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2012년 4월 30일 부활 제4주간 월요일
제1독서
사도행전. 11,1-18
그 무렵 1 사도들과 유다 지방에 있는 형제들이 다른 민족들도 하느님의 말씀을 받아들였다는 소문을 들었다. 2 그래서 베드로가 예루살렘에 올라갔을 때에, 할례 받은 신자들이 그에게 따지며, 3 “당신이 할례 받지 않은 사람들의 집에 들어가 그들과 함께 음식을 먹다니요?” 하고 말하였다. 4 그러자 베드로가 그들에게 차근차근 설명하기 시작하였다.
5 “내가 야포 시에서 기도하다가 무아경 속에서 환시를 보았습니다. 하늘에서 큰 아마포 같은 그릇이 내려와 네 모퉁이로 내려앉는데, 내가 있는 곳까지 오는 것이었습니다. 6 내가 그 안을 유심히 바라보며 살피니, 이 세상의 네발 달린 짐승들과 들짐승들과 길짐승들과 하늘의 새들이 보였습니다.
7 그때에 ‘베드로야, 일어나 잡아먹어라.’ 하고 나에게 말하는 소리가 들렸습니다. 8 나는 ‘주님, 절대 안 됩니다. 속된 것이나 더러운 것은 한 번도 제 입속에 들어오지 않았습니다.’ 하고 말하였습니다. 9 그러자 하늘에서 두 번째로 응답하는 목소리가 들렸습니다. ‘하느님께서 깨끗하게 만드신 것을 속되다고 하지 마라.’ 10 이러한 일이 세 번 거듭되고 나서, 그것들은 모두 하늘로 다시 끌려 올라갔습니다.
11 바로 그때에 세 사람이 우리가 있는 집에 다가와 섰습니다. 카이사리아에서 나에게 심부름 온 이들이었습니다. 12 성령께서는 나에게, 주저하지 말고 그들과 함께 가라고 이르셨습니다. 그래서 이 여섯 형제도 나와 함께 갔습니다. 우리가 그 사람 집에 들어가자, 13 그는 천사가 자기 집 안에 서서 이렇게 말하는 것을 보았다고 우리에게 이야기하였습니다. ‘야포로 사람들을 보내어, 베드로라고 하는 시몬을 데려오게 하여라. 14 그가 너에게 말씀을 일러 줄 터인데, 그 말씀으로 너와 너의 온 집안이 구원을 받을 것이다.’
15 그리하여 내가 말하기 시작하자, 성령께서 처음에 우리에게 내리셨던 것처럼 그들에게도 내리셨습니다. 16 그때에 나는 ‘요한은 물로 세례를 주었지만, 너희는 성령으로 세례를 받을 것이다.’ 하신 주님의 말씀이 생각났습니다. 17 이렇게 하느님께서는 우리가 주 예수 그리스도를 믿게 되었을 때에 우리에게 주신 것과 똑같은 선물을 그들에게도 주셨는데, 내가 무엇이기에 하느님을 막을 수 있었겠습니까?”
18 그들은 이 말을 듣고 잠잠해졌다. 그리고 “이제 하느님께서는 다른 민족들에게도 생명에 이르는 회개의 길을 열어 주셨다.” 하며 하느님을 찬양하였다.
복음
요한. 10,1-10
그때에 예수님께서 말씀하셨다.
1 “내가 진실로 진실로 너희에게 말한다. 양 우리에 들어갈 때에 문으로 들어가지 않고 다른 데로 넘어 들어가는 자는 도둑이며 강도다. 2 그러나 문으로 들어가는 이는 양들의 목자다. 3 문지기는 목자에게 문을 열어 주고, 양들은 그의 목소리를 알아듣는다. 그리고 목자는 자기 양들의 이름을 하나하나 불러 밖으로 데리고 나간다.
4 이렇게 자기 양들을 모두 밖으로 이끌어 낸 다음, 그는 앞장서 가고 양들은 그를 따른다. 양들이 그의 목소리를 알기 때문이다. 5 그러나 낯선 사람은 따르지 않고 오히려 피해 달아난다. 낯선 사람들의 목소리를 알지 못하기 때문이다.”
