FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – CYCLE C- 2019 

      The liturgy offers for our meditation Jesus as the Good Shepherd     

      And also the Universal Church dedicates this Sunday to pray especially for vocations to the religious life, diaconate, and priesthood.   

FIRST READING – ACTS   13:14; 43-52

Ø  Paul and Barnabas who had been sent by the Church of Antioch continue their mission to preach Jesus in  the cities they visit (Hechos 13,4)  

Ø  Each Saturday they go to the Synagogue of the town and announce the good news to the people. By that time the groups of Jesus’ followers were still united to the Jewish faith and practices.   

Ø  Many Jews accept Jesus and become followers of this new Way, but there are also others who oppose them and do not want to listen to them.    

Ø  The disciples tell them (Hechos 1,8) :

o   That they had to announce Jesus first to them the Jewish people, the chosen people of God.    

o   And afterwards to all the other peoples (see Psalm 87) 

Ø  But since they do not consider themselves worthy of it, they will, from now on, preach to the gentiles.    

o   The Jews become indignant, but the gentiles are joyful on hearing that. 

o   The Jews begin a persecution against the apostles who shake the dust from their feet, as Jesus had told them when he sent them to announce the good news (Mt 10:14)

o   The Jews, as they had done with Jesus, convince others to go against the apostles.   

o   And the reading today ends with the same sentence as last week’s reading: They are full of joy to be persecuted because they follow  Jesus and preach about Him.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  100

WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, THE SHEEP OF HIS FLOCK  

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands    

Worship the Lord with cries of gladness    

Come before him with joyful song.   

WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, THE SHEEP OF HIS FLOCK    

Know that the Lord is God   

Our maker to whom we belong    

We are his people, the sheep of his flock     

WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, THE SHEEP OF HIS FLOCK   

 Good indeed is the Lord!  

His love endures forever     

And his faithfulness lasts through every age

WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, THE SHEEP OF HIS FLOCK   

«  This psalm is an invitation to rejoice and to enter into the presence of God.  

«  Why?  Because the Lord our God, is our maker, we belong to him, his love and his faithfulness endures forever.   

SECOND READING   Rev   7:9; 14b-17   

ü  We continue to read  the book of Revelation, which is a book to give comfort and hope to a people suffering persecution.  This book speaks to us about Jesus risen and glorified at the right hand of the Father. Jesus, who is now Lord of Lords and King of Kings.      

ü  The vision today is awesome; there is a great crowd of people from all nations, colors, languages, races who are before the throne (God the Father) and the Lamb (the Risen  Jesus.)   

ü  They all wear white tunics, white is the symbol of everything related to the   life of God, the grace of God.    

ü  They have palms in their hands; palms are the symbol of martyrdom, of having given the life for the love of God and for the love and sake of their brothers and sisters, their fellow human beings.   

ü  An elder explains to John what he sees through the open door through which he is able to contemplate heaven (Rev 4:1.)  The elder explains to him that these people he sees are those who have survived the great tribulation and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb    

o   What tribulation is this? Persecution, torture, humiliation and death for the sake of Jesus. 

o   Their robes had been washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is an estrange image, to make something white with blood. But, this is the blood of Jesus who purifies us and cleanses us from all our impurities.  

o   As Scriptures says, “Though your sins be like scarlet, they will become white as snow (Is 1:18.)

ü  In the next paragraph there are many images of the consolation and tender love of our Father God (the One seated on the throne)  

o   He will shelter them   

o   They will not hunger or thirst anymore.  

o   Nor will the sun or any heat strike them    

ü  Because the Lamb who is in the center of the throne     

o   He will shepherd  them

o   He will lead them to springs of living water   

o   And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.   

ü  I invite all of us that during this week before the celebration of Good Shepherd’s Sunday we dedicate sometime if possible every day to recall all the different ways in which the Good Shepherd has consoled, sheltered and led us to the waters of gladness.    

GOSPEL  Jn 10:27-30

      This is a short reading but with a powerful message  

      On reading it we realize that there are two sections: one is about the sheep the other about the Shepherd.    

      We are going to concentrate our attention and meditation on the verbs:   

      THE SHEEP

o   The sheep listen to    

§  To listen   is not the same thing as hearing       

§  Israel’s profession of faith begins with the word “Shema = Listen” Israel.   

§  To listen is to follow what the voice says to us, it is to obey. 

o   They know the Shepherd   

§  To know   does not mean an intellectual knowledge of something that we get through books or any other kind of information.     

§  To know is a living experience is to know a person from the experience of friendship and love.   

§  This verb is used in Scripture for the relationship of intimate love between a man and a woman.   

§  This means that the sheep know the Shepherd from self-experience.    

o   They follow the shepherd     

§  The meaning of this word is not only to walk behind  a person   

§  It means to try to be like that person, whom we follow. It is not only to imitate, but also to assimilate his own way of life and of being, and to make it our own according to our identity or personality.    

o   They will not perish, they will not be snatched  from the hands of the shepherd    

§  Because the Shepherd gives them his own life, life eternal  

§  And no one can take them from the shepherd’s hands, because they belong to the Father and the Father has given them to Jesus.   

      THE SHEPHERD    

o   If the sheep listens is because the shepherd speaks to her   

o   He knows   his sheep  

o   He gives them eternal life, thus they will never perish  

o   If no one can take them out from the shepherd’s hands, it is because the shepherd protects them     

o   The Father is he who has given him the sheep.   

      The last sentence is a wonderful revelation of the relationship between Jesus and the Father, which we have already heard in the reading from the book of Revelation   

THE FATHER AND I ARE ONE

Let Jesus reveal to us the deep and consoling meaning of this sentence. 

CLARETIAN CORNER                    

In the morning, on the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, after communion our Lord told me that Fr. Claret together with his sons in the order of the Apostles of Jesus Christ, will be the bright star that with their clear and apostolic doctrine will dispel the ignorance of the present century that those who are blinder, I think call century of the enlightenment; His Divine Majesty added: this priest is the first, and I wish that he establishes the first houses of the order. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 32

Besides having a very good elementary teacher, which, as I have said, is no small gift from heaven, I also had good parents who cooperated with my teacher in molding my understanding in truth and nurturing my heart in the practice of religion and all the virtues. Every day after lunch, which we ate at a quarter past twelve, my father had me read a spiritual book, and at night we would sit for a while around the table, where he would always tell us something edifying and instructive until it was time for us to retire.  Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 25.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, Antonio María , Autobiography.

FRAILE YÉCORA, Pedro I. Shema, Lee-escucha-ama, San Pablo 2011.

PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiography.  

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según Las Escrituras, Año C, 2006

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, comentario a la Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo, 2010

THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE, second edition, New American Bible.