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May 12, 2019 Fourth Sunday of Easter

Prayers of the Faithful

Let us pray that our Good Shepherd may wipe away every tear from our eyes and guide us into green pastures of kindness and fidelity in his name. May our Church proclaim the glory of God.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our children who receive Holy Communion for the first time and for our students who will receive the sacrament of Confirmation this week. May the Good Shepherd guide them for a lifetime of love and service within the Church.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us listen carefully to the voice of Christ Jesus and imitate his compassionate expressions, especially in times of violence, hatred and uncertainty. May we be in union with divine integrity.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our mothers, living and deceased, and women who have shepherded our spirits as teachers, mentors, and friends. We pray for single moms, foster and grand mothers and mothers who have lost their children.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who face destructive floods and storms especially in our farmlands throughout our nation. May the Good Shepherd bring green pastures and hope for those who plant and harvest our food.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our beloved dead. We pray our loved ones may now find home in a new land where God’s face and voice are fully revealed. In this Mass…

We pray to the Lord

Dear Followers of the Risen Christ,

Our Easter season continues on this Fourth Sunday of Easter. This Sunday is traditionally called, “Good Shepherd Sunday.” This comforting image of the Risen Christ goes well beyond the Shepherd as leader. This image is further reaching than just our vocations in the Church.

In today’s gospel, John 10:27-36, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me…” This intimate notion of hearing Jesus’ voice is key to our entire spiritual life. Through our baptism we are given the gift of knowing Jesus and being in an intimate relationship with him for our entire lives. If we are attentive, prayerfully silent, reflective and willing, we will still hear the voice of the Master. We will still prevail in our own discipleship. We will still give our hearts over to the one who has re-created us. We will still be drawn to the voice of Jesus when we are lost, lonely or feel forgotten.

Our connection to the Risen Christ is one of intimacy. This healing relationship is for every Christian, not just for leaders, priests and professed religious. This union of souls with Christ is the foundation of our lives, and the hope for our Church. In our daily prayer, we need to not only speak our needs, but we also need time, space and emptiness to listen to Jesus.

We are called and challenged to hear Christ within the scriptures. Christ longs to be in union with our souls. His story is our story. His story of love, tenderness and hope through his passion, death and resurrection is played out in our stories of spiritual growth and maturity. We do not just listen to God’s Word at Mass on Sunday and think those words remain stuck in the past or printed in a dusty old book and then walk away. The Word of God, especially the gospel, is a river of grace that is offered to our souls every week. It is a place of refreshment and renewal.

We listen to God in our daily prayer, in our common worship and in the events of our daily lives. The Easter season reminds us that we continually belong to Christ. We are seekers of his voice and we proclaim his presence when we finally understand that he is our Shepherd and Keeper. Our ears are naturally attentive to hearing God, far beyond the noise of our daily lives and the whispers of insecurity, doubt and failure that we possess within our hearts. We ache to listen to the Good Shepherd who bends down to listen to and speak to his people.

I believe with my entire being that God cares about each of us. This care, his Shepherding, is ongoing no matter where we find pain, anguish and loneliness. His care is before us if we can truly listen to his voice, be transformed by his forgiveness and be willing to follow him with love and understanding.

Blessings in this Easter Season,

Fr. Ron

Jean Vanier

Article from the BBC on the death of Jean Vanier

Jean Vanier was the founder of L’Arche in France. He was a holy man who devoted his life to Jesus by living among people with disabilities. He was a spiritual mentor of mine even at such a distance. Today, I hold him in my heart as he views the face of Jesus.

Check out this video of the founding of L’Arche

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AIM Magazine is published by World Library Publications, Chicago, IL.

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Dear Believers in the Risen Christ,

In our liturgy today in this Easter season we listen to John 21:1-19. Jesus reveals his very self at the seashore amid the meal that is shared. We are back with the disciples who are fishing and trying to make a living. Jesus is among them and invites them to cast a net from the other side of the boat. They catch one hundred fifty-three fish in their large net. They share breakfast. And then even more things are revealed.

Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” Of course Peter says that he does. Jesus does not stop with one asking. Not twice, but three times he says, “Do you love me?” Peter is getting a little annoyed because he knows that he denied Jesus three times. Now is his opportunity to be healed by Jesus.

