4th Sunday of EasterActs 2:14, 36-41 1 Peter 2:20-25 John 10:1-10 The Gospel this weekend is this:
John 10:1-10 "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. 2 But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 * When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. 5 But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." 6 Although Jesus used this figure of speech, * they did not realize what he was trying to tell them. 7 * So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 * All who came (before me) are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. The first reading is this: Acts 2:14, 36-41 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, "You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words… 36 Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, "What are we to do, my brothers?" 38 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. 39 For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call." 40 He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day. The second reading is this: 1 Peter 2:20-25 But what credit is there if you are patient when beaten for doing wrong? But if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered * for you, leaving you an examplee that you should follow in his footsteps. 22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." * 23 When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. * MEDITATION: Christ shepherds his people, and asks for helpers in doing so. (It’s church day of prayer for vocations). We all need the Life and Love of Christ - like sheep need pasture and our God becomes a lamb in order to lead us there! At Easter we recalled his victory over death and evil, and He wants to bring us to that victory with him, so today He asks us to recognize him as the correct gate for us and as our good shepherd. "I came so that they may have life and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10). I think it's asking us to humbly recognize that we don't know enough ourselves on our own. We all need to find out and to have our hearts moved. As I think of shepherding sheep, excuse my ruminating on pop-music, but Bob Dylan sang in the 1970's: "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind!", while Donovan sang at the same time (not along with Bob Dylan!) "Ah but I may as well try and catch the wind", and they're both actually similar to the Old Testament pessimistic writing of Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth): "Life is vanity of vanities - like trying to catch the wind". But there is a good solution, as the Gospel today proposes, that we be decent sheep who allow Christ to be their shepherd. He will help us to catch what we need! It's good to be a seeker - to ask yourself "Where did I come from? Where am I going? And how will I get there?". I like the small autobiography of a psychiatrist called Victor Frankel: 'Man in search of meaning'. He was a Jewish medic imprisoned in Aushwitz. He realized that the 'strong' who survived were those who had a 'plan' or a 'motivation for which to live (he founded what's called 'neusi-therapy'). Do you have a plan that inspires you to make effort in life? I saw once the Aushwitz concentration camp sign that was there for prisoners arriving: "Arbeit macht frei" (work will set you free). What a nasty lie that was! But the truth is that our world teaches something similar to us as we grow up - "Money, sex and power will set you free". So what do you seek? What grass does the sheep which is you, want to chew? The world likes to mock things religious. I liked Aldous Huxley's famous book 'Brave new world'. It was criticising an imaginary world where the people were made venerate 'our Ford'! But God longs for us to venerate 'our Lord' - and let ourselves be shepherded by Him. He's ambitious for us, but He needs us to be ambitious about ourselves with Him. In my youthful search I tried looking in books, music, art, microscopes, cat-scanners - and girlfriend's eyes - but I found what I was looking for only when I altered my own vision! Let's keep open our eyes of faith! Part of that is to ask ourselves what our plans are in life. Do they go any farther than the bank statement or an academic C.V.? That's why Christ calls all of us today, as he called the guys 2000 years ago. They asked where he lives. He replied “come and see!”