The Good Word

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Fourth Sunday of Easter – BApril 21, 2024 Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter.Our reading today is taken from the holy gospel according to John. 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.Homily The principal image in this Sunday’s readings comes from the gospel, where Jesus proclaims: “I am the good shepherd.” This is one of the favorite images people have of Jesus and many homes have pictures or statues of Jesus as the good shepherd protecting his flock and holding a sheep in his arms or carrying it on his shoulders. But that peaceful image does not fit well with his pronouncement today: “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus willingly gathers us together, but at great cost to himself. And we ourselves, as his flock, are not supposed to just sit passively under his protection, but are called to actively enter into the mission he received from God the Father. That is the whole question of knowing, which in the scriptures goes beyond intellectual knowledge to include sharing of life. So, when Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father,” he is sharing his life with us so that we can enter into the same relationship with God that he has. And that, too, has its cost, because Jesus repeats: “and I will lay down my life for the sheep.” It is not enough to just follow after Jesus, we must also become like Jesus. We know Pope Francis’ famous phrase that the shepherd should smell like the sheep. Here Jesus almost turns that around; the sheep should smell like Jesus. Just as the Son of God took on our humanity in everything but sin., we need to become more and more like Jesus. We see that in the reading from Acts. Just as Jesus was hauled before the Jewish court to give an accounting of his preaching and miracles, now Peter is hauled before that same court, the Sanhedrin, to give an accounting of his healing of a cripple and subsequent preaching Jesus’ name. The same one who denied Jesus three times, now openly declares, “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," before the very ones who condemned Jesus to death. In the inspiring words of his letter, John tells the believers that they are God’s children now, but more awaits them: “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as his is.” In the meantime, we are called to live, suffer and witness with and in Christ Jesus. So that we don’t think of ourselves too special as Jesus’ flock, he also says: “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.” I pray that the joy and peace of our lives in Christ be an invitation to others to know and follow our Lord and Savior. May God bless you.Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsRBasilica of Our Lady of Perpetual HelpBrooklyn, NY

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I don’t know about you, but I’m like a church mouse when it comes to politics. I may speak freely with friends who share a similar worldview, but I stay far away from sharing my opinions publicly.Is that the right approach? I hope so. What needs to be expressed from the mountain tops, however, is not who we favor in the next election cycle, but answering clearly Christ’s question to Peter after his resurrection: “…Do you love me?” If we answer, YES, then no matter what our political affiliation, we are of one heart and mind with other believers. “With great power,” is how St. Luke, the presumptive author of the Acts of the Apostles, says that the apostles witnessed their faith in the resurrection (Acts 4: 33). Luke is writing about Peter and John’s visit to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Spirit had already been gifted to them at Pentecost, and they were still going to the Temple in Jerusalem to pray and offer thanks. A man, crippled from birth, had been dropped off at at one of the entrances to the Temple earlier in the day. While he thought he was going to receive some alms from John and Peter, they had something else in mind. After looking at him closely, Peter prayed: “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” The man’s feet and ankles were immediately made strong and he leaped to his feet, even jumping around, and he entered the Temple with them praising God’s power. Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension into heaven has not removed him from us. He is not some vague figure in outer space. Oh, it’s true, we do not have his gentle smile anymore. We cannot listen to the music or the thunder of his voice. We cannot reach out and touch the hem of his garment. But our Christian living would make no sense if we did not believe, at this moment, that Jesus knows what hurts us. Whatever our poverty, however we weep or hunger, wherever we feel unloved, Jesus seeks us out. It happened one thousand nine hundred and ninety-one years ago at the entrance to the Temple in Jerusalem and it is still happening today. Blessings,Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.

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El Gozo de las Pascuas Floridas¡Felices Pascas de Florida! Cristo está vivo. Hace más de dos mil años Cristo ha esto vivo de nuevo. Hoy Jesús aparece vivo de nuevo a sus discípulos. Les dije PAZ A USTEDES. Primero los discípulos de Jesús se asustan. San Lucas nos dice: “ellos no acababan de creer de pura alegría y seguían atónitos”. Entonces Jesús come un pedazo de pan para que ellos sepan que es él mismo, Jesús está allá vivo de nuevo con ellos. Jesús más nunca les da un regaño. ¡No! Jesús sencillamente les dice: ¡¡Soy yo!! ¿Por qué surgen dudas en su interior? Miren mis manos y mis pies. Soy yo en persona, tóquenme y convénzanse…Entonces es que los discípulos de llenan de alegría. Ellos viven lo que el Papa Francisco llama…EL GOZO DEL EVANGELIO. Hace cinco días acá en nuestra parroquia dos personas se bautizaron en nuestra Vigilia Pascual: Brenda y Chris. Ellos: Brenda y Chris recibieron lo mismo que recibieron los discípulos de Jesús. Recibieron el GOZO DEL EVANGELIO. El gozo de ser Brenda nueva hija de Dios y nueva hermana de Jesús y Chris recibió el gozo por su Bautismo de ser nuevo hijo de Dios, nuevo hermano de Jesús resucitado. El sábado pasado en muchas Vigilias Pascuales por el mundo entero mucho otros hombres y mujeres experimentaron el mismo gozo de Brenda y Chris. Acá, además de Brenda y Chris otros cinco: Lori, John, Dawn, y Julie,aunque ya bautizados espiritarán el gozo de ser confirmados y llenarse de los dones del Espíritu Santo. En la lectura de los Hechos de los apóstoles hay un hombre brincando y bailando de San Pedro porque Pedro, por el poder y su fe en Cristo Resucitado había curado al hombre de la parálisis y por eso el hombre brinca y baila con gozo. Sabemos que hay mucha gente en el mundo que, por la pobreza, por la guerra y por el mal trato no hayan llegado a sentir el gozo del evangelio todavía. Por eso en esta Semana de Gloria hagamos oración y hagamos esfuerzos de traer el gozo del evangelio, la justicia y paz y nueva del evangelio a los demás. De nuevo Felices Pascuas de Florida. ¡Que viva el gozo del Evangelio de Jesús!¡Favor de enviarme tus [email protected]

