Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter [Year A]
Acts 11:1-18  +  John 10:11-1

“‘A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Having grown up in the middle of Kansas, in a town with a population of less than 1000, I’ve known many people who raise sheep.  I don’t think any of them were “shepherds” in the sense that caring for sheep was their whole livelihood.  Still, they cared for and tended to these animals from before the sheep were born until they met their natural end.  All of these persons who raised sheep were good, decent, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth people.  But I honestly don’t think anyone among them would have laid down his life for his sheep.

When Jesus states, then, that a “good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”, we have to assume that Jesus is using understatement.  That is to say, any shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep is not just a “good” shepherd.  He’s something much more.

In fact, it’s the mismatch between the human life of a shepherd and the sheepish life of a dumb animal that gives Jesus’ statement its force.  Of course, while the difference between a human shepherd and a dumb sheep is a mismatch, it’s a finite mismatch.  On the other hand, there is an infinite distance between the divine nature of Jesus and the fallen human nature of us who are Jesus’ sheep.  We are as nothing compared to the divine shepherd.  All the more, then, ought we work at appreciating more deeply the mystery of why this infinite God would choose to enter among our sinful human family and lay down His life for us.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter [A]
Acts 2:14,36-41  +  1 Pt 2:20-25  +  Jn 10:1-10
May 7, 2017

“‘I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.’”

Every year, the Gospel passage on this Fourth Sunday of Easter comes from the tenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel account.  This entire chapter focuses upon the imagery of sheep and their shepherd.  That’s why the Fourth Sunday of Easter is called “Good Shepherd Sunday”.  But in today’s Gospel passage, while Jesus does mention “the shepherd of the sheep”, His chief focus lies elsewhere.

Jesus focuses in today’s Gospel passage upon “the gate for the sheep”.  This focus is emphasized by Jesus in the way he introduces his teaching about the gate.  “Amen, amen, I say to you….”  Here we need to stop and consider this important phrase.

In the Gospel account of St. John, Jesus speaks this phrase—“Amen, amen, I say to you…”—fifty times.  Fifty times Jesus begins an important teaching with this phrase which signals to us just how important the subsequent teaching is.  Jesus means these words to be a red flag.  Jesus doesn’t want us to miss His point.  He’s emphatic in getting His point across. Continue reading →

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter
Acts 9:31-42  +  John 6:60-69
May 6, 2017

“‘To whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.’”

In these words, Saint Peter, the first sinner entrusted with leading the Church on earth, speaks for all of us who are followers of Christ.  During the past week, Saint John in the sixth chapter of his Gospel account has been relating how Jesus shocked and scandalized many faithful Jews.  Jesus has presented them with His teaching about the Eucharist, the central belief and practice of our Catholic faith.  And what has been the response of the crowds around Jesus?  They say, “This sort of talk is hard to endure!  How can anyone take it seriously?” Continue reading →

Friday of the Third Week of Easter
Acts 9:1-20  +  John 6:52-59
May 5, 2017

“‘For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.’”

Jesus, like any good teacher, responds to the ignorance of those to whom he’s speaking.  The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?”  And Jesus replies not by saying that “eating his flesh” is just a figure of speech.

Instead, Jesus replies by saying, “if you do not eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you. …For my Flesh is true food and my Blood is true drink.” Continue reading →

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
Acts 8:26-40  +  John 6:44-51
May 4, 2017

“‘How can I, unless someone instructs me?’”

The “marks of the Church” are four adjectives that describe the Church’s nature and mission:  one, holy, catholic and apostolic.  One of these is highlighted in today’s First Reading from Acts of the Apostles:  the Church is “apostolic”.

The whole New Testament is apostolic:  its books were written either by the apostles, or by their disciples from the apostles’ testimonies.  The book of the New Testament that immediately follows the four accounts of the Gospel clearly highlights this mark of the Church since it is called Acts of the Apostles.  From the Ascension of Jesus in Chapter 1, to the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Chapter 2, and throughout the book to its final chapter, the apostles—the Twelve—are highlighted. Continue reading →

Saints Philip and James, Apostles
1 Corinthians 15:1-8  +  John 14:6-14
May 3, 2017

“‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.’”

Today is the feast of two apostles, Philip and James.  The Scriptures for this feast highlight that the Church’s foundation is apostolic.  However, the role of the apostles is not limited to the Church’s beginning.

Those ordained to the office of bishop continue to carry out the work first entrusted to the apostles.  It’s true that each and every member of the Church has a vocation that is missionary in nature.  The word “apostle” literally means “one who is sent”.  Every Christian is called to “go outside himself” and share with others the natural and supernatural gifts he has received.  Most Christians do this chiefly through family life, and in the secular workplace. Continue reading →

St. Athanasius, Bishop & Doctor of the Church
Acts 7:51—8:1  +  John 6:30-35
May 2, 2017

“Now Saul was consenting to his execution.”

Each of us needs to ask:  “Has my passive consent to another’s sin ever ‘dis-abled’ God’s Will in the world?”  In artistic portraits of the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, it’s interesting to look for Saint Paul.  Though his passivity stands in stark contrast to the violence with which others are stoning Stephen, his figure in the portrait is still arresting.  Our eyes are drawn to him, perhaps because we can identify with him more than with the cruel murderers. Continue reading →

Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Acts 6:8-15  +  John 6:22-29
May 1, 2017

“‘…believe in the one He sent.’”

In today’s Gospel passage from John, we hear the crowd ask Jesus two questions.  The first question they ask is, “Rabbi [meaning, “Teacher”], when did you get here?”  Jesus doesn’t answer their question, but He confronts them with the fact that they are only concerning themselves about their physical hunger.  He shifts attention from the physical hunger He satisfied through the miracle offered them shortly before, to the spiritual hunger He will meet through the Sacrifice of His Body and Blood which He will offer them later. Continue reading →

The Third Sunday of Easter [A]
Acts 2:14, 22-28  +  1 Pt 1:17-21  +  Lk 24:13-35
April 30, 2017

“That very day, the first day of the week….”  St. Luke the Evangelist tells us that today’s Gospel passage is set on Easter Sunday, the very day of Jesus’ Resurrection.  Though we are living two weeks after Easter Sunday, the Church continues to meditate on that Day which is “the heart” of the Easter Season.

On that original Easter Sunday, “two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus….”  These two disciples are us:  all of us who are disciples of Jesus.  At times we wander away from God.  These two particular disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, away from the scene of Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  They are moving on with their lives.  Though they have heard some rumor that Jesus was still alive, these two obviously haven’t put much faith in the story.  After all, they’re walking away from Jerusalem, away from any chance of seeing this Jesus who supposedly had risen from the dead.

How fitting that these two disciples represent all of us.  How often are we, like these two, lukewarm in our faith.  Rather than holding fast to our faith and making it the center of our lives, we walk away from opportunities to meet Jesus face-to-face.  We hear that these two were “conversing and debating… about all the things that had occurred”, but nonetheless, they are walking away from the city where Jesus rose from the dead. Continue reading →