Fourth Sunday of Easter (A)

Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
1 Pt 2:20b-25
Jn 10:1-10

Are you at an impasse in your spiritual growth or emotional healing or a difficult relationship? Do you need a breakthrough? Do you feel stuck behind a fence that's keeping you on the outside of peace, joy, satisfaction, or healing? This Sunday's Gospel reading tells us that Jesus is the gate in that fence. He helps us reach the heavenly side of the gate, outside the realm of earthly restrictions — not only when we die and enter eternal life, but also here and now in our earthly life, so that we might always "have life and have it more abundantly."

When our path seems blocked, we can only make progress by letting Jesus shepherd us around and through and over the obstacles. If people shut a door on something that God wants us to do, Jesus is still our open gate and no one can close him out of our lives. He will lead us into a new opportunity for accomplishing the plans of God. If he's given us a frustrated holy desire, a passion for which there seems to be no outlet, instead of complaining or quitting, we must look at Jesus and see him as a gate that opens into a direction or location.

And until we get all the way through this gate, we stick close to him like dumb sheep. There's a journey to take before we can reach the other side of the fence. The thief that comes to steal and slaughter can only reach us when we stray away from Jesus and we take our eyes off of him. Despair and worry are two common thieves, robbing us of peace, joy, satisfaction, and healing. But they're not as powerful as they pretend to be. They do not speak the truth about the destruction we fear. They are merely trying to make us forget that Jesus is our Good Shepherd safely guiding us into a life of abundant victory.

Questions for Personal Reflection:

What breakthrough are you hoping for? What's frustrating you and seems hopeless? What's causing you to think that a problem you're facing might lead to disaster and destruction? What will you do this week to follow Jesus more closely so that you can get through this with more peace?

Questions for Group Faith Sharing:

Share the story of a time when you experienced obstacles and Jesus provided a breakthrough that led to victory.

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Are you ready to continue your “post-graduate” work as a Christian?

On the Sundays of Easter the liturgy offers instruction for the newly baptized. All of us are “enrolled” in that course along with them. Our “curriculum” comes from the First Letter of Peter, the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels. They all suggest how a community rooted in Christ witnesses in the world, with the Spirit’s help.

Today we’re reminded again of the Jesus we follow. A sermon from Acts on the first Pentecost calls listeners to conversion. The second reading—perhaps drawn from an early baptismal instruction to Christian converts who were Roman slaves—presents Jesus as the Suffering Servant, a theme we heard in Holy Week. The instruction urges the newly baptized to identify with and follow Christ as “shepherd of our souls.”

It’s a metaphor found in John’s Gospel. Imagine a crowded sheepfold, noisy with milling flocks and the conflicting voices of shepherds calling their sheep. It’s a likely place for a thief to slip over the wall and do mischief. But the Good Shepherd enters boldly by the main gate, calls us by name, and we recognize him. With the voice of the Shepherd calling us, we continue our Easter celebration of Baptism.

Scripture:

•…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, (Acts 2:38,9)

•The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. (Psalm 23)

•When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; (1 Peter 2:23)

•I am the gate for the sheep.…I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. (John 10:7b,9)

Reflection:

•Have you taken comfort in Psalm 23 when you were troubled or sad?

•Have you followed the example of Jesus (1 Peter) in not returning violence through acting with God’s grace?

•How is Jesus the “gate” in your life?

I call upon you to love one another as Jesus has commanded.
I call upon you to renew your efforts to appreciate and respect each others’ cultural diversity.
I call upon you to show special concern for the poor and those who are pushed to the margins of society.
I call upon you to work for a more just society, in which wealth will be more evenly divided and in which it will be possible for all to live a life in keeping with human dignity.
I call upon you, especially the young people, to respond to the Lord’s love and to share his joy with others.
I call upon you who are sick to offer your sufferings for the growth of the kingdom of God.
And I commend all of you to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the perfect example of dedication to the Lord, the Mother of him who says: “This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved You.” Amen.