. We don't need a road map to get there - we need to read the Word of God, and meditate. We need an attitude that is searching and listening. Christ is trying to tell us that there's treasure in our lives, if only we would seek. Let's not be like 'post-modern' philosophers who are pessimists who reckon that there's no point in seeking for things to get any better. In the parable of the talents (Mt 25), Jesus was criticizing the guy who just returned what he had been given, instead of putting the riches to good use. Are we post-modern or are we investing our lives? Fortunately, our faith is much more than a mundane philosophy. Christ is very ambitious about us - "You'll do my works and greater"! (Jn 14:12). That's if you want. God won't impose. If we live our faith, we'll be giving life to a dying world. People may well ask "But how do you know?". The answer is, that it's not a question of 'knowing' like in a text-book - that's why it's called faith! It's something that happens to us if we have humble hearts - to ask, to listen and to obey - giving the Word a chance to move our hearts and to bear fruit. As Jesus said with the image of the vine: "Connected to me you'll bear much fruit - but separated from me you won't" (Jn 15:5). A good sheep will end up a good shepherd. The marvelous thing about God's love is that we don't just enjoy receiving, but that He turns us into givers… sheep who can help our shepherd to guide others. The human family needs it. For example the suicide rate in the youth has grown a lot. The world may shut the door on the Christian faith, but we can never shut our eyes to man's need to know Christ and to follow Him in doing something useful for others. A teacher working with orphans and delinquents after the Russian Revolution, encouraged children to take -responsibility not just for themselves but, more importantly, for the good of the community as a whole. It worked well (Anton Makarenko, 1888-1939). Unfortunately, the 'Communists' left God out, so the love in community didn't last long. But are we ourselves any more loving now? Are we responsible children of God? Given the social situation in which you live, in what way would you like to help the family? Let's take the host at mass today with an awareness of how ambitious our Good Shepherd is - to form sheep who'll help in his shepherding. We make mistakes on the way, as we recognize at the beginning of mass ("I confess...), but we can repent and begin again - just like Peter offers baptism to the group in the first reading today (Acts 2:38). Isn't it great to have a Good Shepherd God who's willing to live and to die like a lamb! He gets beaten for doing good (1 Pt2:20)! I think that the symbol of shepherd and sheep is Christ's humble way of saying “please, let me be your gateway and follow me!” ..........Dara. En ESPAÑOL: 4° Domingo de Pascua: Hechos 2:14,36-41. 1°Pedro 2:20-25. Juan 10:1-10. (es día de oración por las vocaciones) Nos habla de Cristo como buen pastor y de como pide ayuda para pastorear. Todos, necesitamos Vida y Amor - como las ovejas necesitan de pastoreo ¡y nuestro Dios se pone como cordero para guiarnos! En la Pascua, hemos recordado la victoria de Cristo sobre la muerte y sobre el mal, y hoy, nos pide reconocerle como la buena verja para nosotros y como nuestro buen pastor. “He venido para que tengan vida y la tengan en abundancia” (Jn 10:10). Creo que nos está llamando a reconocer humildemente, que no podemos saber mucho por nuestra cuenta. Necesitamos de alguien que nos enseñe y nos mueva el corazón. Al pensar en el pastoreo de ovejas, disculpa mi rumiar la música pop, pero Bob Dylan cantó allá por el 1970: “The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind!” (“La respuesta, amigo mío, está volando en el viento”), y también cantó Donovan (¡no junto con Dylan!): "Ah but I may as well try and catch the wind" (“Eso es como intentar agarrar el viento”), y los dos son como en el Antiguo Testamento, el libro pesimista de Eclesiastés (Qoeleth): “La vida es vanidad de vanidades - como intentar coger el viento”. El Evangelio de hoy nos pide seguir buscando - ser buenas ovejas que reconocen quien es su pastor. ¡El puede darnos lo que necesitamos! Medita '¿De donde vengo? ¿A dónde voy? Y ¿cómo llegaré? Me gusta el librito de un médico llamado Víctor Frankel: 'El hombre en busca de sentido'. Él mismo era médico