Fourth Sunday of Easter
Lectionary: 49

Reading 1 Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
“What are we to do, my brothers?”
Peter said to them,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
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,
whomever the Lord our God will call.”
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.

Responsorial Psalm 23: 1-3a, 3b4, 5, 6

R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Alleluia.

 

 

 

Reading 2 1 Pt 2:20b-25

Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Alleluia Jn 10:14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia

 

Gospel Jn 10:1-10

Jesus said:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

  Throughout our lives we are called to repentance and to change our way of doing things continuously. No one is the same person that they were a year ago, a month ago, or even arguably the previous day. What we experience, how we react to situations, and the way we live our lives affects us on many different levels. Some of these levels we are aware of while others are rooted in our subconscious where they might manifest themselves differently. The end result is that we are affected by our environment and our interactions therein. Because we are not the same person always also means that our relationships will change along with ourselves. We will find ourselves closer to certain people and father away from others even though, at some other ;point in our lives, the opposite may have been true. This even manifests itself on the physical level where our senses and the way our brain processes them will change. An Act of Repentance and an examination of Conscious is an opportunity to take a moment to reflect on where we have been in our lives and where we are going in the future. An admission of guilt doesn’t have to be an end to a person’s life but a new beginning; a clean slate so to speak where one can begin anew and rejoice in their broken nature while they are experiencing the joy of being healed.

Knowing that we are constantly changing can offer comfort to us in a time of need or a time when we need some healing on a physical, mental, or spiritual level. We are all works in process and are in need of substantive change. It has been said and I continuously repeat it in my ministry that it is when you stop changing or transforming is when you start dying. That is how intricate change is to our very nature. Resisting change within ourselves is actually against our nature and how we were created. Each new day brings an opportunity for learning and experiencing something thus there is also an opportunity of change. In the First Reading today stood up with the other Eleven Apostles and started laying charges before the Jewish people. A loud crowd of devout Jews had gathered and started to listen to what he had to say. As Peter accused them their eyes were opened to what had occurred and they all asked what they should do. The answer was both simple and comforting:

 

 

 

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
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,
whomever the Lord our God will call.”

 

As comforting as those words to the Jews in Jerusalem so they can be comforting to us. Whatever we have done on this earth can be undone by Jesus Christ. Nothing is permanent. Jesus Christ, who conquered death itself, gives testament to that fact. We can all recall two weeks ago in the Gospel Reading what Jesus said to His disciples:

“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

He also emphasized to Peter early on in His ministry:

“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,”

It can be confirmed through these revelations that through our relationship with Jesus Christ and through our understanding of our faith-life that we can be forgiven for our sins and released from all fears and repercussions thereof; knowing that we Walk with God and that He can make everything right.

 

This week Jesus speaks of Himself being the gate from where all shall pass through to get to The Father. When we feel called to God it is Jesus guiding us towards Him. There is no way of avoiding the Son and it is impossible to get to The Father unless we first establish a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the beauty of the Trinity where all exist together and complement each other all the time. It is through the Son that the Father is realized, guided by the Love of God which is the Holy Spirit. When we enter into relationship with the Trinity we are then changed and continue to change because of the experience. It is inevitable that this happens. Even those who resist are changed against their will because they are reacting, either negatively or positively, to The Divine Presence in Creation which It is responsible for. God is change and we as His children are subject to everything that God is.

We are loved by God and are constantly given the opportunity to change. To change is to be shaped by God and to be loved by God. Change is about forgiveness and change is always good.

Deacon Tom

 

Third Sunday of Easter

Lectionary: 46

Reading 1

Acts 2:14, 22-33

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
"You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
You who are Israelites, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.

"My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father
and poured him forth, as you see and hear."

 

 

 

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

R. (11a) Lord, you will show us the path of life.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading 2

1 Pt 1:17-21

Beloved:
If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially
according to each one's works,
conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning,
realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
handed on by your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold
but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a spotless unblemished lamb.

He was known before the foundation of the world
but revealed in the final time for you,
who through him believe in God
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.

Alleluia

Cf. Lk 24:32

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 24:13-35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus' disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
"What are you discussing as you walk along?"
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?"
And he replied to them, "What sort of things?"
They said to him,
"The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see."
And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?"
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, "Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over."
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
"The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 

Much like the two disciples journeying to Emmaus, we might find ourselves full of doubt and confusion. Faced with crisis, we can find our faith, once thought to be strong, faltering. Once convinced in what we believed, we are then filled with questionable thoughts. During times like these, we cannot let these negative thoughts overcome us. There is no benefit that can be derived from negative thoughts. You can never get a positive out of a negative. It is impossible. Instead, these thoughts must be treated by acknowledging them for what they really are: seeds sewn by Satan with their roots in a world overcome by sin. As the Apostle Paul reminds us,

 

“Seek the things that are above.”

 

Nothing negative comes from above. Only good things come from God, thus anything else is rooted in sin and are of this earth, which is fallen by its very nature.

 

When Jesus Christ was crucified, His disciples were scattered and in hiding. Even when news spread of His resurrection, this wasn’t enough to encourage His followers to gather once again or come out of hiding. All the miracles, teachings, and spiritual gifts that Jesus displayed and gave them, were not enough to overcome the negative thoughts that crept in. They needed more. Jesus knew this and He gave it to them. He also gave it to us. The two disciples recognized Jesus in the “Breaking of the Bread.”  It was then that their eyes were opened and they recognized the Resurrected Christ. We have been given that same gift in the Eucharist which we are invited to partake in every day of our lives. Through it, we are joined together with Him physically, mentally, and spiritually. There can be no more intimate moment then to merge together with our God. It also brings the whole community together into one body, making up the Living Body of Jesus Christ. We all become one body in Christ. What a powerful vison: Billions of people throughout God’s creation united with Him.

 

This vision cannot be overstated. When we are acting out our faith together, nothing can divide us. What oppositions we face, individually or collectively, cannot overcome us because our God is with us. Just like the Apostles before us, if we are led by our faith and are focused on Jesus Christ, we will become unstoppable. Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times and went into hiding, confronted those very people he was fearful of to proclaim:

 

“God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father
and poured him forth, as you see and hear."

 

Filled with the Holy Spirit, the one who hid from those who sought to persecute and kill him, confronted all and became the foundation which Christ’s Church was to be built upon.

 

As we continue to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, let us not forget what we are celebrating. Our God has been resurrected and through that event, we too have been resurrected. We were dead, but now are reborn into a new existence with Him. We were indeed ransomed from our futile conduct and now are claimed by Jesus Christ. Our hearts should be open to let the Love of God come in so that we may be transformed by the experience. What we have received is more precious than anything that this world can offer. With that understanding, we should conduct ourselves like those destined for salvation and let the Holy Spirit do the work necessary to bring about that change. We indeed cannot do it alone. Jesus knows this and that is why He has given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit and His presence in the Eucharist, along with the guidance of His Church to aid us on this journey to salvation. We are invited to constantly partake in all these precious gifts. It would behoove us to accept what is being offered us, since it is directly coming from our God whom we profess to love so much.

 

Psalm 145 says it best:

 

“I will give you glory, O God my king,
  I will bless your name forever.”

 

Let us all proclaim His name forever.

 

CHRIST HAS RISEN!

 

HE HAS TRULY RISEN!

 

Deacon Tom