21-23. 26 and 28-29

The stone that the architects discarded is now the cornerstone.

Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his mercy is eternal.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust men,

it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust bosses. R.

I thank you because you listened to me and you were my salvation.
The stone that the architects discarded is now the cornerstone.
It is the Lord who has done it, it has been a patent miracle. R.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, we bless you from the house of the Lord.
You are my God, I thank you; My God, I praise you.
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his mercy is eternal. R.

Second lecture

Reading of the first letter of the Apostle Saint John 3, 1-2

Dear brothers:

Look at what love the Father has had for us to call us children of God, because we are! The world does not know us because it did not know him.

Dear ones, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been manifested. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

 

Gospel

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 10: 11-18

At that time, Jesus said:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life to the sheep; the hireling, who is neither a shepherd nor owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away; and the wolf steals them and scatters them; and it is that a wage earner does not care about the sheep. I am the good Shepherd, I know mine, and mine know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father; I give my life for the sheep.

I also have other sheep that are not of this fold; I have to bring those too, and they will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, one Shepherd.

This is why the Father loves me, because I give up my life so that I can get it back. Nobody takes it away from me, but I give it freely. I have power to deliver it and I have power to recover it: this mandate I have received from my Father.”

Comment

Today we celebrate the Sunday of the Good Shepherd, to which the World Day of Prayer for Vocations is joined, when the echoes of Easter night in which we recall the Resurrection of Christ still resonate. Certainly jesus Christ alive and risen is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.

Again the figure and image, or better the person of Christ, demands our attention because it is the center of the message of the Word of God today. Peter, at first reading, remembers it as the stone discarded by the architects, that is, the wise and understood, the chiefs of the people, and that God has become the cornerstone of his project of salvation for all mankind. No other name can save us but that of Jesus Christ the Nazarene. He is the only and universal mediator of the salvation that God the Father offers us all, of which the Church is his sacrament.

And what does this mean for us Christians? It means, first of all, that we must feel the need to be saved, that is, to be healed, comforted, taken out of our slavery and sins, healed from our above-lively and spiritual wounds, rehabilitated in our capacity for creatures made in the image of the Creator, called to friendship with Him, to participate in his own divine life, to be thus plenified in our own humanity , to live a happy and fruitful life in the present and eternal in the future with Him. God the Father’s desire is that we all live a full life projected toward eternity.

But it also means that we must be witnesses, mediators and architects of this salvation. Our society needs changes and reforms to bring it closer to God’s project, to the community of brothers and sisters in which no one is excluded or discarded, in which we all go inside, being all workers and architects of the present and the future. Plurality and diversity do not impoverish, but enrich, when we accept it and live it as an opportunity rather than as a difficulty.

Certainly, in a world so pluralized and globalized, in which relations between peoples, cultures and religions become increasingly necessary and frequent, it would seem that it is most appropriate to respect each one in his creed and condition, without mesing into his different ways of understanding life or divinity. Even knowing that God’s grace acts in the hearts of men and peoples beyond and above the ordinary mediations He himself has wanted and instituted, we cannot fail to explicitly proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior of all mankind. We cannot shut up or stop talking about Him, because, on the one hand, He asks us to do so; and also because his Truth is a fire that burns us inside, a light that must be placed at the top to light everyone up, a conviction that his humanism has not been surpassed by anyone and serves all.

In the second reading, St John reminds us of the foundation of salvation brought to us by Jesus Christ. God loves us so much, loves us as he loves us as he loves his children, who cannot just let us perish, although He has created us with the capacity and possibility to renounce his divine life and friendship. We are your children and what we will be has not yet been manifested, when the pilgrimage through this world is over. God wants eternal life with Him for all. But many don’t know him or don’t know him. It is we, who have already experienced their love, those of us who live in their vicinity as children, who are called to proclaim it without fear or truce, at every time and place, to all humanity.

Today’s Gospel introduces us to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. His goodness lies in his free choice to give his life for his sheep, that is, for each of us. We are so important and valuable to Him that He gives us everything He has. He knows us by our name and personally loves each of us; knows the good and the not so good, our strengths and weaknesses, our achievements and also our failures. Our challenge will always be to let ourselves be guided by Him, convinced that we will never find another Pastor better than Him.

He has given life and continues to give it for the sheep he already knows and who know Him; but also for those who do not know him and belong to other rediles, environments, cultures, races or religions. You also have to attract them to hear their voices and there is only one Shepherd and one flock. And for that task he needs us. That is why today we pray for vocations in the Church; for those of special consecration, priestly, religious or missionary; but also for the other vocations that, within the Church, develop in response to God’s call to be for Him and for others, in the family, at work, in free service for others.

We ask the Mies Owner to send workers to his temple; that there are young people who think of leaving everything for Jesus Christ and for the gospel, in the priesthood, consecrated or missionary life. We ask the Lord, aware that this prayer commits us to offer him who we are and have at the service of the Kingdom. How can I ask the Lord without telling him, here I am for what you need me for? We also ask for all our shepherds. Pope Francis, our bishops, our priests… so that at all times and place they may reflect the kind and dedicated face of the Good Shepherd, whom they make present with their ministry. We ask for our families and communities… so that in them we may pray and grow in the Christian faith and, in this way, become hotbeds of new vocations for the Church. We ask especially for the poorest and most needy Churches in remote places or countries with severe conflicts. so that they do not lack the shepherds who guide and guide God’s people, celebrating the Eucharist and the other sacraments, preaching the Word, listening to the cry of those who suffer, sharing their pains and sorrows, wearing down and risking their lives, thus making visible and tangible the loving face of Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd.

Prayer

Pastor, that with your loving whistles
you woke me up from the deep sleep,
you made me fall off this log
where you reach out to powerful arms.

Turn your eyes to my pious faith,
for I confess you for my love and owner,
and the word to keep endeavor
your sweet whistles and your beautiful feet.

Hey, Pastor, for loves you die,
don’t be appalled by the rigor of my sins,
For so much friend of surrenders you are,
wait, then, and listen to my care.

But how do I tell you to wait for me,
if you’re, to wait, your feet nailed? amen.