Search
-
April 20, 2021Breaking Open the Word for Fourth Sunday of EasterReadings: Acts 4:8-12; Psalm 118:1, 8- 9, 21-23, 25, 28, 29, (22); 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18
Throughout the Easter season, we continue to celebrate the divinity of Jesus, confirmed so dramatically by the Resurrection. We can confidently believe in Jesus as the love of the Father incarnate in our world, a gift from the Father to lead us back to Him.
Next Sunday’s gospel presents us with the model of the Good Shepherd. A shepherd is one who is responsible for leading the flock to the sheepfold, a place of safety and security where they can be nourished and flourish. Clearly Jesus is our Good Shepherd, for He laid down His life for us so that we might have life in abundance. In our reading from Acts, Peter, as he gives witness to His faith in Jesus, presents us with a powerful image of Jesus as the cornerstone. The cornerstone is a critical component of any building. It must be cut with care and laid with great precision as it is the starting point in the plan for all great buildings to help assure its walls will be straight and true.
We, the children of God and the Body of Christ, are invited to build our lives (as have the generations of followers for the last 2000 years) with Jesus as our cornerstone.
His teaching and example are both the firm foundation and the ultimate source of a life of joy and peace the world cannot promise. Jesus clearly is the voice of the Father’s authority. Jesus’ voice can still be clearly heard as it has been carried forward by the Church built upon Him as its cornerstone. In today’s hectic and fractured world the voice of Jesus can be overwhelmed if we allow ourselves to be distracted or divided. In the images of the cornerstone and the Good Shepherd we have two vivid calls to remember who Jesus is and what His life, death and resurrection promise us. We always will have a solid place to return to and find acceptance and guidance in the foundational teaching of Jesus. There we will encounter the love of God in all its fullness, a love that is offered to all and for all without price or condition. As we stand on the foundation of the good, true and beautiful faith in Christ, let us strive to live in a way that invites others to share in Christ’s divine love for all.
For further reflection on the sheepfold as an image of the Church, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 754, 874 and 2686; and on Jesus as the cornerstone of the Church, paragraph 553.
Reflection Questions:- Is Jesus the cornerstone of my life? What else might I be placing too much faith in?
- In what ways do I see the teachings of Christ and His Church freeing me to live joyfully and without fear? In what ways might I feel confined by my Catholic faith?
- What can I do to feel confident about giving witness to my faith to my family? My fellow parishioners? My community?
