April 26, 2026
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Lectionary:
49
Reading
1
Then
Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
"Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified."
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?"
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.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call."
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.
Responsorial
Psalm
R.
(1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading
2
Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
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.
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.
For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus
said:
"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.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042626.cfm
Commentary on Acts
2:14, 36-41; 1 Peter 2:20-25; John 10:1-10
Today is commonly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” and also
as “Vocations Sunday”. It is a day when our Church prays especially for new
shepherds and pastors to lead the Christian communities.
The image of God as the shepherd of his people has a long
tradition in the history of God’s people. The image of the shepherd is
one which appears several times in the New Testament. It is one that would be
immediately understood by the people of the time.
In some parts of the world, especially in hotter climates,
sheep are a rarity. Some have never seen a sheep (except perhaps on television,
in a zoo or as lamb on the dinner plate!) and still less shepherds. And the
shepherd of the Middle East is somewhat different from, say, sheep ranchers of
the Australian outback, rounding up on horseback thousands of animals. There,
if one goes missing, it is hardly noticed.
The shepherd of the biblical Middle East had a much more
intimate relationship with a much smaller flock. He would bring them out
to pasture each day and spend all his time with them. In the evening, he would
bring them back to the enclosure where they would be safe from preying animals.
He knew each one individually and would notice immediately if even one was
missing. Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep would have resonated perfectly with
his hearers.
Where many of us come from, the shepherd walks behind the
sheep, often with a dog to help. In the Middle East, the shepherd walks in
front of his sheep and they follow him—and only him because:
…they know his voice.
Sheep in Scripture
There are a number of references to sheep and shepherds in the Synoptic
Gospels. In Mark, for instance, Jesus is deeply moved by compassion because the
crowds are “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). By implication, of
course, he is their shepherd. In response to criticism by the Pharisees that he
was mixing with sinners and the unclean, Jesus told the parable of the shepherd
who goes to extraordinary lengths to bring back a lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7). In
Matthew, believers are warned about false prophets among them, who are really
wolves, but come in sheep’s clothing. In the final judgement, the good,
that is, those who recognised and served Jesus in “the least of these brothers”
are good “sheep”, in contrast to the wicked “goats”.
We have also that marvellous passage in Ezekiel where the
shepherds of Israel are condemned for their betrayal of their responsibilities,
and where God himself promises to take over the gentle care of his
flock. There are many parallels in this passage and the Gospel of today.
The bad shepherds fatten themselves at the expense of their sheep. The
sheep are left wandering and become a prey to marauding wolves. The Lord
of compassion promises to go and gather his sheep and bring them back to good
pasture. Through his compassionate care of them, God’s people:
…shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and
that they, the house of Israel, are my people…You are my sheep, the sheep of my
pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord God. (Ezek 34:30-31)
Two images
In today’s Gospel passage, which consists of the first 10 verses of chapter 10,
there seem to be two separate parables. The first is a warning against people
who would want to steal the sheep, and the second focuses on the relationship
between the sheep and their shepherd. The central image, too, is not so
much that of the shepherd as of the gate. In fact, later on in the
passage, Jesus says,
I am the Gate.
Here it would seem that Jesus is the Gate of the sheepfold,
while the shepherds who come in and out are pastors who are faithful to Jesus.
Anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, for instance, by climbing
over the fence or breaking through it, is dangerous and should be avoided. They
“are thieves and bandits” who comes to steal and do harm to the sheep. The
genuine shepherd, however, enters by the Gate (Jesus). He is recognised and
admitted by the watchman (perhaps the leader of the community?) at the gate.
The sheep hear and recognise and follow their shepherd’s
voice. In a sheepfold, where there are the sheep of many shepherds, the true
shepherd knows which ones belong to him. He calls them out one by one.
They, recognising the voice of their own shepherd, follow him. They will
not follow other shepherds, even if called by them. It is a free
relationship. The sheep go in and out. They follow, not because they are
forced to, but by their own choice. The other sheep (belonging to other
shepherds) stay behind.
When the shepherd has brought out his sheep to pasture, he
goes ahead. And they follow because “they know his voice”. They will not
follow a stranger, but run away from him, because they do not recognise his
voice.
We are told that the disciples failed to understand the
meaning of this parable. This is a reaction which is more common in the
Synoptic Gospels, especially Mark (see Mark 4:10-12). Parables are meant for
‘insiders’ and not ‘outsiders’. So Jesus spells out more clearly what he
means. He is the Gate of the sheepfold. Those who enter the sheepfold by any
other way are not to be trusted, they are “thieves and bandits”—and the sheep
will ignore them. But:
Whoever enters by me [the Gate] will be
saved.
