{"id":738,"date":"2019-05-10T11:51:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=738"},"modified":"2019-05-10T11:52:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:52:48","slug":"12-may-2019-c-fourth-sunday-of-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=738","title":{"rendered":"12 May 2019 (C) Fourth SUNDAY of Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. <\/strong>The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue:  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, cares for his flock.\nPrayer for vocations<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading\n<\/em>(Acts 13:14,43-52). We must turn to the pagans.<\/em> This year\nthe first readings for Sundays are from the Acts of the Apostles. The readings\nare chosen to convey a particular message, but at times are not satisfactorily understood\nwithout reference to the larger context from which they are taken. This is true\nin a special way for today\u2019s reading. The first part of Acts concentrates on\nthe Jerusalem\nministry and on Peter\u2019s role. This part has Peter\u2019s discourse on the apostolic\npreaching, beginning with the ministry of John the Baptist and ending with the\ncrucifixion and resurrection, and, if indicated, with the mission to <\/strong>bring salvation to both Jew\nand pagan (Acts chapter 10). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The second part of Acts is devoted to Paul\u2019s ministry to\nthe non-Jews. This really began at Antioch on\nthe Orontes, with the commissioning of Saul\n(to become Paul) and Barnabas. They first went to then island\nof Cyprus, then inland to Perga (in\npresent-day Turkey) and from\nthere to the nearby Antioch\nin Pisidia. Here in the Jewish synagogue Paul really begins his mission, with a\nhomily paralleling that of Peter (Acts 13:13-41).. Synagogue congregations attracted\nboth ethnic Jews and \u201cGod-fearers\u201d, that is pagans attracted by Jewish monotheism\nand the strict Jewish moral code and conduct, but not prepared to take on\nJewish ethnic rules and laws. At the end of the service Paul and Barnabas were\ninvited to address them again the following Sabbath. However, division soon set\nin. The \u201cGod-fearer\u201d gentiles were delighted by the new teaching on salvation\nwithout conversion to Judaism. The Jews considered the new teaching\nincompatible with their tradition and reject it. Paul and Barnabas recall the\nfundamental principle from Jesus himself onwards that the Gospel message had to\nbe preached first to the Jews. Now that they had rejected, it they recall God\u2019s\nwords to the Servant of the Lord (fulfilled in Jesus) in Isaiah 49:6 that his\nServant was destined to be a light for the nations. After being expelled from\nthe territory by Jewish rejection, in keeping with Jesus\u2019 words to his first\npreachers, according to Luke (Luke 10:11), Paul and Barnabas shake the dust off\ntheir feet, as a token that their responsibility to the Jews had ended. They\nmoved on the city of Iconium (modern Konya in Turkey),\nthen at an important road junction. The text stresses the spread of the Gospel\namong the pagans, who as usual in their new faith were filled joy and the Holy\nSpirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            This\nreading has a message for any age. One such message is the sense of urgency\nwith regard to the preaching of the Gospel. Christ is the light of the world,\nand the Gospel message must continue. A second message is that any person,\ngroup or nation, that lets its own ideas or way of life, be they old or modern,\nget between them and the Gospel message will be bypassed. A timely message for\nonce Catholic countries.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 99[100]). We are his\npeople, the sheep of his flock.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading\n<\/em>(Apocalypse 7:9,14-17). The Lamb will be their shepherd and will lead\nthem to springs of living water. <\/em>This is a vision of the final victory of\nGod\u2019s people in heaven, with some of the colourful language and imagery proper\nto this book. The number of the elect is beyond reckoning, and from all areas\nand social conditions. They are represented as being in the heavenly Temple, before the throne\nof God and of the Lamb (the crucified and risen Jesus). They are represented as\nvictorious, in their white robes and with the palms of victory. Their white\nrobes (pure within as well as victorious) are made so by the saving and\npurifying blood of Christ (the Lamb). At the Jewish feast of Tents Jews\njoyfully dwelt in tents. God will now be a Tent for them by his overshadowing\npresence. The redeemed have come through the great persecution — that from the\nemperor Nero and any future envisaged persecution or trial.  By a clash of images the Lamb (the risen\nLord) is represented as being their shepherd. He will lead them in heaven to\nthe fullness of life, with past hunger and thirst over for them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gospel <\/em>(John\n10:27-30). I give eternal life to the\nsheep that belong to me.<\/em> This reading comes in John\u2019s gospel after Jesus\u2019\nlengthy parable on himself as the Good Shepherd. It comes immediately after\ndiscussion with the Jews who fail to understand his message. Jesus is shepherd\nof his flock, but these are united with him through faith. This gift of faith\ngives a mutual understanding between Jesus and his own. Jesus\u2019 words are\nreassuring for believers in him. He is no ordinary shepherd. He has come from\nGod, and has the power to confirm believers in faith in him. His work is the\nFather\u2019s work. He and the Father are one, one among other matters in their\nconcern for the welfare and the faith of believers in Jesus, and in their power\nto see them through any difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em>Jesus,\nthe Good Shepherd, cares for his flock. Prayer for vocations<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. In the present\nliturgy this Sunday is devoted to \u201cWorld Day of Prayer for Vocations\u201d. Not much\nearlier it was known as \u201cGood Shepherd Sunday\u201d. The Gospel readings for all\nthree Sundays of the three-year cycle, and the prayers for the Mass, are all\nabout this same theme, Jesus as Good Shepherd. The Gospel readings for all\nthree Sundays are from Jesus\u2019 presentation of himself as the Good Shepherd in chapter\n10 of John\u2019s Gospel. The two themes, Jesus as Good Shepherd and prayer for\nvocations, can be very fruitfully combined. The need of prayer for vocations,\nand for what particular vocations, can best be understood in the context of\nreflection on Jesus as shepherd of his faithful flock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. A central\ntruth in Jesus as shepherd of his flock is that this flock and the\ninterrelation between Jesus and believers are constituted by faith in Jesus.\nWithout this faith there can be no interrelationship between Jesus and his\nflock. It is only the sheep that belong to him that listen to his voice.  In fact, in his debate on the issue with his\nquestioners, Jesus told them that they do not believe, because they do not\nbelong to his sheep (John 10:26).  He had\nsaid something similar when referring to himself as the true bread of life: \u201cNo\none can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me\u201d (John 6:65).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Jesus, the\nGood Shepherd, stresses the truth that, given faith, no amount of persecution,\ntrials or questioning, can destroy fidelity to him. Both he and his Father will\ndefend his flock, that is, believers in him, against all attacks from outside\nand from within. The problems concerning faith in Jesus and fidelity to him\nvary from age to age. In our own day they are manifold, from prevailing doubt\nin the every existence of God to scandals and weakness in the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. This all leads\nto the other theme of the day — prayer for vocations.  Jesus himself has called for this \u2013- to pray\nto the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest. Prayer itself is\nan act of faith in the nature of the Church, Christ\u2019s flock.  We should pray for vocations for all the\nneeds of the Church, for vocations to the priesthood, religious life, for lay\npeople versed in the sciences, literature, the arts and in the many callings in\nwhich response can be made to the questions and problems endangering faith\namong the flock of the Good Shepherd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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