4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
The stone rejected by the builders
has become the cornerstone.
1st Reading: Acts 4:8-12
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke up, “Leaders of the people! Elders! It is a fact, that we are being examined today for a good deed done to a cripple. How was he healed? You, and all the people of Israel, must know, that this man stands before you cured, through the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazorean. You had him crucified. But God raised him from the dead. Jesus is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation in anyone else; for there is no other Name given to humankind, all over the world, by which we may be saved.”
2nd Reading: 1 Jn 3:1-2
See what singular love the Father has for us: we are called children of God, and we really are. This is why the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children, and what we shall be has not, yet, been shown. Yet, when he appears in his glory, we know, that we shall be like him, for, then, we shall see him as he is.
Gospel: Jn 10:11-18
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.
Lectio Divina
Read: There is no name other than the Name of Jesus that brings salvation. Peter highlights the cure of the man with a handicap as the proof. John speaks of the singular love of God that transforms us to be like Him. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
Reflect: How big is this family of the shepherd? How big is the sheep community? Jesus makes explicit references to other sheep that are also his, but do not necessarily belong to “this” fold, but whom he must lead as well so that finally there shall be one sheep and one shepherd. The redeeming name of Jesus is meant not just for a small group of Christians or the so-called “good,” but for the entire world. The singular love of God cannot be limited to a select few, but flows into the hearts of all. It is not God who rejects us, but we who reject God and one another in the name of God and creed. Perhaps becoming like God demands that we conform to the heart of the Shepherd who cares for all sheep.
Pray: Good Shepherd, mould my heart after yours.
Act: Listen to the God-experience of someone who belongs to a faith tradition different from yours.
Daily Reflection 2018
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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
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