6 예수님께서 바리사이들에게 이 비유를 말씀하셨다. 그러나 그들은 예수님께서 자기들에게 이야기하시는 것이 무슨 뜻인지 깨닫지 못하였다.
7 예수님께서 다시 이르셨다. “내가 진실로 진실로 너희에게 말한다. 나는 양들의 문이다. 8 나보다 먼저 온 자들은 모두 도둑이며 강도다. 그래서 양들은 그들의 말을 듣지 않았다. 9 나는 문이다. 누구든지 나를 통하여 들어오면 구원을 받고, 또 드나들며 풀밭을 찾아 얻을 것이다. 10 도둑은 다만 훔치고 죽이고 멸망시키려고 올 뿐이다. 그러나 나는 양들이 생명을 얻고 또 얻어 넘치게 하려고 왔다.”
http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings-audio.cfm
April 30, 2012
Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Reading 1
The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem
the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,
‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.”
Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying,
“I was at prayer in the city of Joppa
when in a trance I had a vision,
something resembling a large sheet coming down,
lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me.
Looking intently into it,
I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth,
the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’
But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir,
because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
But a second time a voice from heaven answered,
‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’
This happened three times,
and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.
Just then three men appeared at the house where we were,
who had been sent to me from Caesarea .
The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating.
These six brothers also went with me,
and we entered the man’s house.
He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying,
‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,
who will speak words to you
by which you and all your household will be saved.’
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the beginning,
and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said,
‘John baptized with water
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us
when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I to be able to hinder God?”
When they heard this,
they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,
“God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 3a) Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
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.”
REFLECTION
“…I have come that they may have life in all its fullness.”
We are not here for our own sakes alone.
We have a responsibility
to continue the work of Jesus,
to care for others as God cares for us,
to keep alive the fire of faith in ourselves.
take my hand
Jesus said, Those who come
to me will be saved. . . . I have
come in order that you may
have life, life in all its fullness.
John 10:9
A daughter found this moving
prayer among her father's
possessions after he died: "I
cannot pray, dear Lord. I cannot
find recovery, health and peace
of mind . . . Although You
suffered more than I, this does
not help me, no matter how I try.
Take my feeble frame, and give
me strength. I need to know that
with Your help we will succeed.
So take my hand, and let me
cling to Thee, and, clinging,
know no harm can come to me."
Christopher News Notes
What thought in the father's
prayer can I relate to best?
Precious Lord, take my hand . . .
thro' the storm, thro' the night,
lead me to the light . . .
Take my hand, Precious Lord,
lead me home. Thomas A. Dorsey
http://www.franciscanretreats.net/
http://www.evangeli.net/gospel/gospel.html
The shepherd of the sheep enters by the gate (…). The sheep follow him for they know his voice
Today, we keep mulling over one of the most beautiful and well known images of Jesus' preaching: the Good Shepherd, his sheep and the gate. We all keep in our memory the figure of that good Shepherd we were able to look at, as children. An icon well beloved by the first fold, that already belongs to the Christian sacred art at the time of the catacombs. How many memories can be aroused in us that young shepherd with the wounded sheep on his shoulders! We have, quite often, seen ourselves projected in the figure of that poor animal.
Only a few days ago, we were still celebrating Easter and, once more, we have been reminded that Jesus did not speak in a figurative language when He was saying that the good shepherd offers his life for his sheep. For He really did it: his life was the price He paid for our retrieval; with his life He bought ours, and thanks to that deliverance we have been rescued: «I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved» (Jn 10:9). We find here the great mystery of the ineffable love of God that reaches unthinkable extremes to save each human creature. Jesus brings his love to the extreme, to the point, of offering his own life. We can still hear the echo of St. John's words in his Gospel, introducing us to the moments of His Passion: «Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end» (Jn 13:1).
Of the words of Jesus, I would suggest our paying a deeper attention to these ones: «I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me» (Jn 10:14); even more so, «The sheep hear his voice (...) and the sheep follow him for they know his voice» (Jn 10:3-4). It is true Jesus knows us, but, can we also say we know Him well enough, that we love Him and we reciprocate as we should?
