4th Sunday of Easter (Liturgical Year B)

Today we continue to rejoice in the Victory of Christ over evil. Through the words of the Entrance Antiphon (Psalm 32:5-6), we proclaim God’s Goodness and Infinite Creative Power. On reflection, how have we, God’s highest creation, used (or not used) our share in these attributes, “…in what I have done and in what I have failed to do…”? How diligently do we make use of the resources, spiritual and physical, which He has given us?
 
In the First Reading (Acts:4: 8-12), our first Pope, Peter, points those who had just witnessed his miraculous cure of a cripple, beyond his actions to Christ who was working through him as indeed He continues to this day though our Pope, Bishops and Priests. Those who refused to accept the Truth, through ignorance, at that time were, as all people still are today, offered the chance to repent. We affirm our belief in Christ’s vital foundational role in the Response to the Psalm (Psalm.117:22). Where do we stand when we hear the arrogant challenges made to God’s Authority in our modern world in which, so often, we are told that we can happily achieve all we do without God! Are we prepared to correct a fellow Catholic if they act in ways contrary to Christ’s Teachings, even if, as a consequence, we might be labelled ‘unchristian’.
 
In the Second reading (1 John 3:1-2), Saint John emphasises the wonderful fact that we are loved as God’s children and that consequently, should we live as befits such children, we may often (as is evident around the world) suffer rejection as did Our Lord. Looking in hope beyond the sufferings of this world Saint John assures us that, should we live faithfully as our Father created us to do we shall, in Heaven, ‘…be like Him because we shall see Him as He really is…’. The Church, the Mass, the Sacraments, Sanctifying Grace and our gifts of Faith, Hope and Charity are ‘weapons’ equipping us in our fight against evil.

The Good Shepherd depicted by the German artist Bernhard Plockhorst (1825–1907)

In the Gospel (John 10:11-18), John presents us with Christ’s moving discourse on His role as our Shepherd. Jesus clearly outlines the qualities of a Good Shepherd for which He is the Model. Meditating on this we need to recall that, as He laid down His Life on Calvary, so those who truly love Him may be (indeed, have been) called to give their own lives in standing up for the Truth against falsehoods / man-made doctrines. One moving example of this ‘love to the end’ is to be found in the story of the Martyrdom of Father Ragheed Ganni. In 2007, in Mosul, just after Father Ganni had offered Sunday Mass, terrorists (who, apparently believed that they were doing God’s Will) asked why he had not closed his church as ordered, thereby abandoning his flock. He replied, “How can I close the House of God?” and was brutally shot dead, together with three sub-Deacons, in front of his church. These men laid down their lives in the sure hope that, united with Christ in His Death and Resurrection, they would take them up again in Heaven. This persecution is undoubtedly ongoing!

We are reminded that Jesus came, not just to offer Salvation to those who choose to believe and be baptised, namely ourselves, but that His Mission, through us, extends to all, ‘…who are not of this fold…’ who, through faithful Catholic witness, will be drawn to seek and accept the Gift of Faith, bringing true Unity, ‘…one flock and one Shepherd…’, uncompromisingly living in the Truth.