Fr. Roger J. Landry
Cathedral of Saint Agatha, Catania, Sicily
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C
May 8, 2022
Acts 13:14.43.52, Ps 100, Rev 7:9.14-17, Jn 10:27-30
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following points were attempted in the homily:
- On the Fourth Sunday of Easter every year, in the very heart of the Easter Season, the Church celebrates Good Shepherd Sunday, so that we can relate to the Risen Jesus as he wants, as our Good Shepherd. He wants us to receive his shepherdly care and love and he wants to transform us so that we may extend it by cooperating with his shepherdly care of others.
- Each year on this Sunday we meditate on a part of the tenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel in which Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd and lists six different ways he cares for us:
- He calls us by name
- He guides or leads us
- He feeds us
- He protects us
- He freely lays down his life for us
- He gives us eternal life.
- To be a good sheep of the good shepherd, we need to respond to his call to an I-thou personal relationship and friendship; follow his lead, even when he leads us to where we might not initially want to go or into a dark valley; receive with gratitude his nourishment, especially the Word of God and the Word-made-flesh in the Eucharist; stay in his protective hand; recognize, appreciate and receive the gift of his sacrifice on Calvary; and seek with him the gift of the verdant pastures where he seeks to give us eternal repose.
- But Jesus seeks to transform us just like he transformed the first apostles to be not only good sheep but good shepherds of others in communion with him. We saw that last week when Jesus told Peter, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” “Feed my sheep.” The Church today remembers to special ways this is meant to be done.
- The first is in the priesthood. For 59 years the Church has prayed on Good Shepherd Sunday for priestly vocations, for those who have already received the call and those who are not yet aware of it. We need good shepherds, not mercenaries, who do things out of love for God and others, who hear Jesus’ personal call, follow him in a moral life, receive his nourishment, protect others from the evil one, live their vocation to martyrdom and self-gift and help to lead Christ’s sheep to the eternal sheepfold.
- We also mark today, in the USA and beyond, Mother’s Day, and mothers imitate the Good Shepherd’s shepherdly love. They are the first I-thou relationship most children are ever aware of, as they come to know their name as their mother pronounces it in the mother tongue; mothers lead their children along right paths, teaching them right from wrong; they feed their children umbilically, from their breasts, and with so many hearty meals thereafter; they protect their children from harmful influences, even at the risk of their life; and they want what’s best for their children forever, which is why so many mom’s become like St. Monica when their children and grandchildren wander. Today we pray for our moms living and deceased and for all that they’re praying for in their maternal hearts.
- The great way the Good Shepherd meets us every day with his shepherdly care is here at Mass. He eagerly desires us to share this Passover with him and calls us by name; guiding us not only to the altar but to imitate his self-gift; feeding us with the Word of God and the Eucharist; protecting us from the wiles of the evil one from the inside out; giving his life for us on the altar, as he gives us a foretaste of eternal life by allowing us to receive his Risen Body. Today he says to us, “I am the Good Shepherd!” And we say back to him with grateful and holy joy: “We are his people, the sheep of his flock!”
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading I
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
R (3c) We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
or:
R Alleluia.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
or:
R Alleluia.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
or:
R Alleluia.
The LORD is good:
his kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
or:
R Alleluia.
Reading II
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.”
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:
“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.”
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