Monday of the Fourth
Week of Easter
Lectionary: 279
The Apostles and the
brothers who were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles
too had accepted the word of God.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem
the circumcised believers
confronted him, saying,
‘You entered the house of
uncircumcised people and ate with them.”
Peter began and explained
it to them step by step, saying,
“I was at prayer in the
city of Joppa
when in a trance I had a
vision,
something resembling a
large sheet coming down,
lowered from the sky by
its four corners, and it came to me.
Looking intently into it,
I observed and saw the
four-legged animals of the earth,
the wild beasts, the
reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
I also heard a voice say
to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’
But I said, ‘Certainly
not, sir,
because nothing profane or
unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
But a second time a voice
from heaven answered,
‘What God has made clean,
you are not to call profane.’
This happened three times,
and then everything was
drawn up again into the sky.
Just then three men
appeared at the house where we were,
who had been sent to me
from Caesarea .
The Spirit told me to
accompany them without discriminating.
These six brothers also
went with me,
and we entered the man’s
house.
He related to us how he
had seen the angel standing in his house, saying,
‘Send someone to Joppa and
summon Simon, who is called Peter,
who will speak words to
you
by which you and all your
household will be saved.’
As I began to speak, the
Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the
beginning,
and I remembered the word
of the Lord, how he had said,
‘John baptized with water
but you will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit.’
If then God gave them the
same gift he gave to us
when we came to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I to be able to
hinder God?”
When they heard this,
they stopped objecting and
glorified God, saying,
“God has then granted
life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
Responsorial Psalm PS 42:2-3; 43:3, 4
R. (see 3a) Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
As the hind longs for the
running waters,
so my soul longs for you,
O God.
Athirst is my soul for
God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold
the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Send forth your light and
your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy
mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Then will I go in to the
altar of God,
the God of my gladness and
joy;
Then will I give you
thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for
the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel JN
10:1-10
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 he 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,
they 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.”
Meditation: "I came that they may have life
abundantly"
Do you know the peace and
security of the Good Shepherd who watches over his own? The Old Testament often
speaks of God as shepherd of his people, What can shepherding teach us about God and our relationship with him? At the end of each day the shepherd brought his sheep into shelter. They knew the voice of their shepherd and came at his beckoning. So familiar was the shepherd and his sheep, that each was called by a distinct name. In the winter the sheep were usually brought to a communal village shelter which was locked and kept secure by a guardian. In the summer months the sheep were usually kept out in the fields and then gathered into a fold at night which was guarded by a shepherd throughout the night. He was literally the door through which the sheep had to pass. The scriptures describe God as a shepherd who brings security and peace to his people. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore (Psalm 120:8).Even the leaders of God's people are called shepherds: they shall lead them out and bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd (Numbers 27:17). Just as a shepherd kept watch over his sheep and protected them from danger, so Jesus stands watch over his people as the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1 Peter 2:25). Do you know the peace and security of a life fully submitted to God?
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) writes: “He has accomplished what he taught us: He has shown us what He commanded us to do. He laid down his own life for his sheep, that within our mystery he might change his body and blood into food, and nourish the sheep he had redeemed with the food of his own flesh. He has shown us the way we must follow, despite fear of death. He has laid down the pattern to which we must conform ourselves. The first duty laid on us is to use our worldly goods in mercy for the needs of his sheep, and then, if necessary, give even our lives for them. He that will not give of his substance for his sheep, how shall he lay down his life for them?” (Tr. 46 in John). Do you look to Jesus the Good Shepherd, to receive the strength and courage you need to live and serve as his disciple?
"Lord Jesus, you always lead me in the way of true peace and safety. May I never doubt your care nor stray from your ways. Keep me safe in the shelter of your presence."
