| Saturday, April 25th, 2014, 7:00 AM |
|
|
Maranatha, Maranatha,
Come, Oh Lord.
And set us free!
"
In Deo Speramus
"
(In God We Hope) |
Bildnussen auss Heiliger Schrifft
Alt und Neuen Testaments, 1695
Christoph Weigel
|
"I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." |
Our Synod Initiatives ask
that all of us become leaders
in our communities.
We seek wisdom
to lead others to implement
our Synod priorities. We pray to the Lord..
|
|
| First Reading Acts 4:8-12 Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said:
"Leaders of the people and elders:
If we are being examined today
about a good deed done to a cripple,
namely, by what means he was saved,
then all of you and all the people of Israel should know
that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead;
in his name this man stands before you healed.
He is the stone rejected by you, the builders,
which has become the cornerstone.
There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved."
The Word of the Lord
|
|
Discussion Questions
1. Peter says that it was Christ who healed the crippled man. "He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone." Yet the one who saves is not a mighty warrior, but a lowly shepherd. How does that relate to the opposite belief that evil can only be corrected through force? What might a police force learn from this reading?
2. In this reading Peter responds to people trying to discredit Jesus' message. Do you see efforts to discredit Jesus' message in the world today? Name some. How can you help bring God's saving grace to a world/neighborhood in desperate need of healing?
|
| Second Reading 1 Jn 3:1-2 Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
The Word of the Lord
|
|
Discussion Questions
1. What gifts have you received as a child of God? What gifts have you received today from God?
2. God is always present, hovering over us like a mother hen. Why does God not just jump right in and save us from all the messes we get into?
|
| Alleluia Jn 10:14 Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
Alleluia, alleluia.
|
| Gospel Jn 10:11-18 Jesus said:
"I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father." The Gospel of the Lord |
|
Discussion Questions:
1.
Besides suggesting that priests stay close to the marginalized by being, as Pope Francis put it, "shepherds living with the smell of the sheep" (Homily for Chrism Mass, March 28, 2013), he also said that
The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution of tenderness.
Evangelii Gaudium, 88
How do those statements relate to Jesus calling himself the Good Shepherd?
2. Jesus said, "I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep." Jesus applies the Trinitarian love-recognition between him and his Father to the recognition between himself and his own. What does this tell you about how well you are known and how much you are loved? For whom will you lay down your life?
|
|
Oremus pro invicem
(Let us pray for one another)
|
| I am the good shepherd.
The Good Shepherd knows his sheep
and calls each one by name.
They listen, they wait for
the glow of his
voice.
We are
so like them.
O Jesus, Shepherd,
we long to hear you call
our
names.
Hold us in your arms for a while.
Then help us lay our lives
down for each
other.
Amen
|
| "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then we'll have peace." By: Jimi Hendrix "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." Abraham Lincoln If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is brought to perfection in us.
1 John 4:12
Deus fit homo ut homo fieret Deus God became human so that humans might become God (Catholicism, Page 2 by Fr. Robert Barron) "The Glory of God is a human being fully alive." Meyers, Robin R. (2009-02-19). Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus (Kindle Location 639). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
God "dwells in us."
God's love is not meant for us alone;
we must give it away.
Do small things today and for many tomorrows,
with a generous heart.
Give God Away Today!
|
|
Help us then, Lord,
to be so united with the paschal mystery of Jesus,
that through Him the world can become a better place to dwell.
You promise us much for this life
and for our eternal presence with You;
may we live into that promise
each day.
|
|
An interesting thought:
The birth of St. John is celebrated on June 24th, in the moment of the summer solstice. From that point onward, daylight begins to reduce. On the other hand, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated on December 25th, during the winter solstice. From that point onward, daylight begins to grow, to get longer.
|
|
|
|
|
