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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Fourth Sunday of Easter (C)
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Acts 13:14.43-52): Paul and Barnabas continued on from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. On the sabbath they entered the synagogue and took their seats. Many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God. On the following sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said.

Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, «It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth».

The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region. The Jews, however, incited the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the city, stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm: 99
R/. We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful song.

Know that the Lord is God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends.

The Lord is good: his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations.
2nd Reading (Rev 7:9.14b-17): I, John, had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. Then one of the elders said to me, «These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes».
Versicle before the Gospel (Jn 10:14): Alleluia. I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my sheep, and mine know me. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Jn 10:27-30): Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me”

Fr. Josep LAPLANA OSB Monk of Montserrat (Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain)

Today Jesus' gaze upon humanity is the gaze of the Good Shepherd, who takes responsibility for the sheep entrusted to him and cares for each one of them. He creates a bond between Him and them, an instinct of knowledge and fidelity: They "hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (Jn 10:27). The voice of the Good Shepherd is always a call to follow him, to enter his magnetic circle of influence.

Christ has won us not only with his example and his doctrine, but with the price of his Blood. We have cost him a lot, and that is why he does not want any of his people to be lost. And yet, the evidence is overwhelming: some follow the call of the Good Shepherd, and others do not. The proclamation of the Gospel provokes anger in some, and joy in others. What do some have that others do not? Saint Augustine, faced with the abysmal mystery of divine election, responded: "God will not leave you if you do not leave him"; he will not abandon you if you do not abandon him. Therefore, do not blame God, nor the Church, nor others, because the problem of your fidelity is yours. God does not deny his grace to anyone, and this is our strength: to hold fast to God's grace. It is not a merit of ours; we have simply been "graced."

Faith enters through the ear, through hearing the Word of the Lord, and the greatest danger we have is deafness, not hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd, because our heads are full of noise and other discordant voices, or, even more serious, what the Exercises of St. Ignatius call "playing deaf," knowing that God is calling you and not taking it personally. Those who consciously and repeatedly close themselves off to God's call lose touch with Jesus and will lose the joy of being a Christian, to go graze in other pastures that neither satisfy nor give eternal life. However, He is the only one who could say: "I give them eternal life" (Jn 10:28).

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “‘If anyone enters through me, he will be saved’, and he will come in and he will go out and find pasture. He will come in coming to faith; he will come out from faith to face-to-face vision, he will find there to graze eternity pasture.” (Saint Gregory the Great)

  • “Herein lies the distinction between the owner, the true Shepherd, and the robber. For the robber, for the ideologues and the dictators, human beings are merely a thing that they possess. For the true Shepherd, however, they are free in relation to truth and Love.” (Benedict XVI)

  • “Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity (...). They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 2182)

May 18th
Fifth Sunday of Easter (C)

Gospel and commentary video

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Habemus papam!

United in prayer with
Pope Leo XIV

We give thanks to God!