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
“You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them?” (emphasis added). The Apostles were challenging Peter about how he could offer Gentiles the same benefits of belief that they now enjoyed exclusively. Peter patiently explained the situation, “step by step,” persuasively concluding that if “God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” Wisely, understanding the implication (“who are YOU to hinder God”), the Apostles changed their tune and began to sing from the same hymnal: “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
The Apostles had begun to understand that God’s vision of life and salvation was bigger, more inclusive, forgiving, and loving than they had dared to imagine.
An awful recent news story excoriated a Tennessee woman for sending her son, with just a note and a one way plane ticket, back to Russia from where she had adopted him. She accused the orphanage of lying to her about the boy’s mental health. Her accusation may have been justified, but surely her “solution” to the difficult situation could not be. At the same time, my heart goes out to this woman in addition to the boy. What was going on in her life that led her to think sending a boy alone on a plane could solve anything? Was she truly so desperate with insufficient support from family, friends, community, and social services? Was she herself ill in some way? What system and individuals facilitated this adoption with such inadequate preparation and safeguards for mother and child?
I mention this story because at first glance, I find it easy to condemn the mother who so obviously did something terribly wrong. But I think my “first glance” is usually more similar to the vision of the Apostles than the bigger, more forgiving, more inclusive vision of God. I don’t know all the details of the lives of this Tennessee woman or this Russian boy. But I do know that there’s always more to the story than what I read in the paper.
Jesus said at the end of today’s Gospel reading, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” May God grant more abundant life to everyone involved in this tragic story and all of us who are seeking to see with God’s bold vision of love, inclusivity, and forgiveness. Amen.
http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/
"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly"
Do you know the peace and security of the Good Shepherd who watches over his own? The Old Testament often speaks of God as shepherd of his people, Israel. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23:1). Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! (Psalm 80:1) We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3). The Messiah is also pictured as the shepherd of God's people: He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms (Isaiah 40:11). Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd who will risk his life to seek out and save the stray sheep (Matthew 18:12, Luke 15:4). He is the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1 Peter 2:25).
What can shepherding teach us about God and our relationship with him? At the end of each day the shepherd brought his sheep into shelter. They knew the voice of their shepherd and came at his beckoning. So familiar was the shepherd and his sheep, that each was called by a distinct name. In the winter the sheep were usually brought to a communal village shelter which was locked and kept secure by a guardian. In the summer months the sheep were usually kept out in the fields and then gathered into a fold at night which was guarded by a shepherd throughout the night. He was literally the door through which the sheep had to pass. The scriptures describe God as a shepherd who brings security and peace to his people. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore (Psalm 120:8).Even the leaders of God's people are called shepherds: they shall lead them out and bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd (Numbers 27:17). Just as a shepherd kept watch over his sheep and protected them from danger, so Jesus stands watch over his people as the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1 Peter 2:25). Do you know the peace and security of a life fully submitted to God?
Augustine writes: “He has accomplished what he taught us: He has shown us what He commanded us to do. He laid down his own life for his sheep, that within our mystery he might change his body and blood into food, and nourish the sheep he had redeemed with the food of his own flesh. He has shown us the way we must follow, despite fear of death. He has laid down the pattern to which we must conform ourselves. The first duty laid on us is to use our worldly goods in mercy for the needs of his sheep, and then, if necessary, give even our lives for them. He that will not give of his substance for his sheep, how shall he lay down his life for them?” (Tr. 46 in John, 5th century). Do you look to Jesus the Good Shepherd, to receive the strength and courage you need to live and serve as his disciple?
"Lord Jesus, you always lead me in the way of peace and safety. May I never doubt your care nor stray from your ways. Keep me safe in the shelter of your presence."
Psalm 42:1-3
1 As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"
Psalm 43:3-4
3 Oh send out your light and your truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html
Think, if you will, of your heart as the sheepfold that is used in today's Gospel. The gatekeeper of your heart is of course, Jesus.
Anyone or anything that tries to influence or change your heart other than Jesus is rightfully called a thief.
Just as a sheep would not follow or would not have its name known by anyone other than its shepherd, we should listen to the call of and the words of Jesus, our Shepherd.
O Lord, help us to believe that you came only to give us life and that life in abundance. Help us to listen only to your voice and follow only you, always. Let me realize that my heart too is "athirst for the living God" and to follow nothing but you.