Fullness of life
Many of the warnings of Jesus here should be read in the context of the story
of the blind man in the preceding chapter 9. Here Jesus condemns the blindness
of the Pharisees as religious leaders who are totally unfit to bring people to
God. They are not good shepherds and they refuse to enter by the Gate.
The passage ends with one of Jesus’ most beautiful
statements:
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
To follow Jesus is not, as some seem to fear, to live a half
life, a life filled with endlessly dire warnings of “Don’t!”. It is to
live life, our human life, to the greatest possible fullness. As Jesuit
Father Eugene Lobo put it, “The Gospel is a statement about how human life is
best lived.” The same writer also said, “Life with God is good for human
beings and should be seen to be so.” True evangelisation consists in
making this clear by the way we speak and live. So many people,
unfortunately, have the impression that there is something ‘unnatural’ or
‘super-natural’ in being a Christian. Somehow we are not doing a good job.
Called to serve
Today is Vocations Sunday. It is obvious that our Church today is in great need
of good shepherds, totally committed to the Way of Jesus. We are asked to pray
today especially that our Christian communities will be graced with good
shepherds and pastors. It is a pity that we tend to narrow the term ‘vocation’
to those who feel called to the priesthood or what we call ‘religious’ life, as
when we ask, “Do you think you have a ‘vocation’?” Or say, “There are very few
‘vocations’ in our diocese.”
Yet we need to emphasise very strongly that every single
baptised person has a ‘vocation’. Everyone is called by God to play a specific
role in the Christian community and in the wider community. Unless we
Christians see that ‘vocation’ is something that we are all called to, it is
not likely that there will be enough people to meet the service needs of our
Christian communities. Our Christian communities can only grow and thrive
when every member makes a contribution to the well-being of the whole.
Unfortunately, a large number, it seems, decide first on
their ‘career’ and only then ask, “How can I be a good Catholic?” (that is, if
they actually do ask the question). It is absolutely basic for us to ask
ourselves at all times, “What does God want me to be? What are my particular
gifts? How can I offer these gifts in service to the wider community and
to my own Christian community?”
If I live my life as a morally good person, ‘keeping the
Commandments’ and saying my prayers and ‘fulfilling my religious obligations’,
but do not in fact play an active and constructive part in my community, I am
not really a Christian in the proper sense. Yet, it seems that that is the
way many people live their Catholic lives.
Unless we Christians see that ‘vocation’ as something that
we are all called to respond to, it is not likely that there will be enough
people to respond to the service needs of our Christian communities and, by
extension, the needs of the wider community. There is still among many, one
fears, what can be called a ‘supermarket mentality’ where our Christian
practice is concerned. The Church is there to provide me with ‘spiritual’ or
‘religious’ ‘goods’ as I need them. But there is a danger that, like
supermarkets in war-torn countries, there may soon be no ‘goods’ available and,
worse, no one to distribute them!
Our Christian communities can only grow and thrive when
every member makes his or her contribution to the well-being of the whole. When
all are giving, all will be receiving in abundance, the abundance that Jesus speaks
about in today’s Gospel.
Today we are asked to “pray” for vocations. There is a
danger that, although many will fervently do so, they are praying for other
people’s vocations and not their own. To say this prayer with sincerity
involves my reflecting on how God is asking me to make a
meaningful contribution of myself (not just money) to the building up of our
community, our parish.
In fact, one has to be deeply impressed by the number of
people who do make a substantial contribution one way or the other to the
running of our church communities. Nevertheless, today, Vocations Sunday,
challenges each one of us to reflect on how we personally are responding to the
call that Jesus is making to each of us right now. As a group or community, we
respond to that call by seeing that all that is needed for the maintenance and
growth of our community is being generously provided.
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Sunday,
April 26, 2026
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Opening Prayer
Lord
Jesus, send your Spirit to help us read the Scriptures with the same mind that
you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word,
written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing
events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of
all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection. Create in us silence
so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events
and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so
that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your
resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of
fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed
to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading – John 10: 1-10
A
Key to the Reading:
This
Sunday’s Gospel presents us with the familiar image of the Good Shepherd. When
speaking of the sheep of God’s flock, Jesus uses several images to describe the
attitude of those who look after the flock. The text of the liturgy is taken from
verses 1 to 10. In our commentary we add verses 11 to 18 because these contain the
image of the “Good Shepherd” and help us better understand the sense of verses 1
to 10. During the reading, try to pay attention to the various images or similes
that Jesus uses to present to us the way a true shepherd ought to be.
