Month: May 2019

Posted on

Boldness

Sixth Sunday of Easter (C): John 14:23-29

 

We have just heard Jesus tell us “Do not be troubled or afraid”.  We have heard Jesus say, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you”. We might imagine that Jesus is talking about our state of mind; that He wants us to be calm, untroubled, free of any conflicts.  This sometimes happens to us, but this is not at the heart of what Jesus is saying to us. We need only look at Jesus at Gethsemane to see this.  There, Jesus takes on all our fears, anxieties, conflicts, and sins, and does so out of love, desiring to do the Father’s will.  No, what Jesus is saying to us could also be translated, “Do not be cowardly or give in to fear”. In other words, Jesus is urging us to boldness in following Him. Continue reading “Boldness”

Posted on

Who Is My Shepherd?

Fourth Sunday of Easter (C):  John 10:27-30

We are His people; the sheep of His flock.  – Psalm 100:3

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. This is because the Gospel reading for this Sunday is always drawn from John 10, where Jesus speaks at length about Himself as the Good (or True) Shepherd.

For us, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is consoling and comforting.  We imagine Him, gentle and humble of heart, smiling and tending to His sheep. We picture cute lambs romping in meadows, amid wildflowers of all kinds.  A very peaceful, totally non-threatening image.

There is a great deal of truth in this image, of course.  Jesus is all these things for us, and more. We forget one “minor” detail, however. What was the result of Jesus’ original sermon on how He is the Good Shepherd? What kind of reaction did He get? Were people all starry-eyed and smiling dreamily? No. Read on for a few verses past our Gospel reading for today. They wanted to kill Jesus. Continue reading “Who Is My Shepherd?”

Posted on

Healing and Mission

Third Sunday of Easter:  John 21:1-19

 

What keeps us from living out, fully and completely, the mission the Lord has given us?

Through baptism, the power that sin and death have over us has been shattered. We have become sharers in the very life of God, and made members of the Body of Christ, the Church.  Our baptism also gives us a mission: to witness to all that God has done for us in Christ and through the Church. Each one of us lives out that mission in a different way – in marriage, as ordained, or in consecrated life, to name a few examples.  We have a sense of what our mission is. Christ empowers us for our mission by the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist; by the support of fellow Christians; by Scripture; by prayer; by a host of other means.

And yet…   Continue reading “Healing and Mission”