Readings for Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Acts 11:1-18
The footnote from the NAB on this passage does a good job –“The Jewish Christians of Jerusalem were scandalized to learn of Peter's sojourn in the house of the Gentile Cornelius. Nonetheless, they had to accept the divine directions given to both Peter and Cornelius. They concluded that the setting aside of the legal barriers between Jew and Gentile was an exceptional ordinance of God to indicate that the apostolic kerygma was also to be directed to the Gentiles.”
Responsorial Psalm Psalm:2-3; 43:3, 4
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
Psalm 42 is an individual lament for a return to Jerusalem where God may be encountered in the temple. For us this longing is for the Lord and the reference to running water links us to the baptism described in Acts.
Gospel John10:1-10
The “Good Shepherd” discourse is continued from Sunday’s Gospel. St. John records Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees. They, of course, do not believe he is the Messiah and therefore do not follow him and think they will enter the kingdom of heaven another way (climb over the fence).
Jesus uses this metaphor in support of his earlier statement “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (John 6; 44). Jesus is the gate and gatekeeper and comes for the salvation of the sheep.
Reflection:
Between St. Peter, reaching out to Cornelius and the gentiles and the Lord declaring that He is the Good Shepherd and that he knows his sheep and his sheep know him, we are forced to look at our own circumstances and ask “What challenges will I face today in taking Christ with me into the world?” We are after all his sheep are we not? We too have been sent, like Peter, not just to those who believe, but to all those we meet today.
How are we going to let them know that we are the Lord’s own possession? How will they know that He owns our hearts? We are shown one lesson for certain today. We cannot be condescending. That was St. Peter’s initial hurtle in the first reading from Acts. All of the Apostles were Jewish, and fairly conservative at that. We see the initial response of the other Apostles when they hear that Peter had profaned and defiled himself by going to an unbeliever’s (a gentile’s) home. He had eaten unclean foods, forbidden by the Law of Moses. They were scandalized.
But he explained that it was in prayer (the vision he described must have come in prayer) he was shown the right path by God. He accepted God’s guidance and reached outside of his own comfort zone to bring God’s grace to Cornelius and his family. He adopted, in one giant leap, the whole non-Jewish world into the flock of Jesus. Can we, who are faced with lesser challenges, not take up that mantle?
We know the Good Shepherd and we know, from St. Peter’s example that we cannot look at any of our neighbors, our co-workers, our brothers and sisters and think they do not belong to the same community of faith and therefore do not deserve the loving example of Christ. The challenge we face today is to be like Peter who responded to Jesus words (Matthew 28, the great commissioning of the Apostles is recalled by him toward the end of the Acts reading as they were sent out to “baptize all nations”). We show the face of Christ to all we meet today. We extend the hand of love to everyone we encounter; meet frown with smile, harsh words with understanding, and hate with love. It is what we are called to be as sheep of the Good Shepherd.
Pax
Please Pray for Esther.
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “St Peter and Cornelius the Centurion” by Bernardo Cavallino, c. 1640
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Acts 11:1-18
The footnote from the NAB on this passage does a good job –“The Jewish Christians of Jerusalem were scandalized to learn of Peter's sojourn in the house of the Gentile Cornelius. Nonetheless, they had to accept the divine directions given to both Peter and Cornelius. They concluded that the setting aside of the legal barriers between Jew and Gentile was an exceptional ordinance of God to indicate that the apostolic kerygma was also to be directed to the Gentiles.”
Responsorial Psalm Psalm:2-3; 43:3, 4
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
Psalm 42 is an individual lament for a return to Jerusalem where God may be encountered in the temple. For us this longing is for the Lord and the reference to running water links us to the baptism described in Acts.
Gospel John10:1-10
The “Good Shepherd” discourse is continued from Sunday’s Gospel. St. John records Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees. They, of course, do not believe he is the Messiah and therefore do not follow him and think they will enter the kingdom of heaven another way (climb over the fence).
Jesus uses this metaphor in support of his earlier statement “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (John 6; 44). Jesus is the gate and gatekeeper and comes for the salvation of the sheep.
Reflection:
Between St. Peter, reaching out to Cornelius and the gentiles and the Lord declaring that He is the Good Shepherd and that he knows his sheep and his sheep know him, we are forced to look at our own circumstances and ask “What challenges will I face today in taking Christ with me into the world?” We are after all his sheep are we not? We too have been sent, like Peter, not just to those who believe, but to all those we meet today.
How are we going to let them know that we are the Lord’s own possession? How will they know that He owns our hearts? We are shown one lesson for certain today. We cannot be condescending. That was St. Peter’s initial hurtle in the first reading from Acts. All of the Apostles were Jewish, and fairly conservative at that. We see the initial response of the other Apostles when they hear that Peter had profaned and defiled himself by going to an unbeliever’s (a gentile’s) home. He had eaten unclean foods, forbidden by the Law of Moses. They were scandalized.
But he explained that it was in prayer (the vision he described must have come in prayer) he was shown the right path by God. He accepted God’s guidance and reached outside of his own comfort zone to bring God’s grace to Cornelius and his family. He adopted, in one giant leap, the whole non-Jewish world into the flock of Jesus. Can we, who are faced with lesser challenges, not take up that mantle?
We know the Good Shepherd and we know, from St. Peter’s example that we cannot look at any of our neighbors, our co-workers, our brothers and sisters and think they do not belong to the same community of faith and therefore do not deserve the loving example of Christ. The challenge we face today is to be like Peter who responded to Jesus words (Matthew 28, the great commissioning of the Apostles is recalled by him toward the end of the Acts reading as they were sent out to “baptize all nations”). We show the face of Christ to all we meet today. We extend the hand of love to everyone we encounter; meet frown with smile, harsh words with understanding, and hate with love. It is what we are called to be as sheep of the Good Shepherd.
Pax
Please Pray for Esther.
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “St Peter and Cornelius the Centurion” by Bernardo Cavallino, c. 1640
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