{"id":2498,"date":"2018-04-22T12:40:18","date_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2498"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:40:18","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:40:18","slug":"4th-sunday-of-easter-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-of-easter-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th<\/sup> Sunday of Easter, Year B<\/a>
\nActs 4:8-12
\nPsalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29 (22)
\n1 John 3:1-2
\nJohn 10:11-18
\nApril 22, 2018<\/p>\n

Peter becomes a bold preacher for Jesus.\u00a0 He faces questions and persecution but he is no longer afraid.\u00a0 When Jesus was arrested, Peter denied knowing him out of fear.\u00a0 Peter\u2019s fear is no more.<\/p>\n

What has changed?<\/p>\n

We see part of the answer in the first line of today\u2019s first reading.\u00a0 It describes Peter as \u201cfilled with the Holy Spirit<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is courage.\u00a0 Peter has received this gift.<\/p>\n

Another part of the answer relates to other gifts of the Holy Spirit of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.\u00a0 In listening to Jesus during his public ministry, Peter gained some knowledge of Jesus\u2019 mission.\u00a0 It is only after Jesus\u2019 death and Resurrection, that, following Pentecost, Peter comes to understand all this.<\/p>\n

Before Jesus\u2019 death and Resurrection, Peter came to know Jesus as the Messiah but didn\u2019t understand what that really meant.\u00a0 When Jesus first called Peter, Peter followed immediately but it is only now that Peter truly makes Jesus who had been rejected by others his cornerstone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Peter was not the first to refer to the Lord as \u201cthe cornerstone<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 We see this in our psalm today.\u00a0 When Jesus was arrested, Peter denied him because Peter was afraid of the humans.\u00a0 He was more concerned about what the humans could do than faith in Jesus.\u00a0 Now, he has come to put his trust in the Lord.\u00a0 Instead of trusting in \u201cprinces<\/em>\u201d, he now takes refuge in the Lord.<\/p>\n

When I think about the words of Jesus that Peter heard before his passion that only come to full light in his death and resurrection, today\u2019s gospel comes to mind.<\/p>\n

It begins with Jesus identifying himself as the Good Shepherd and indeed he is.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 words continue with \u201cA good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Peter could not possibly understand the full<\/em><\/strong> meaning of this until Jesus truly laid down his life for us in giving his life for us on the Cross.<\/p>\n

Jesus is willing to do this because he knows this is what God sent him to do.\u00a0 It is his vocation.<\/p>\n

Peter, on the other hand, initially is like the \u201chired hand<\/em>\u201d when he sees the \u201cwolf<\/em>\u201d come and arrest Jesus.\u00a0 He runs and hides but he never abandons his faith in Jesus completely.\u00a0 He watched what happened from a distance.<\/p>\n

Peter finds more faith when he sees Jesus risen and receives the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.\u00a0 It is only then that Peter truly embraces his vocation as the first among the Apostles.<\/p>\n

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter when, in all three years of our Lectionary cycle of readings, we hear from chapter 10 of John\u2019s Gospel, which is known as the Good Shepherd Discourse.\u00a0 So, this Sunday is sometimes referred to as \u201cGood Shepherd Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on what I have already said about \u201cvocation\u201d, today is also the \u201cWorld Day of Prayer for Vocations.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are all called by God to be his witnesses in this world.\u00a0 This is the common vocation of all of us.\u00a0 For instance, when we hear Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cA good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep<\/em>,\u201d we might think of parents who do so much for their children.<\/p>\n

However, on this \u201cWorld Day of Prayer for Vocations\u201d, our Church invites us to think about vocations to the priesthood and religious life.\u00a0 It is no secret that we have far fewer priests than in years past.\u00a0 The number of religious has shrunk even more.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

We live in a world that places focus on self.\u00a0 The idea of being willing to lay down one\u2019s life for one is being lost.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t always mean crucifixion.\u00a0 For a parent, it means giving up some of what they might want for themselves in possessions and time to for the sake of their children.<\/p>\n

People today often blame the priest shortage on the fact that priests cannot marry.\u00a0 I might agree that for some men, not being able to marry is the reason they do not seek to be priests.\u00a0 However, I don\u2019t think priests should be allowed to marry.\u00a0 I cannot envision being a good priest, a good husband, and a good father.\u00a0 As a priest, I \u201clay down my life\u201d in the sense of not having a family of my own for the sake of the church family.\u00a0 Being a priest for me is not just a job to fit in my life.\u00a0 It is my life.<\/p>\n

Likewise, fewer people are entering religious life.\u00a0 Those in religious life lay down life in the way society seeks it for self-gratification, wealth, and power to put Jesus at the front.\u00a0 While there are not many entering religious life today, I believe those who are can be a powerful witness against the worldly life lived by so many.<\/p>\n

I hope that all of you see a witness value in those who lay down their lives to be priests and religious.\u00a0 It is a vocation that doesn\u2019t make sense to everyone but it is a vocation that comes from God.<\/p>\n

Because it doesn\u2019t make sense to the world, it is not a popular choice today and that makes it all the harder.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I ask that you regularly pray for those who are called by God to priesthood and religious life, hear the call, and have the courage to respond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Easter, Year B Acts 4:8-12 Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29 (22) 1 John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18 April 22, 2018 Peter becomes a bold preacher for Jesus.\u00a0 He faces questions and persecution but he is no longer afraid.\u00a0 When Jesus was arrested, Peter denied knowing him out of fear.\u00a0 Peter\u2019s fear …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily’ »<\/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":[29,82,41],"tags":[435,437,118,436],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Ei","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498"}],"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=2498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2499,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498\/revisions\/2499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}