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El Gozo de las Pascuas Floridas ¡Felices Pascas de Florida! Cristo está vivo. Hace más de dos mil años Cristo ha esto vivo de nuevo. Hoy Jesús aparece vivo de nuevo a sus discípulos. Les dije PAZ A USTEDES. Primero los discípulos de Jesús se asustan. San Lucas nos dice: “ellos no acababan de creer de pura alegría y seguían atónitos”. Entonces Jesús come un pedazo de pan para que ellos sepan que es él mismo, Jesús está allá vivo de nuevo con ellos. Jesús más nunca les da un regaño. ¡No! Jesús sencillamente les dice: ¡¡Soy yo!! ¿Por qué surgen dudas en su interior? Miren mis manos y mis pies. Soy yo en persona, tóquenme y convénzanse…Entonces es que los discípulos de llenan de alegría. Ellos viven lo que el Papa Francisco llama…EL GOZO DEL EVANGELIO. Hace cinco días acá en nuestra parroquia dos personas se bautizaron en nuestra Vigilia Pascual: Brenda y Chris. Ellos: Brenda y Chris recibieron lo mismo que recibieron los discípulos de Jesús. Recibieron el GOZO DEL EVANGELIO. El gozo de ser Brenda nueva hija de Dios y nueva hermana de Jesús y Chris recibió el gozo por su Bautismo de ser nuevo hijo de Dios, nuevo hermano de Jesús resucitado. El sábado pasado en muchas Vigilias Pascuales por el mundo entero mucho otros hombres y mujeres experimentaron el mismo gozo de Brenda y Chris. Acá, además de Brenda y Chris otros cinco: Lori, John, Dawn, y Julie,aunque ya bautizados espiritarán el gozo de ser confirmados y llenarse de los dones del Espíritu Santo. En la lectura de los Hechos de los apóstoles hay un hombre brincando y bailando de San Pedro porque Pedro, por el poder y su fe en Cristo Resucitado había curado al hombre de la parálisis y por eso el hombre brinca y baila con gozo. Sabemos que hay mucha gente en el mundo que, por la pobreza, por la guerra y por el mal trato no hayan llegado a sentir el gozo del evangelio todavía. Por eso en esta Semana de Gloria hagamos oración y hagamos esfuerzos de traer el gozo del evangelio, la justicia y paz y nueva del evangelio a los demás. De nuevo Felices Pascuas de Florida. ¡Que viva el gozo del Evangelio de Jesús!¡Favor de enviarme tus [email protected]

Thursday in the Octave of Easter Hello, I’m Father Matt Allman, and I’m speaking with you today from the Redemptorists North American Novitiate in Tlalpizahuac, Mexico. The risen Christ, after appearing in the midst of the disciples, showing them his wounds, eating a piece of baked fish, and opening the disciples minds to understand the Scriptures, concludes today’s Gospel passage by saying to the disciples, “You are witnesses of these things.” Yes. The disciples have now seen and heard the risen Lord. They have experienced him in his transformed, resurrected body, so yes, they are now witnesses, at least in the more passive sense of that word. But I think it is important to remember that Christ doesn’t just want passive witnesses. Witnesses who never make the effort to testify don’t do anyone much good in the long run. If we are going to be faithful to our baptismal call and our role as disciples today, It’s vital that sooner or later we make the turn that Peter accomplishes in our first reading. It’s vital that we go from simply being people who have seen and heard, to being people who speak, people who testify, people who overcome our fears with the help of the Holy Spirit, and who stand before the world to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ risen from the dead. I like how in the Gospel, Jesus finishes his encounter with the disciples by saying, “You are witnesses of these things,” and then when Peter is giving his speech to the crowd in the Acts of the Apostles, he echoes those exact same words, “The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.” Today may we pay attention to all the ways that the risen Lord enters our lives, touches them and blesses them. But then may we also complete our transformation into effective witnesses by actually giving testimony, sharing with others what we’ve seen and heard in the Risen Christ. May God bless you today and always. Amen.

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