A
Division of the Text as a Help to the Reading:
The text
contains three interrelated similes:
•
John 10: 1-5: The simile of the bandit and the shepherd
•
John 10: 6-10: The simile of the door of the sheepfold
•
John 10: 11-18: The simile of the good shepherd
The
Text:
1 'In
all truth I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate,
but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a bandit. 2 He who enters through the
gate is the shepherd of the flock; 3 the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear
his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. 4 When he has brought
out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because
they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away
from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.'
6 Jesus
told them this parable but they failed to understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus spoke to them again: In all truth I tell you, I am the gate of the sheepfold.
8 All who have come before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep took no
notice of them. 9 I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such
a one will go in and out and will find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal
and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the
full.
11 I
am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. 12
The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him,
abandons the sheep as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and runs away, and then the
wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; 13 he runs away because he is only a hired
man and has no concern for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and
my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay
down my life for my sheep. 16 And there are other sheep I have that are not of this
fold, and I must lead these too. They too will listen to my voice, and there will
be only one flock, one shepherd. 17 The Father loves me, because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own
free will, and as I have power to lay it down, so I have power to take it up again;
and this is the command I have received from my Father.
A
Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate
and enlighten our life.
Some Questions
to help us in our personal reflection
•
What part of the text most touched you? Why?
•
What images does Jesus apply to himself? How does he do that and
what is their significance?
•
In this text, how many times does Jesus use the word life and what
does he say about life?
•
Pastor-Pastoral. Do our pastoral actions carry on from the mission
of Jesus- Pastor?
•
How can we acquire a clear view of the true Jesus of the Gospels?
•
To Enter Deeper Into the Theme
The
Context Within Which the Gospel of John Was Written:
This
is a further example of the way John’s Gospel was written and organized. Jesus’
words on the Shepherd (Jn 10: 1-18) are like a brick placed in an already built
wall. Just before this text, in John 9: 40-41, Jesus was speaking the blindness
of the Pharisees. Immediately after, in John 10: 19-21, we come across the
conclusion of the discussion on blindness. Thus, the words concerning the Good Shepherd
show how to remove such blindness. This brick renders the wall stronger and
more beautiful.
•
John 10: 1-5: The simile of the bandit and the shepherd
Jesus
begins his discourse with the simile of the gate: "I tell you most solemnly,
I am the gate of the sheepfold. All others who have come are thieves and
brigands; but the sheep took no notice of them. I am the gate. Anyone who
enters through me will be safe!” To understand this simile, we need to remember
what comes after. In those days, shepherds took care of the sheep during the
day. At night, they brought the sheep into a large sheepfold or common
enclosure, well protected against thieves and wolves. All the shepherds within a
region brought their flocks there. There was a guard who watched over the flock
throughout the night. In the morning the shepherd would come and knock on the
gate and the guard would open the gate. The shepherd then called the sheep by
name. The sheep recognized the voice of their shepherd and so they got up and followed
him to pastures. The sheep of other shepherds would hear the voice, but stayed where
they were, because they did not recognize the voice. Every now and then there was
the danger of an attack. Thieves went into the sheepfold through a kind of
loophole by removing stones from the wall around and stole the sheep. They did not
enter by the gate, because the guard was there watching.
•
John 10: 6-10: The simile of the gate of the sheepfold
Those
who were listening, the Pharisees, (Jn 9: 40-41), could not understand what “entering
by the gate” meant. Jesus explains: "I am the gate! All others who have come
are thieves and brigands”. To whom do these hard words of Jesus refer? Considering
his way of speaking about brigands, he was probably referring to religious leaders
who dragged people after them, but did not fulfil their expectations. They were
not interested in the welfare of the people, but rather in their money and
their own interests. They deceived people and abandoned them to their fate. The
basic criterion for discerning between the shepherd and the brigand is the defense
of the life of the sheep. Jesus says: “I have come so that they may have life, and
have it to the full!” To enter by the gate, means imitating Jesus’ attitude of defending
the life of his sheep. Jesus asks people to take the initiative by not
following those who pretend to be shepherds and who are not interested in their
lives.
•
John 10: 11-15: The simile of the Good Shepherd
Jesus
changes the simile. First, he was the gate, now he is the shepherd.
Everyone
knew what a shepherd was like, how he lived and worked. But Jesus is not just
any shepherd, he is the good shepherd! The image of the good shepherd comes
from the Old Testament. When Jesus says that he is the Good Shepherd, he is
presenting himself as the one who comes to fulfil the promises of the prophets
and hopes of the people. He insists on two points:
(a) In defending the life of his sheep,
the good shepherd gives his life.
(b) In the mutual understanding
between shepherd and sheep, the Shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know their
shepherd.