prisionero en el campo de concentración de Ausvitz. Se dio cuenta de que los fuertes que sobrevivían eran los que tenían algún plan o motivación en la vida (fundó lo que se llama 'neusi-terapia). ¿Hay algún plan que te motiva? Recuerdo el mensaje con que se acogía a los pobres prisioneros que llegaban a aquel 'campo': 'Arbeit macht frei' ('trabajar os hará libres'). ¡Que mentira tan fea! Pero la verdad es que el mundo nos enseña a todos algo semejante en nuestra juventud - “El dinero, el sexo y el poder os hará libres”. ¿Qué libertad buscas tú? ¿En qué prado quiere alimentarse la oveja que eres tu? El mundo suele burlarse de la religión. Me gustó el libro de Aldous Huxley: 'Brave New World' ('Un Mundo nuevo feliz'). Criticaba a un mundo imaginario donde la gente daban culto a 'Our Ford' (Nuestro Ford). Pero Dios anhela vernos dar culto a 'Our Lord' (Nuestro Señor) - y dejarle pastorearnos. Él es ambicioso acerca de nosotros, pero necesita que seamos ambiciosos con Él. Como joven, he buscado en libros, en la música, en el arte, en microscopios, en máquinas de radiografía y en los ojos de mis novias - pero ¡encontré lo que buscaba cuando cambié mi propia visión! ¡Mantengamos abiertos nuestros ojos de fe! Aquello incluye preguntarnos ¿cuáles son nuestros planes y anhelos en la vida? ¿Son más que la cuenta bancaria o el 'Curiculum Vitae'? Es para esto que Cristo llamó a los doce, hace 2000 años. Le preguntaron donde vivía. Él respondió “Ven y verás”. No necesitamos un mapa de carreteras para llegar - necesitamos leer La Palabra y meditarla. Necesitamos una actitud de búsqueda y de escucha. Cristo está intentando decirnos que hay un tesoro en nuestras vidas - entonces ¡búscalo! No está bien ser filósofos 'pos-modernos' que piensan que ya no hay para-que intentar mejorar las cosas. En la parábola de los talentos (Mt 25), Jesús está criticando al que devolvió simplemente lo que había recibido, en lugar de usarlo bien. ¿Somos pos-modernos? o ¿estamos invirtiendo nuestras vidas? Gracias a Dios, nuestra fe es más que una filosofía mundana. Cristo es ambicioso sobre nosotros - ¡“Haréis mis obras y aún mayores”! Esto es si lo queremos. Dios no impone. Si vivimos nuestra fe, estaremos dando vida a un mundo que se está muriendo. Puede ser que te pregunten “¿cómo sabes que tu fe es verdad?”. Responde que no es cuestión de 'saber' como en un libro de ciencia - ¡por eso se llama fe! Es algo que nos pasa si tenemos corazones humildes - para pedir - escuchar y obedecer - dando oportunidad a la Palabra de dar fruto. Como dice Jesús con la imagen de la viña: “Unidos a mi, daréis mucho fruto. Pero separados, no” (Jn 15:5). Una buena oveja llegará a ser un buen pastor. Lo tremendo del Amor de Dios es que no simplemente gozamos de recibir mucho sino que nos transforma en dadores... ovejas que pueden ayudar a nuestro buen pastor a pastorear a otros. La familia humana lo necesita. Por ejemplo, ¡en el último cuarto del siglo XX, el número de suicidios en irlandeses entre 15 y 25 años de edad, se multiplicó por cuatro! Puede ser que el mundo cierre la puerta a la fe Cristiana, pero nunca cerraremos nuestros ojos a la necesidad que tenemos todos de conocer a Cristo y de seguirle haciendo algo útil para los demás. Un profesor ayudando a huérfanos y a delincuentes después de la revolución en Rusia (Anton Makarenko, 1888-1939), animaba a los jóvenes, a tomar responsabilidad no solamente para si mismos sino, más bien, para el bien de toda la comunidad. Tuvo mucho éxito. Por desgracia, los 'comunistas' dejaron a Dios fuera, y el amor comunitario no duró mucho, pero ¿somos, nosotros, hijos responsables de Dios? Comulguemos la ostia hoy concientes de las ganas que tiene nuestro Buen Pastor - de formar ovejas que le ayudarán en el pastoreo (“Conectados a mi, daréis mucho fruto”. Jn 15:5). Cometemos errores en el camino, pero podemos arrepentirnos y empezar de nuevo - como decimos al comienzo de la misa, y como ofrece Pedro el bautismo al grupo en la primera lectura de hoy (Hechos 2:38). Y ¡qué bueno es tener un Dios buen pastor que está dispuesto a estar golpeado por hacer el bien! (1 Pt 2:20). Está dispuesto a vivir y morir como cordero! Con la imagen de las ovejas y el pastor, Cristo nos está pidiendo reconocerle como nuestra buena verja y pidiendo “¡ven y sígueme!”. Comments are closed.
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