{"id":2866,"date":"2019-05-12T12:29:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T16:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2866"},"modified":"2019-05-12T12:30:15","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T16:30:15","slug":"4th-sunday-of-easter-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-of-easter-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday of Easter, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

4<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday of Easter, Year C<\/a>
Acts 13:14, 43-52
Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5 (3c)
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30
May 12, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our gospel reading is quite short today\nbut there\u2019s still a lot we can talk about today.  The gospel passage I just read is only four\nverses but it comes from what is known as Jesus\u2019 Good Shepherd Discourse in\nchapter 10 of John\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you may know, our Sunday lectionary is\non a three-year cycle.  Every year on the\nFourth Sunday of Easter, we hear some portion of the Good Shepherd\ndiscourse.  So, this Sunday is often\nreferred to as Good Shepherd Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this discourse, Jesus\u2019 describes his role\nand relationship with his people.  He is\nthe good shepherd who watches over his people. \nAs his sheep, we are to listen to his voice.  It is his calling, it is his vocation to\nshepherd us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding Jesus as the Good Shepherd,\ntoday is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in our Catholic\nChurch.  That means it is a day for all\nof us to reflect on how God is calling each of us to be his disciples.  It might be in a vocation to married\nlife.  For others it might be to the\nsingle life.  For some called to the\nsingle life, it can include a specific vocation to religious life or priesthood\nbut not all.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a parent is a vocation in how you\nraise your children to follow Jesus. \nThus, it is fitting that today, being the second Sunday of May, is also\nMother\u2019s Day.  It is a day when we\nexpress our gratitude and love to our mothers for the sacrifices they have made\nfor us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first reading from Acts, we hear of\nPaul going out on his first missionary journey. \nHe was a called to a vocation as a missionary, travelling to places\nwhere the gospel had not been heard to tell them about Jesus.  As we heard in today\u2019s readings, not everyone\nliked what he preached.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, sometimes our mothers\nhave to tell us things we don\u2019t want to hear. \nThey may make us do things we don\u2019t want to do.  As long as it doesn\u2019t conflict with what God\nwants, we need to respect what our mothers say. \nWhen we are young, we obey what they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motherhood is a not a vocation based on\nbeing popular.  Motherhood is a vocation\nrooted in helping children be good, to be who God calls them to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a vocation, rooted in it is the spread\nof the gospel.  Mothers are called to\nshare Jesus with their children because we are all called to be part of what\nJohn\u2019s describes in the Book of Revelation as the vision of the \u201cgreat multitude<\/em>\u201d he has of the people in\nHeaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would like the journey to Heaven to be\nan easy one.  Yet, John speaks in\nRevelation about those \u201cwho have survived\nthe time of great distress.<\/em>\u201d  Being a\nChristian isn\u2019t always easy.  Neither is\nbeing a mother.  Sometimes children cause\ntheir mothers \u201cgreat distress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is we don\u2019t always listen to\nJesus\u2019 voice.  Likewise, we don\u2019t always\nlisten to our mothers.  So, today is a\nday to thank our mothers for their continued love for us even when we have\ncaused them distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you ask yourself how Jesus is calling\nyou to live out your life?  Or do you\nthink you know what is best for you?  Do\nyou strive to listen to his voice?  Or do\nwe make choices that violate what Jesus teaches?  Do we sin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, Jesus knows us better than we\nknow ourselves.  We know what we have\ndone.  Jesus does too.  Jesus also knows what gifts He has given\nus.  He knows what we are capable\nof.  He knows what we are created for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is true for us as individuals and it\nis true for us as a community of believers. \nWe need to listen to Jesus\u2019 voice. \nHopefully, you are all aware that we had an ad hoc committee with\nrepresentation from all the Catholic parishes in Wayne County on how we can\nwork together to ensure the continuing presence of the Catholic Church in Wayne\nCounty for years to come.  We asked God\nto guide that group.  Now, there are\nbeginnings of a plan.  It won\u2019t be\neasy.  There will be sacrifices, like the\nloss of a Mass here, tentatively the 4:30 Mass but we do this to strengthen us\nto work together with ministries like our faith formation for youth and\nchildren.  We are still waiting to hear\nfrom the diocese if the plan will be implemented this year or later.  I do believe that coming together can\nstrengthen us.  We pray that Jesus as the\nGood Shepherd guides this process and each of us in our own lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Easter, Year CActs 13:14, 43-52Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5 (3c)Revelation 7:9, 14b-17John 10:27-30May 12, 2019 Our gospel reading is quite short today but there\u2019s still a lot we can talk about today.  The gospel passage I just read is only four verses but it comes from what is known as Jesus\u2019 Good Shepherd …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday of Easter, Year C – 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":[596,597],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Ke","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866"}],"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=2866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2867,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions\/2867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}