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Reading time: 6 minutes
Read and listen to the Gospel and the Word of April 22, 2024
Monday of the 4th week of Easter
- B. Francesco Venimbeni OFM priest (1251-1322)
- S. Alessandra & Companions martyrs in Nicomedia († 303)
First Reading
God has also allowed the pagans to convert so that they may have life.
From the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 11,1-18
In those days, the apostles and brothers who were in Judea learned that even the pagans had accepted the word of God. And, when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised faithful rebuked him saying: "You entered the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them!".
Then Peter began to tell them in order, saying: «I was praying in the city of Jaffa and in ecstasy I had a vision: an object coming down from heaven, similar to a large tablecloth, lowered by its four ends, and which came up to me. Staring at it attentively, I observed and saw in it quadrupeds of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds of the sky. I also heard a voice telling me: "Courage, Peter, kill and eat!".
I said, “Never mind, Lord, for nothing profane or impure has ever entered my mouth.” Again the voice from heaven continued: "What God has purified, do not call profane." This happened three times and then everything was pulled up into the sky again. And behold, at that instant, three men showed up at the house where we were, sent from Caesarea to look for me.
The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. These six brothers also came with me and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen the angel appear in his house and say: “Send someone to Joppa and bring Simon, called Peter; he will tell you things by which you and your whole family will be saved."
I had just begun to speak when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, as He had descended upon us in the beginning. I then remembered that word of the Lord who said: "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit". So if God gave them the same gift that he gave to us, for believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?
Upon hearing this, they calmed down and began to glorify God, saying: "So God has also allowed the pagans to convert so that they may have life!".
God's word.
Responsorial Psalm
From Ps 41 (42) and 42 (43)
R. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God:
When will I come and see the face of God? R.
Send your light and your truth:
let them guide me,
lead me to your holy mountain,
to your home. R.
I will come to the altar of God,
to God, my joyful exultation.
I will sing to you on the lyre,
God, my God. R.
Gospel acclamation
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep and my sheep know me. (Jn 10.14)
Alleluia.
The Gospel of April 22, 2024
I am the door of the sheep.
From the Gospel according to John
John 10.1-10
At that time, Jesus said: «Truly, truly, I say to you: whoever does not enter the sheep pen through the door, but climbs in from another side, is a thief and a robber.
Whoever enters the door, however, is shepherd of sheep. The guardian opens the door to him and the sheep listen to his voice: he calls his sheep, each by name, and leads them out.
And when he has driven out all his sheep, he walks before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."
Jesus told them this simile, but they did not understand what he was talking about.
Then Jesus said to them again: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All those who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the door: if anyone enters through me, he will be saved; he will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance."
Word of the Lord.
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Dominican theologian, doctor of the Church
Reading of John 3,1-2 (trans. cb© evangelizo)
“I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11)
Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). It is evident that the title of pastor belongs to Christ. For as a shepherd feeds the flock, so Christ nourishes the faithful with the spiritual food which is his body and his blood. To distinguish himself from the bad shepherd and the thief, Jesus specifies that he is the good shepherd. Good because he defends his flock with the commitment of a good soldier for his country. On the other hand, Christ said that the shepherd enters through the door and that he himself is the door (see John 10:7).
Therefore, when he declares himself a shepherd here, we must understand that it is he who enters, and from himself. And it is certainly true since it shows that he knows the Father in himself, while we enter through him and it is he who gives us blessedness. We note that no one else, except him, is the door, and no one else is the light, except by participation. John the Baptist "was not the light, but he had to bear witness to the light" (Jn 1:8). Christ, he, was "the true light, which illuminates every man" (v. 9). Therefore, no one can call himself the door, since Christ reserved this title for himself.
But he communicated the title of pastor to others, he gave it to some of his members. In fact, so was Peter, and the other apostles, as well as all the bishops. “I will give you shepherds according to my own heart,” says Jeremiah, “who will guide you with knowledge and understanding” (3.15).
Although the leaders of the Church - who are all her children - are all shepherds, Christ says: "I am the good shepherd", to demonstrate the unique strength of his love. No shepherd is good if not united with Christ through charity, only in this way does he become a member of the true shepherd.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Christ, the Good Shepherd, became the door to humanity's salvation, because he offered his life for his sheep. Jesus, good shepherd and bearer of the sheep, is a leader whose authority is expressed in service, a leader who gives his life to command and does not ask others to sacrifice it.
A leader like this can be trusted, like sheep who listen to the voice of their shepherd because they know that with him they go to good and abundant pastures. […] Today we are invited not to let ourselves be distracted by the false wisdom of this world, but to follow Jesus, the Risen One, as the only sure guide who gives meaning to our lives. (Regina Caeli, 7 May 2017)
Let's listen together
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