 Going Through the Gate |
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Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
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Father Steven Reilly, LC
John
10:1-10Jesus 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 he 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, they 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." Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are here with me. This time with you now in prayer is the most important time in my day. I know that you have prepared many graces for me. I wish to take advantage of them with grateful fervor. Petition: Lord, help me to go through the gate! May I hear no other voices but yours! 1. Jesus Is the Gate: We all want to be happy. There is no one on the face of the planet who would consciously choose to be frustrated and miserable. Yet how is it that so many people unconsciously choose to be, or are missing the boat on what really makes life worthwhile? Jesus is the gate! If we truly want to fulfill our deepest human aspirations, we have to know and love Jesus Christ. As long as Jesus is second to anything or anyone in our life, we have not fully passed through the gate. Taking the plunge and truly passing through the gate is the best decision we could ever make. 2. The Voice of Strangers: If we don’t go through the gate, we are vulnerable. Those who are not fully committed may find the offers of strangers quite enticing. But Christ’s sheep reject those voices out of fidelity to their Shepherd. Perseverance in our Catholic faith and our Catholic lifestyle requires a constant effort to refocus on the Lord. Even if we are besieged by a cacophony of competing voices, the voice of the Lord will always rise above that din. We must be faithful. Our prayer life is the privileged place to screen out the noise and truly hear Christ, which is why our prayer is the most important time of the day. How vibrant is my prayer life? 3. Abundant Life: The effort to go through the gate and to listen only to the voice of the Good Shepherd pays abundant dividends. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” What is that life like? Put simply, there’s nothing like it. The abundant life that Christ gives us is the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity in one’s soul. It is the love that envelops authentically Christian homes and communities. It is the peace that comes from a conscience that has experienced forgiveness and is committed to living in the truth. What could anyone give us that can possibly compare to all of this? Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, I thank you for this time we have spent together. Many times I have allowed other voices to distract me from yours. I pledge to walk the path of fidelity to you. Grant me the grace to persevere always and to give others an example to help them through the gate.
Resolution: I will reach out to a relative who is
estranged from the Church, reflecting some of the love of Christ the Good
Shepherd with hopes it will direct him or her to the gate.
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MONDAY, APRIL 22
Easter Weekday
JOHN 10:1-10
(Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 42)
KEY VERSE: "I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture" (v 9).
REFLECTING: Do I pray for Pope Francis I, the shepherd of God's people?
PRAYING: Risen Lord, help me to follow you as you guide me day by day.
EARTH DAY
Observed each year at the United Nations and to some extent around the world, Earth Day is a celebration of life and a dynamic force for resolution of conflicts, for harmony with neighbor and nature by people acting as responsible trustees of the earth. As soon as there is global understanding about Earth Day -- its history, meaning, purpose and vision, a healthy global unity will pervade the world. All individuals and institutions have a mutual responsibility to act as trustees of the earth, seeking the choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, foster peaceful progress, awaken the wonder of life, and realize the best potential for the future of the human adventure.
"So
God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing
that moves upon the earth." God said, "See, I have given you every
plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with
seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the
earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the
earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant
for food." And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed,
it was very good"
(Genesis 1:27-31).
My soul is thirsting for the living God
Life is not mere existence - even inanimate things exist. The life Jesus intends for each of us is a sharing in the being of God. The life that we receive from the Word we receive is God’s gift through the One who was manifested in him.
Lord, ‘you are unchangeable, yet you change all things. You are new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you.’ Help me to lose myself in you, to find myself in you, ever again, to love you in all. Yes, you have loved all into being. May all your people learn to listen, share with each other and reflect together on their lives in the light of the Gospel. Give me, Lord, only your love.
April 23
St. Adalbert ofPrague
(956-97)
St. Adalbert of
(956-97)
Opposition to the Good News of Jesus
did not discourage Adalbert, who is now remembered with great honor in the Czech Republic ,
Poland , Hungary and Germany
Born
to a noble family in In time, the people of
After a short ministry in
Comment:
Preaching the Good News can be dangerous work whether the audience is already baptized or not. Adalbert fearlessly preached Jesus' gospel and received a martyr's crown for his efforts. Similar zeal has created modern martyrs in many places, especially in Central andSouth America . Some of those martyrs
grew up in areas once evangelized by Adalbert.
