Scripture Reflections for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

"Friends, in today’s first reading, St. Peter tells us that there is no salvation outside of Christ. In this homily, I encourage you to let the truth of St. Peter’s..."

"Our first reading for today proposes a very serious challenge to the inclusiveness and non-judgmentalism that is taken for granted in our culture today. The chief of the Apostles says,..."

“It’s because Jesus has lovingly known us, that we are able lovingly to know him”

"Jesus took up the imagery of shepherds because it was central to the economy of the Jews, but more importantly to their history and religious thought. Many of the great..."

"Being compared with sheep is not generally regarded as highly complimentary. As reflected in the phrase ‘as silly as a sheep’, sheep have a reputation for being over-docile, following each..."

“Perhaps we need to understand the phrase “lays down his life” as “gives his life.” Jesus’ gift of life did not start with his death on the cross, but with his constant awareness of those in need and his spontaneous generosity which knew no bounds.”

"We say in the creed that Jesus is God. This wasn’t clear at all at first, even to his close friends and followers. He was their Rabbi, their miracle worker,..."

"'I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me.' Jesus gives us this wonderful image in today's gospel. A lamb picks out the voice of..."

"'I know my own, and my own know me' (John 10:14): these own (whose reciprocal knowledge of him and intimacy he equates with that of his Father and himself) are..."

“This is why mothers worry and why friends mourn. Because once we begin to love someone, it is only a matter of time before we suffer with them. Once we are connected to someone, we will, in time, also be hurt. Whenever we give life to someone, we must be willing to lay down our life time and again.”

“So Jesus, thank God, we have the Good Shepherd out in front of us, among us, behind us too”

“perhaps we can consider a new metaphor in these lands, one that emulates the love, the care and the vulnerability, the message at the heart of the Good Shepherd story”

“What a deep love Jesus has for us that he called us his own children! It is God’s gift that we would become a part of Him; called, preserved, and cared for.”

“Two thousand years later, we, too, must live with some uncertainty about exactly how our own resurrection will develop. Yet, like people of John’s day, we are called to organize our lives around its certainty.”

"On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, called Good Shepherd Sunday, we continue to reflect on the meaning of the Resurrection. This is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations...."

“Part of being a good leader is recognizing the gifts in others and not rejecting the very bricks Christ is using to build. This includes accepting ourselves. If our Savior deems us worthy material to build with, why would we look at ourselves as anything less than worthy and enough?”

"Why should Jesus be the one we should follow? Why should we place absolute trust in his voice among all the voices and noise we hear in our world? Why..."

"The early Church depicted Christ as a young shepherd lovingly caring for his sheep. In today's Gospel of John we find this image once more. Christ, the Good Shepherd, is..."