4TH WEEK OF EASTER
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
Ps 42:2-3; 43:3-4
Athirst is my soul for the living God.
1st Reading: Acts 11:1-18
News came to the apostles and the brothers and sisters in Judea that even foreigners had received the word of God. So, when Peter went up to Jerusalem, these Jewish believers began to argue with him, “You went to the home of uncircumcised people and ate with them!
So Peter began to give them the facts as they had happened, ”I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when, in a trance, I saw a vision. Something like a large sheet came down from the sky and drew near to me, landing on the ground by its four corners. As I stared at it, I saw four-legged creatures of the earth, wild beasts and reptiles, and birds of the sky. Then I heard a voice saying to me: ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat!‘ I replied, ‘Certainly not, Lord! No common or unclean creature has ever entered my mouth.‘ A second time the voice from the heavens spoke, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call unclean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all drawn up into the sky. At that moment, three men, who had been sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were staying. The Spirit instructed me to go with them without hesitation; so these six brothers came along with me and we entered into the man‘s house. He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and telling him: ‘Send someone to Joppa and fetch Simon, also known as Peter. He will bring you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.’
I had begun to address them when suddenly the Holy Spirit came upon them, just as it had come upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.‘ If, then, God had given them the same gift that he had given us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to resist God?”
When they heard this they set their minds at rest and praised God saying, ”Then God has granted life-giving repentance to the pagan nations as well.”
Gospel: Jn 10:11-18
Jesus said: ”I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Not so the hired hand, or any other person who is not the shepherd, and to whom the sheep do not belong. They abandon the sheep as soon as they see the wolf coming; then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. This is because the hired hand works for pay and cares nothing for the sheep.
”I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father. Because of this, I give my life for my sheep.
”I have other sheep which are not of this fold. These I have to lead as well, and they shall listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, since there is one shepherd.
”The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down freely. It is mine to lay down and to take up again: this mission I received from my Father.”
REFLECTION:
A good shepherd is a powerful symbol of how Jesus cares for His own. It brings forth the sense of fierce tenderness, of worries and concern that goes beyond the idea of mere possession of that which one protects. It brings to fore the kind of self-investment whose foundation is love. It is no wonder that Jesus could give His life freely and without regret for His sheep.
This is a hard vocation to follow. How many of us is generous enough to remove the ”self” as the center of our life and put ”others” instead? It takes a highly evolved consciousness and spiritual strength to have the capacity to do this. Hence we need to learn from Jesus. We need to sit at His feet and progress towards selfless love. And so the Good Shepherd can multiply Himself only in those whose hearts are ready and brave.
Daily Reflection
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
Readings and Reflections
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