Preaching the Good News can be dangerous work whether the audience is already baptized or not. Adalbert fearlessly preached Jesus' gospel and received a martyr's crown for his efforts. Similar zeal has created modern martyrs in many places, especially in Central and
Quote:
“O God, [you] bestowed the crown of martyrdom on the Bishop St. Adalbert, as he burned with zeal for for souls, grant, we pray, by his prayers, that the obedience of his flock may never fail the shephered, nor the care of the shepherd be ever lacking to the flock.” (Roman Missal, Common of a Martyr in the Easter season).
“O God, [you] bestowed the crown of martyrdom on the Bishop St. Adalbert, as he burned with zeal for for souls, grant, we pray, by his prayers, that the obedience of his flock may never fail the shephered, nor the care of the shepherd be ever lacking to the flock.” (Roman Missal, Common of a Martyr in the Easter season).
LECTIO: JOHN 10,1-10
Lectio:
Monday, April 22, 2013
Easter Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord God, our Father,
the Spirit of Jesus calls us, as he called your Son,
to abandon our old selves and our old world
to be free for new life and growth.
Forgive us our fear and hesitations,
lead us out of our worn-out phrases and habits,
and our self-made certainties,
steep us in the gospel of your Son,
that his good news may become credible
in our times and our world.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel
Jesus said: “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. He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognise the voice of strangers.' Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus spoke to them again: In all truth I tell you, I am the gate of the sheepfold. All who have come before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep took no notice of them. I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such a one will go in and out and will find pasture. 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.”
3) Reflection
• In Jesus we have the model of the true shepherd. In him is fulfilled the expectation of the Good Shepherd promised by God: the “Great Shepherd” greater than Moses (Hb 13, 20).
• John 10, 1-6: The gate of the sheepfold. In Jn 10, 1-10 it is said that Jesus is the “gate” to get to the sheep and to be led to the pastures (10, 7.9-10).
The theme of the sheep had already been introduced in John 2, 15 and in a particular way in 5, 2 where it is indicated that there is a Sheep Pool with five porticos along which were laid the sick to be healed. In this last context the sheep indicate the people who were oppressed by their directors. In Jn 10, 1, Jesus links the theme of the sheep to the atrium or inner courtyard of theTemple
Jesus begins his long presentation before the Pharisees, who were closed up in their unbelief and insufficiency (9, 40-41) with a general affirmation: a more sure way to enter into contact with the sheep is that of entering by the gate of the enclosure in which they are kept. Anyone who enters in a different way is not animated by a reason of love for the sheep, but in order to exploit them for his own interest. This is the sin of those who direct the people: to take hold of everything that belongs to all for themselves. Jesus calls this attitude using the term “thief”. This was precisely the accusation that Jesus addressed to the chief priests of the people during his first visit to theTemple
Another term that Jesus uses to indicate those who take away from the people what belongs to them is: “bandit”. Such a term indicates those who use violence. Therefore, the chief priests of theTemple
The shepherd enters through the gate to take care of the sheep, not to oppress them or maltreat them. In fact, the sheep recognize his authority (voice) and follow him. The voice of Jesus contains a message of liberation for them that is typical of the Messiah. Besides, his voice is not addressed to an anonymous group of persons but he calls each one personally. For Jesus no anonymous crowd of people exists, but each person has a face, a name, dignity. TheTemple (the enclosure of the sheep) has become a place of
darkness, characterized only by economic interests; money has replaced the
exclusive attention to God: the Temple
Jesus leads the people to take them out of the darkness. And he does not do this in a fictitious way, but in a real way, because such is the work which the Father has entrusted to him. The fundamental strokes of this mission are: to enter and to call. Those who respond to that call, to the call to liberty become a new community: “Those who are His own”.
• John 10, 7-10: Jesus is the new door. Jesus again uses the symbolism of the gate in vv. 7-8: applying this to himself. He is the new door not only in regard to the old enclosure ofIsrael
The entrance through Jesus signifies to consider the good of man as a priority and to commit all our energy to attain this. Anyone who does not enter into this new logic is an oppressor. The reader finds that the words of Jesus addressed to his contemporaries and in a particular way to the chief priests of the people, who have used domination and violence to exploit the people, are truly hard and strong, firm.
