The Fourth Sunday of Easter is a special day of prayer for vocations to the Church. That's because it is a Good Shepherd Sunday. Our Gospel tells us that Jesus called himself the good shepherd. "A good shepherd lays down his life for his 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." The Church asks us to pray today for good shepherds in the Church. As we look around we can see that the number of priests and religious continues to decline. We need more full time ministers in the Church. Please pray today for more priests, deacons, religious, and lay workers to come forward to serve the Church and pray for those who already do.
This past week was quite historical. For three weeks we saw our court system at work on TV, or at least on the news. And for the first time with such public coverage, we saw a white policeman sentenced to jail for killing an unarmed black man. All of this over a fake $20.00 bill. Meanwhile there was more violence all around our country involving all types of crime, even here in our area. South Bend had two marches against violence. One was close by the church at the MLK Center. Let us pray for an end to all violence, especially the domestic violence which takes place in homes and usually goes unseen.
In our first reading today, Peter refers to Jesus: "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." Peter is telling us that all we do should be in the name of Jesus. It looked like Peter cured a cripple, but it was Jesus who cured the cripple, not Peter. Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, which is built on Jesus. All honor and glory is his. In our second reading Saint John gives us great Easter news. "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." Alleluia! We are all God's children. As is often said we have a holy family. God is our father, Mary is our mother, Jesus is our brother and we are all brothers and sisters to one another.
In today's Gospel, besides telling us he is the Good Shepherd, Jesus talks about his death and resurrection. "This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again." Jesus is the Good Shepherd who dies for us, his followers, but rises from the dead and ascends into heaven and says we can do the same.
This Saturday is May 1 or May Day or Labor Day in many parts of the world. The Church celebrates it as The Feast of St. Joseph, the Worker. It would be good to think of Saint Joseph as the worker, who supported the Holy Family on this day, especially in this special year of St. Joseph.