4th Sunday of Easter, Year C – Homily
4th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Acts 13:14, 43-52
Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5 (3c)
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30
May 11, 2025
The Catholic Church has been in all the news this week. It reminds me of how, in the first reading, we hear that the week after Paul and Barnabas entered Antioch “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.”
The world was focused this week on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel for over a day to watch for white smoke. Now, we have a new Pope, Leo XIV, and he is an American. Perhaps this will draw some people back to Church. We pray it does.
Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter. It is known as Good Shepherd Sunday because the gospel reading always comes from John 10 where Jesus reveals himself as the Good Shepherd.
He is our shepherd, “we are his people.” As Psalm 100 reminds us, “he made us, his we are.”
This is not the way everyone lives. Of course, many people are becoming atheists and deny the existence of God. We pray for them to open themselves to God’s revelation of his love for all his people as He shepherds us.
That said, when I hear the verse from Psalm 100, “he made us, his we are,” I think of the people who seem to think they get to decide what is true, what is right and wrong. Do they fail to see God as our Creator? Rather than profess, “his we are,” some seem to think God is theirs such He needs to do what they want.
They do not recognize Jesus as our true shepherd. Do you hear the voice of Jesus?
Do you engage with what Jesus says?
Do you listen to the voice of Jesus over the many other voices that teaching falsehoods? (see my article “Many Voices: Who Should We Listen To?”).
Does your faith determine how you see the world or do you let the world dictate what you believe?
Why would you listen to the world instead of Jesus?
Knowing that Jesus willingly laid down his life for us as his supreme act of love (see John 15:13), we should submit ourselves to Christ so that our souls can be made “white in the blood of the lamb.”
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He is the one we must follow.
One of the ways Jesus leads us is through our one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
Jesus established a hierarchy in the church He instituted when the blood and water flowed out from his side on the Cross.
The institutional church has not been perfect. We have struggled with scandals for 2,000 years. Despite our human failings, the Catholic Church continues to exist because it is instituted by Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit.
I hope you pray daily for our Catholic Church. May we always do not what the world wants but what our Heavenly Father wants. When we say the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “thy will be done,” referring to our heavenly Father’s Will. Do you mean it?
The Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early church. They faced persecution from many people, including Jews who had denied Jesus. The early disciples always started their proclamation of Jesus with any Jews in the towns they went to. If they were rejected by the Jews, they simply shifted their focus to the Gentiles.
Those Jews who persecuted the Christians (not all Jews) “stirred up a persecution” against the first Christians and “expelled them from their territory.” The first Christians responded by shaking the “dust from their feet” and moved on in accord with what Jesus taught.
It is unfortunate that much of the world is turning away from what Jesus taught as our Good Shepherd. It is even more unfortunate that there are some who profess to be Christians but teach lifestyles contrary to God’s Commandments. We must pray for them.
Do you stand with church teaching today or do you let the world lead you away from Jesus?
We have a new pope, Leo XIV. He is from the United States but he represents people from “from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” Thus, it is good that his life experience is not just from the United States. He spent years ministering in Peru. He has served as the bishop of a diocese. He has served in the Vatican. His experience is far and wide. This should serve him well in his papacy.
Yet, there is something more Pope Leo XIV needs than just his experience. Actually, I think of three things he needs:
- He needs Jesus Christ as his foundation.
- He needs the Holy Spirit to led him.
- He needs our prayers.
I had not ever heard of Cardinal Prevost before he was elected as Pope Leo XIV. So, I cannot tell you what he is like or what he will do.
I can tell you that we must pray for him. What should we pray for? Please do not pray that he gets to do what he wants. Please do not pray that he does what you want. Please pray that Pope Leo XIV does God’s Will.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Let him be your shepherd and pray that our Catholic Church always follows our Father’s Will with Pope Leo XIV serving as the Vicar of Christ.