He is the new gate in regard to every person. But for men and women of today what does it mean to enter through the door which is Jesus? It implies to “get close to Him”, “to trust Him” (Jn 6, 35), to follow Him and to allow ourselves to be guided by His message (8, 31. 51), in definitive it means to participate in the dedication of Jesus so that the true happiness of man may be accomplished.
• In Jesus we have the model of the true shepherd. In him is fulfilled the expectation of the Good Shepherd promised by God: the “Great Shepherd” greater than Moses (Hb 13, 20).
• John 10, 1-6: The gate of the sheepfold. In Jn 10, 1-10 it is said that Jesus is the “gate” to get to the sheep and to be led to the pastures (10, 7.9-10).
The theme of the sheep had already been introduced in John 2, 15 and in a particular way in 5, 2 where it is indicated that there is a Sheep Pool with five porticos along which were laid the sick to be healed. In this last context the sheep indicate the people who were oppressed by their directors. In Jn 10, 1, Jesus links the theme of the sheep to the atrium or inner courtyard of the
Jesus begins his long presentation before the Pharisees, who were closed up in their unbelief and insufficiency (9, 40-41) with a general affirmation: a more sure way to enter into contact with the sheep is that of entering by the gate of the enclosure in which they are kept. Anyone who enters in a different way is not animated by a reason of love for the sheep, but in order to exploit them for his own interest. This is the sin of those who direct the people: to take hold of everything that belongs to all for themselves. Jesus calls this attitude using the term “thief”. This was precisely the accusation that Jesus addressed to the chief priests of the people during his first visit to the
Another term that Jesus uses to indicate those who take away from the people what belongs to them is: “bandit”. Such a term indicates those who use violence. Therefore, the chief priests of the
The shepherd enters through the gate to take care of the sheep, not to oppress them or maltreat them. In fact, the sheep recognize his authority (voice) and follow him. The voice of Jesus contains a message of liberation for them that is typical of the Messiah. Besides, his voice is not addressed to an anonymous group of persons but he calls each one personally. For Jesus no anonymous crowd of people exists, but each person has a face, a name, dignity. The
Jesus leads the people to take them out of the darkness. And he does not do this in a fictitious way, but in a real way, because such is the work which the Father has entrusted to him. The fundamental strokes of this mission are: to enter and to call. Those who respond to that call, to the call to liberty become a new community: “Those who are His own”.
• John 10, 7-10: Jesus is the new door. Jesus again uses the symbolism of the gate in vv. 7-8: applying this to himself. He is the new door not only in regard to the old enclosure of
The entrance through Jesus signifies to consider the good of man as a priority and to commit all our energy to attain this. Anyone who does not enter into this new logic is an oppressor. The reader finds that the words of Jesus addressed to his contemporaries and in a particular way to the chief priests of the people, who have used domination and violence to exploit the people, are truly hard and strong, firm.
He is the new gate in regard to every person. But for men and women of today what does it mean to enter through the door which is Jesus? It implies to “get close to Him”, “to trust Him” (Jn 6, 35), to follow Him and to allow ourselves to be guided by His message (8, 31. 51), in definitive it means to participate in the dedication of Jesus so that the true happiness of man may be accomplished.
4) Personal questions
• Jesus is the Good Shepherd because he always knows you, but do you recognize him? He is a Shepherd who comes to your life as a door to go out and to enter: do you allow Him to lead you when you relate with others?
• In your community, in your family are you also a door, not to close it, but to remain open to fraternal communication, to allow esteem and hope to go through?
5) Concluding Prayer
Lord, send out your light and your truth;
they shall be my guide,
to lead me to your holy mountain
to the place where you dwell. (Ps 43,3)
Lord, send out your light and your truth;
they shall be my guide,
to lead me to your holy mountain
to the place where you dwell. (Ps 43,3)
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