4th Sunday of Easter, Year C
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Lectionary Readings for the 4th Sunday of Easter, Year C
“My sheep hear my voice.”
This Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of
Prayer for Vocations. In the gospel, the passage is taken
from the tenth chapter of John. It is a very short passage
but filled with much meaning if we center on Christ and
see the passage within the context of the just celebrated
Holy Week. Christ is our Good Shepherd. A good shepherd
is one who really takes care of his sheep. If a sheep or
lamb strays from the flock, the good shepherd will leave
the flock and look for that lost sheep. It was for His
role as Shepherd that Jesus became man so that He could
gather all sinners - all lost sheep - back into the
sheepfold of the Father. His salvific role as Shepherd
is important since without Him, we will all be lost and
follow a path of sin.
Jesus is the source of unity and the source of strength
for all His followers. When the chief priests and the
scribes had him arrested and crucified, and struck down
this Shepherd, all of His sheep have scattered - starting
from the leader Simon Peter and then to the rest of the
apostolic band. But since the power of God is stronger
than death, Jesus was raised by the Holy Spirit back to
life. And in His resurrection appearances, the apostles
began to recognize Him as He recounted the Scripture
references on Himself and in the breaking of the bread.
At the sea of Tiberias, Simon Peter listened to the voice
of Jesus telling him to cast his net by the starboard side
of the boat. And as he did, Jesus made Himself known
again as their Good Shepherd - taking care of His band
of apostles and making sure that they will continue His
work. Just as Jesus obeyed His Father, He asked the same
of Simon Peter: “Feed my sheep”.
Many of us sometimes forget to listen to the voice of our
Shepherd, Jesus. We often get so engrossed in our family
obligations and the demands of our work that we get very
distracted - listening to the many voices around us: voices
other than Jesus that could lead us astray. If we
are not careful, we really will get lost like sheep who
stray from the fold. The best way to “keep within the
sheepfold” is to balance our life: making room for Christ
amidst our many activities. If we keep to a regular
regimen of prayer integrated in our family and work, or
even keep to a regular devotion of the Eucharist, we
will surely keep our gaze on Jesus our Good Shepherd.
This is a great challenge for our time: to be in constant
listening and obedience to the voice of Christ, the Good
Shepherd, as He is made known in Word and Sacrament, and
through the ministers of the Church.
3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C
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Lectionary Readings for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C
“Jesus told him, “Feed my sheep”.
In this Sunday’s gospel, the resurrection narrative creates
a poignant picture of Jesus and His fishermen-disciples,
the miracle catch of one hundred fifty-three fish, and
the pledge of Peter to Jesus to commit himself to take
care of the Church. If we place our focus on the part of
the gospel where Jesus invites Peter to regain his status
as head of His band of apostles, we see the mercy and
goodness of God-in-Jesus. If we recall the scene where
Peter denied Jesus three times, we remember how Peter
“wept bitterly” and repented from what he did. Since
Jesus always mentions in His healings or teachings how
He had been sent by the Father that sinners may return
to God, this is true most especially of Peter whom He had
chosen to be the “rock” where He will build His Church.
Peter, whom Jesus has reinstated as Head of His Church
by getting his pledge of loyalty three times (equal to
the three times that he had denied Jesus), is as human
as we are. Let us remember that Jesus rebuked him and
called him “Satan” when he wanted Jesus not to follow the
way of suffering and the cross. Then there is also the
scene when Peter was called by Jesus to walk on the
water and Peter almost went under the sea because he
had little faith. And there is also the scene when Peter
was tempted to use the sword to defend Jesus when Jesus
was being arrested by the soldiers of the chief priests.
And there are many other episodes when Peter had “let
Jesus down”. But despite all this, Jesus has set His
trust and faith in Peter, whom He knew would lead and
shepherd His flock after Him.
In our Christian lives, there are surely many times that
we have “let Jesus down” and failed to do what is required
of our being Christian. These events in our life is like
denying we have a relationship with Jesus. By our
unkindness, or mistreatment of others, and by our lack
of charity, we have not shown that we know Jesus and
that we are His followers. But despite all this, when
we have sincerely repented of our sins and our “denials”
of Jesus, Jesus reinstates us as people responsible
for part of His flock: in our family setting or among
our peers in our profession. Jesus, as He did with Peter
and His other disciples, never gives up on us. He knows
that despite our weakness and failures, the good that
God created in us can still conquer what is evil and
weak in us. It is also Jesus who gives us hope after
we “let Him down”. He is true to His word that He came
for sinners that they may be saved.