•
The false shepherd who wants to overcome his blindness, has to confront
his own opinion with that of the people. This is what the Pharisees did not do.
They looked down on the sheep and called them cursed and ignorant people (Jn 7:
49; 9: 34). On the other hand, Jesus says that the people have an infallible
perception in knowing who the good shepherd is, because they recognize his voice
(Jn 10: 4) “My own know me” (Jn 10: 14). The Pharisees thought they could discern
the things of God with certainty. In truth they were blind.
•
The discourse on the Good Shepherd includes two important rules
for removing pharisaic blindness from our eyes:
(a)
Shepherds are very attentive to the reaction of the sheep so
that they may recognize the voice of the shepherd.
(b)
The sheep must be very attentive to the attitude of those who
call themselves shepherds so as to verify whether they are really interested in
the lives of the sheep and whether they are capable of giving their lives for
their sheep. What about today’s shepherds?
•
John 10: 16-18: Jesus’ aim: one flock and one shepherd
Jesus
opens out the horizon and says that there are other sheep that are not of this sheepfold.
They will not hear Jesus’ voice, but when they do, they will realize that he is
the Shepherd and will follow him. Here we see the ecumenical attitude of the community
of the “Beloved Disciple”.
Further Comments:
The
Image of the Shepherd in the Bible:
In Palestine,
people largely depended on raising sheep and goats for their living. The image
of the shepherd who leads his sheep to pasture was well known to all, just as today
we all know the image of the driver of a coach or of a train. It was common to
use the image of the shepherd to illustrate the function of one who ruled and
led the people. The prophets criticized kings because they were shepherds who
did not take care of their flock and did not lead the flock to pasture (Jer 2: 8;
10: 21; 23: 1-2). Such criticism of bad shepherds grew in the measure that,
through the fault of kings, the people saw themselves dragged into slavery (Ez 34:
1-10; Zac 11: 4-17).
Before
the frustration experienced because of the lack of leadership on the part of the
bad shepherds, there grew the desire or the hope of one day having a shepherd
who would be good and sincere and who would be like God in the way of leading his
people. Thus, the Psalm says, "The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I
shall want!" (Ps 23: 1-6; Gen 48: 15). The prophets hope that, in some future
time, God himself would be the shepherd who would lead his flock (Is 40: 11; Ez
34: 11-16). They also hope that at such a time, the people would be able to recognize
the voice of their shepherd: "Listen today to his voice!" (Ps 95: 7).
They hope that God will come as a Judge to judge the sheep of the flock (Ez 34:
17). They wish and hope that one day God will raise good shepherds and that the
Messiah would be a good shepherd for the people of God. (Jer 3: 15; 23: 4).
Jesus
turns this hope into reality and presents himself as the Good Shepherd,
different from the brigands who were despoiling the people. He presents himself
as a Judge, who, at the end, will judge as a shepherd who will separate the
sheep from the goats (Mt 25: 31-46). In Jesus is fulfilled the prophecy of
Zechariah who says that the good shepherd will be persecuted by the bad shepherds
who are disturbed by his denunciations: "I am going to strike the shepherd
so that the sheep may be scattered!" (Zec 13: 7). Finally, Jesus is everything:
he is the gate, the shepherd and the lamb!
The
Community of the Beloved Disciple: Open, Tolerant and Ecumenical:
The
communities lying behind the Gospel of John were made up of various groups.
Among them there were open-minded Jews with a critical view of the Temple of Jerusalem
(Jn 2: 13-22) and the law (Jn 7: 49-50). There were Samaritans (Jn 4: 1-42) and
pagans (Jn 12: 20) who became converts, both with their historical origins and
cultural customs, quite different from those of the Jews. Even though they were
made up of such different groups, John’s communities will see the following of Jesus
as a concrete lived love in solidarity. By respecting each other’s differences,
they will be aware of the problems arising from pagans and Jews living
together, problems which troubled other communities at the time (Acts 15: 5). Challenged
by the realities of their own time, the communities sought to deepen their faith
in Jesus, sent by the Father who wishes that all should be brothers and sisters
(Jn 15: 12-14, 17) and who says: "In my Father’s house there are many mansions!”
(Jn 14: 2). This deepening facilitated dialogue with other groups. Then there
were open, tolerant and ecumenical communities (Jn 10: 16).
Psalm 23 (22)
Yahweh
is My Shepherd
Yahweh
is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
In grassy
meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me to restore my spirit.
He guides
me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.
Even
were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you
are at my side.
Your
staff and your crook are there to soothe me.
You prepare
a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my
cup brims over.
Kindness
and faithful love pursue me every day of my life.
I make
my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.
Final Prayer
Lord
Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will
of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to
practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your
mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with
the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen
