Deacon Tom Anthony

 

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