2nd Sunday of Easter, Year C
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Lectionary Readings for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Year C
“Blest are they who have not seen and have believed.”
In this Sunday’s resurrection narrative, we find the story of
Thomas - whom our Catholic tradition calls, “the doubting
Thomas”. The reaction of Thomas to the report of his fellow
disciples is but human. After knowing that Jesus had died, it
would be only natural to disbelieve the report that He has
appeared alive before the apostles. Even though the companions
of Thomas insisted on what they witnessed, Thomas persisted
in his disbelief and said, “I’ll never believe it without
probing the nail-prints in his hands…” The difference in
the case of these apostles was the word that Jesus told them
while He was still with them before His passion and death.
He prophesied three times that He would suffer and die and
then rise again after three days. The appearance of Jesus
to His apostles is a call for them to “see” beyond the human
level and to “see” on a divine perspective. Jesus breathed
on them the Holy Spirit that they may have the gift of faith.
Many of us who believe today in Jesus take for granted the
struggle of faith that the apostles had to undergo. And
we have here an example account of that struggle through
the experience of Thomas. The gospel narrates that Thomas
even said, “I’ll never believe…” in the manner of that
saying “seeing is believing”. But Jesus said to him after
Thomas witnessed the truth of Jesus as alive: “You became
a believer because you saw me. Blest are they who have not
seen and have believed.” That refers to us. The gift of
faith the apostles received fully when they received the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost which gave birth to the Church,
is the gift they passed on to us through the sacrament of
baptism and the other sacraments - most especially the
Eucharist. We are very privileged to have received that
gift of faith without going through the same struggle as
Thomas did.
Our present struggle of faith is on a different level now.
We truly believe that Jesus suffered, died and rose again.
Our present struggle of faith is to “see” this salvific
act of Jesus in our daily lives, in the daily challenges
of rising above our impatience, selfishness, anger,
irritability, lack of compassion, and pride. The daily
struggles of life is a constant struggle against our
weaknesses, our faults, and bearing with the weaknesses
and faults of our brothers and sisters. We may sometimes
doubt whether the “Christian life-project” is worth working
on. But this is where the Risen Lord comes to help us.
This season of Easter, we are called to have that divine
gift of faith so that whatever doubts we have in the
Christian life-project may be cleared and we are granted
again a vision of hope, light and life.
Easter Sunday, Year C
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Lectionary Readings for Easter Sunday, Year C
“…They did not yet understand the Scripture that Jesus had to
rise from the dead.”
In this Sunday’s resurrection narrative, taken from the gospel of
John, many characters are involved: Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and
the disciple whom Jesus loved [popularly known in tradition as the
apostle John]. This gospel narrative on the resurrection of Jesus
is rich with images: Mary Magdalene suddenly seeing the stone to
the tomb of Jesus moved away and running filled with anxiety and
fear that the body of the Lord may have been taken; Simon Peter
responding to her news and running quickly to the tomb together with
the beloved disciple; and both Simon Peter and John discovering the
tomb as empty - but with a faith response from John, seeing and
believing in the resurrection.
We are called to remember that Jesus told His apostles and disciples
that after His passion and death, He will rise again after three days.
When He was eventually arrested, scourged, and nailed to a cross until
His death, those painful and anxiety-filled experiences may have
overwhelmed the apostles of Jesus, that they may have forgotten what
He had told them about His resurrection. And so, when Mary Magdalene
herself went to the tomb and discovered it empty, her immediate and
natural human response to what this meant was: “The Lord has been
taken from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put Him!” Little
did Mary, and soon Simon Peter and John know, that this event already
was the resurrection Jesus had been telling them about, while He was
still with them and before the start of His persecution.
When we reflect on this resurrection narrative and the different
responses of each disciple, we are called to remember the many times
we have encountered suffering and pain in our lives. We may have
been so much absorbed in our suffering and pain, that we forget the
promise of life that God gives us through His Son. It is like
focusing on an ink blot on a piece of paper and forgetting the
whole paper that contains that ink blot. That is probably what
Jesus wanted His resurrection to be for us: to see beyond the
“ink blot” - to a direction of hope and promise - one that
will deliver us from pain and suffering, from misery and
confusion, from conflict and strife, from chaos and disturbance,
and from disillusionment and despair. The person of the risen
Lord wants to guide us from death to life. And He shows
this to us gradually, as in the narrative of John. The
promise of life is unveiled to us in stages. Our task is to
discover more that stage of an “empty tomb of Jesus” in our
life, and make a response of joy, knowing that He promises life
to us even amidst our present situations of pain and
suffering.
