OMELIE / Omelie EN

22 apr 2018

22/04/2018  4th Sunday of Easter - B

22/04/2018  4^th Sunday of Easter - B

World day of Prayer for Vocations

Reading 1, Acts 4,8-12 * Psalm 117 * Reading 2, First John 3,1-2 * Gospel, John 10,11-18

This fourth Sunday of Easter time is called «Sunday of the Good Shepherd», because the Gospel introduces Jesus to us through the image He Himself used: “I am the good shepherd”. He then describes in detail the effort of the good shepherd towards that of the hired shepherd.

In order to fully understand the meaning of this image, we need to remember at least some of the many passages in the Old Testament in which it is used. In the book of the prophet Ezekiel, God blames the false shepherds of Israel and He promises that He Himself will provide for the people, and He will do that through His servant David (obviously, a descendant of his, because David actually had lived a few centuries earlier!). It is also well known the Psalm number 22, the Psalm that begins in this way: “Yahweh is my shepherd”. Introducing Himself as the “good” (more precisely, handsome) shepherd, Jesus is actually showing Himself as the One sent by God, God Himself that becomes present among us!

Through this image Jesus let us feel how much He loves each one and all his disciples! Tenderness, sweetness and firmness, safety and fullness of life are the atmosphere in which is engulfed whoever can count on a «good» shepherd! The sheep, or, more precisely, the disciple that follows Jesus, is not going to be afraid any more when danger approaches, that is to say the wolf that wants to steal and scatter. “Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side”, says the Psalm of the shepherd! The Christian not only can count on the protection from the enemy, but also and above all on a personal intimate relationship, a relationship based on confidence. “I know my own and my own know me…”! And also, they know to be placed by their Lord in a community, they know that Jesus gives them communion and harmony with all the others, even more, also with people coming from other peoples and nations. “And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold”: Jesus is the shepherd not only of the Jewish people (this fold), but also of all men in the entire world. Even those who follow all the different religions of the world will find in Him someone who loves them and takes them with Him in order to bring them to the Father: otherwise, they would never get to know and love God as a Father, and they would never know that they are loved by Him; they would be compelled to constantly live fearing an unknown God,

with all the consequences of fear, that is to say selfishness, fights and prevarications.

In order to give to the people this serenity and safety, Jesus needs to interpose Himself between us and our enemy, in order to give up His life. He gives it up generously, voluntarily, without flinching. So He shows us and gives to us His love. Truly He is the good shepherd!

At this point we can remember how the risen Jesus, meeting with Peter on the beach at the lake, after making sure of his love for Him, gives thrice to him the task to be a concrete and visible sign of His presence for all the believers in Him. This is why today, along with all our brothers and sisters spread in the world, we pray the Father to call and send people able to make live and tangible the presence of the shepherd Jesus: we pray, as a matter of fact, for vocations to priesthood, in order to have in all the different communities always someone who can celebrate the ministry of the kindness and firmness, of the guidance and the care necessary to keep united, safe and nourished by the true spiritual food the faithful.

In the first reading, Saint Peter helps us to remember that Jesus is the only savior, the only one that can make us agreeable to the Father. We need then the will to remain always in His fold, in order not to let ourselves to be scattered by the enemy. With His death, Jesus created our salvation, and the miracles performed in His name by the disciples too are giving testimony of His resurrection, and they are then a warranty that he, and only he, is the foundation of our faith and our hope.

In His person we see and have experience of the great love of the Father, which S. John is still talking about (second reading). The great love of the Father makes us His children! What this can possibly mean for Him, we will never know until we will be able to fully know Him, when we will see Him in all His glory: and this will happen in the Eternity. In the meantime, we can enjoy the fact that we are accompanied by His kindness as shepherd, guided by His advice, nourished by His bread, refreshed by His live water, corrected and defended by His staff, observed and protected by His gaze full of joy!