Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 3, 2020
Today, in Mercy, Jesus makes a great offer!
Don’t we all want to live a free and joyful life —- to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. Hasn’t this pandemic made us all pause and think about what that really means?
What if you saw a sign like this somewhere:
We’d all run in to get that deal, right? Well, our Gospel today offers an even better deal … just with a few more strings.
Using the shepherd imagery with which they would be familiar, Jesus tells his followers:
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
So what is the “gate” we must pass through to gain this abundant life?
In our second reading, Peter shows us the answer. In all things, we are to live in pattern of Christ.
Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
…. For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Living like this, within the Love Who is Christ, we dwell in eternal life – even as we experience the exigencies of our earthly journey.
Let us pray today to grow in a faith like this, one that frees us to live in utter trust, freedom, and holy joy. Let us look into the eyes of God and ask to grow in childlike love and peace.
(Perhaps in your prayer today, as many of us are still living at a distance from the life we love, you might want to look at some of your favorite photos. Pray with the joy, delight and gratitude they give you on this day of “Abundant Life”.)
Music: Peter’s Canticle – today’s second reading set to music by John Michael Talbot.
Jesus has suffered for you
To comfort your life within his dying
Dying so that all might live
Bearing our wounds
So that we might be healed
Let all who seek the true path to peace
Simply come to follow in the footsteps of this man
Who laid down his life when threatened with hatred
And so he came to live in the blessings of love
And so he came to live forever
Lavish Mercy 