However, the questions do not stop with only admitting love. Jesus then commands him, “Feed my lambs.” Peter is to invite the love he has for Jesus into reality. He is to live what he professes. Peter must be the model of service and fidelity. Peter must reveal within the lost, the forgotten and the lonely that the love of Jesus is real and inviting.

Jesus is calling Peter in a new depth of love and commitment. Jesus tells Peter that when he was young he used to dress and go where he pleased. Now, something new is happening. He must stretch out this hand and be lead by grace, by his call into service, justice and living the message of love for all people. He is now a servant. His discipleship must mature.

This gospel invites us into such a maturity of being a follower of Jesus. First of all, the meal is the place where we are not only fed, but where we learn how to receive the love of Jesus. For our meal today is his Real Presence. The Mass is our invitation to learn how to be loved and how to love. In this meal of Christ’s Body and Blood, we learn how to feed the sheep of Jesus and how to reach out to our fragile, our poor and our broken. We are to become what we eat, the Body of Christ in our world. Here is the depth of our commitments. This depth is seldom explored because we are reluctant to accept such a command from Jesus, “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep.”

Food brings us together. Food creates community. In fact, Aristotle said that friends should share a bag of salt together. This means that real friends should spend many meals together. The Mass is the same. God feeds us and we become Christ’s mission in the world precisely because Jesus is our friend. In this meal, we take to our hearts the very mission of feeding others because we are fed and nourished with love and tenderness.

As we continue this Easter season, let us take to heart that we are challenged by Jesus to be led and to lead. We listen with grace and tenderness to his words:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Blessings,

Fr. Ron

Dear Followers of Jesus,

On this Second Sunday of Easter, we hear the sacred liturgy of John 20:19-31. This gospel is proclaimed in all three liturgical cycles on the Second Sunday of Easter, also know as Divine Mercy Sunday. The gospel invites us into a scene of fear and uncertainty as the disciples are locked in a room after Jesus’ death.

Within their visible fear, Jesus appears in their midst. He offers them peace. This text is rich and profound for our own spiritual lives. Even when fear corrupts our hearts, when it shrouds our perspectives about life and damages our relationships, Jesus comes to us today. The resurrection opens new doors, releases fear and brings peace. We literally stand with the disciples to discover Jesus’ peace.

Jesus then commissions them to go out into the world and offer the forgiveness of his life and resurrection. I can’t imagine how confused the disciples must have been. After all they had been through, Jesus comes to them out of the blue and tells them to get moving beyond their fear and beyond the walls of their locked door.

Thomas was not in the room with them when they experienced such a miracle. A week later, Thomas stands in the presence of Jesus. Thomas takes his finger and places it in the wounds of his hands and places his hand into Jesus’ side. In other words, Thomas probes the mystery of the wounded and redeemed Christ. This is key for us to find the resurrected Christ in our own day. We, too, must probe the mystery of the wounded and redeemed Body of Christ. We do so within the broken, the marginalized, the ill and suffering, the lonely and forgotten.

“My Lord and my God,” proclaims Thomas. His surrender to Jesus’ love and presence is felt well beyond the page where these words are written. This proclamation is felt deep within our souls, especially when we have the courage to seek the Body of Christ in the poor and the abandoned. We know who the resurrected Christ is in this story and we know who we are called to become for we are commissioned as well to be peacemakers, to be people who help others makes sense out of their suffering. All suffering can be redeemed in Christ Jesus, if we have the faith to touch it, to reach out to those who most need love, peace and forgiveness.

The Congregation of Holy Cross celebrates priesthood ordinations on the Saturday after Easter. So our priests preach on this gospel as they celebrate Mass for the first time. I first preached on this gospel 36 years ago. This is my favorite text. I have spent my priesthood probing the mystery of the wounded and redeemed Body of Christ in our world. When I see and touch the pain of others and even within my own life, I find the peace, love and forgiveness of the Resurrection. This is not just a pious notion. This is the reality of not only priesthood but also what we are all called to seek, the resurrection of Christ Jesus. May mercy open doors for us and may we touch the miracles of new life.

Blessings,

Fr. Ron

Easter Sunday homily: 7:30am Mass at Sacred Heart. Listen here