{"id":1066,"date":"2013-04-21T14:47:58","date_gmt":"2013-04-21T18:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1066"},"modified":"2013-04-21T14:47:58","modified_gmt":"2013-04-21T18:47:58","slug":"who-are-his-sheep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/who-are-his-sheep\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Are His Sheep?"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Easter, Year C<\/a>
\nActs 13:14, 43-62
\nRevelation 7:0, 14b-17
\nJohn 10:27-30
\nApril 21, 2013<\/p>\n

\u00a0My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Remember last week when the disciples saw Jesus on the shore but did not know it was him?\u00a0 They still listened to him.\u00a0 Even though they didn\u2019t recognize him, when they heard his voice, they still listened.<\/p>\n

They hear his, meaning the shepherd\u2019s, voice.<\/p>\n

Do we listen?<\/p>\n

Are we part of his sheep?<\/p>\n

Of course we are.\u00a0 That is why we are gathered here.\u00a0 We think we come on our own initiative but ultimately we are here because God has called us here.\u00a0 Our part is to hear his voice and respond to it.<\/p>\n

Jesus is our shepherd.\u00a0 As our shepherd he watches over us and protects us. He guides us.\u00a0 We respond to his calling to follow him.<\/p>\n

This calling is our vocation.\u00a0 We each have been given different gifts to use in different ways.\u00a0 It begins when we are baptized and anointed with the Holy Spirit to be priest, prophet, and king.<\/p>\n

I keep saying we, not just today but often when I preach.\u00a0 Who is we?<\/p>\n

In this setting at Mass, it seems \u201cwe\u201d are those gathered here together.\u00a0 I think of the third Eucharistic Prayer when I say, “at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Certainly, those of us gathered here are part of the \u201cwe\u201d but I believe it extends beyond just us in this church.\u00a0 The \u201cwe\u201d are all who celebrate a common Mass across the world.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cCatholic\u201d means universal.\u00a0 We are not just a bunch of individual churches.\u00a0 We are one church.<\/p>\n

Is there anyone who isn\u2019t part of the \u201cwe\u201d?<\/p>\n

Here again I turn to the Eucharistic Prayers.\u00a0 In the words of consecration for the wine\/blood, I say Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for MANY for the forgiveness of sins.\u00a0 Do this is memory of me.<\/em><\/p>\n

It says many.\u00a0 It used to say all.\u00a0 Does this mean we no longer think \u201call\u201d will be saved, that not are Jesus\u2019 sheep?<\/p>\n

No!<\/p>\n

All are called and offered the gift of faith but not all will accept the gift to be Jesus\u2019 sheep.<\/p>\n

No one is excluded by God.<\/p>\n

John, in writing of his vision of Heaven, says there was a great multitude of people from EVERY nation, race, people, and tongue.<\/p>\n

The Jews thought themselves a chosen people.\u00a0 They were.\u00a0 The problem is they saw as \u201cexclusive calling.\u201d\u00a0 God\u2019s Word was and is always meant to be shared but they didn\u2019t share it.<\/p>\n

When Jesus came, he went first to the Jews as a chosen people.\u00a0 The apostles like Paul begin in the same way.\u00a0 Each time, when Paul went to a new town to preach, he first went to the synagogues to preach Jesus to the Jews.\u00a0 When rejected, he then turned to the Gentiles as the gospel is meant to be heard by the Gentiles as well as the Jews.<\/p>\n

Jesus is our shepherd.\u00a0 We are meant to follow him but we are not required to.\u00a0 Jesus keeps drawing us in but never forces himself on us.<\/p>\n

We might wonder if Jesus is our shepherd then why do bad things happen.\u00a0 Take the bombings at the Boston Marathon and all that followed that this week.\u00a0 Does God cause such things?\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0 God allows it because he gives us free will.\u00a0 Those bombings happened because a couple of people made bad decisions.\u00a0 Jesus was there with those who died.\u00a0 Jesus is there with those injured and their families.\u00a0 Jesus walks with us as his shepherd.<\/p>\n

As the faithful shepherd, he keeps watch and speaks his voice to us, if we listen, so that we might follow him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our choice.\u00a0 Some people chose to hurt, like the bombers at the Boston Marathon.\u00a0 Others use what they have been to help others.\u00a0 The latter is the example we work to set.<\/p>\n

We are called not just to say we believe but to live it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Easter, Year C Acts 13:14, 43-62 Revelation 7:0, 14b-17 John 10:27-30 April 21, 2013 \u00a0My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. Remember last week when the disciples saw Jesus on the shore but did not know it was him?\u00a0 They still listened to him.\u00a0 Even though they …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Who Are His Sheep?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-hc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1068,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions\/1068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}