~ Deacon James W. Chaufty
http://www.contemplative.com/weekday_readings.htm
How should I approach You, Lord, in my prayer? One approach is to trust that You will lead me more fully into Your Kingdom. I find myself in one particular place. Then I fancy to be in another place. I find myself captive in my own selfishness, in the memory of my sins, in the tide of temptation, in a cultural atmosphere that denies the Kingdom. I desire to be in the Kingdom. I desire to be among the people who belong to God completely. Lead me as a shepherd leads his flock. You are the door into the Kingdom. Open for me the entrance into the divine life You share with Your Father and the Holy Spirit. Let me become attentive to Your voice. Let me be sensitive to all the nuances of Your spoken words. Let me discern voices that are not Yours, that are in opposition to Your way. Your voice leads me to knowledge of You and Your Father. That is my goal: To dwell with You and Your Father. This power comes from the grace of Your sacrifice. You lay down Your life freely in the sacrifice that is my redemption. You take your life up again in the power of Your Resurrection. Your power is grace shared among us. It is Your power, grace and sacrifice that bring us together into the unity of Your Kingdom. Each Eucharist offered, every Our Father prayed, is an expression of my being led by You, the Good Shepherd into the fullness of the Kingdom.
http://goodnews.ie/calendar.php
The sheepfold was a simple enclosure in which sheep belonging to various shepherds were kept by night, with a shepherd at the gate.
“I am the gate of the sheepfold,” Jesus said. It doesn't seem at first a very personal image: a gate. But for someone seeking a way out of slavery or imprisonment, or seeking entry to a place of well-being, there is nothing of greater interest. There are several similar images in the New Testament: the door, the doorkeeper, the keys, the way....
All of these have this in common: that they are perfectly ambiguous. You can travel in two different directions along a way. A gate or door can lock you in or out, include or exclude you. And even inclusion is ambiguous: it can be protection or imprisonment. Keys symbolise power, but it can be power for or against you.
In the mind and heart of Jesus, these are benign images; the sheep are reassured by the presence of the Good Shepherd. But in other minds and hearts – because of sin – these images can be interpreted the other way, and then God help the sheep!
http://www.presentationministries.com/
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"I came that they might have life and have it to the full." 뾌ohn 10:10 |
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When we accept Jesus' gift of life to the full, we are "fertile and multiply" (Gn 1:28). We "fill the earth and subdue it" (Gn 1:28). Those living the abundant life not only fill the earth with people, but also with disciples of Jesus. These disciples will lead people to Jesus, and He will then fill the poor with food and the suffering with healing and love. Thus the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. We cannot have life to the full without giving our lives to Jesus in Whom "absolute fullness" resides (Col 1:19). We must also love (Eph 5:25), obey, and work for the Church, "which is His body: the fullness of Him Who fills the universe in all its parts" (Eph 1:23). To live life to the full, we repent of our sins and pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In this fullness, we share our faith constantly, work for justice to the poor, and oppose artificial contraception and abortion. Thus, life to the full implies salvation in Christ, repentance, love for the Church, life in the Spirit, purity, justice to the poor, evangelization, fertility, etc. Obviously, many of us don't want life to the full, but only a half-life. Therefore, we must repent and accept the fullness of Jesus' love, even that which we don't understand or want. |
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Prayer: Jesus, may I repent of a contraceptive, abortifacient mentality in many areas of my life. |
Promise: "God has granted life-giving repentance even to the Gentiles." 뾃cts 11:18 |
Praise: In preparing for youth retreats, Olivia fasts and prays to better heed the promptings of the Holy Spirit. |
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http://www.judeop.org/daily_bread.htm
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. God has not only given me the gift of natural life, but a share in God’s own life, as well. I am truly blessed. But life, whether natural or supernatural, must be lived. How am I using my abundance of life? Do I show my gratitude by caring for my health? Am I conserving resources for the good of the planet and its inhabitants? Do I pray and reflect on God’s goodness? Do I reach out in love to those who lack the necessities of life or just need an uncritical listener? Lord, give me a truly grateful heart and grant me the gifts of sensitivity and generosity to others. Mew
http://www.judeop.org/dailyhomilette.htm
Cardinal, soon to be “Blessed,” John Henry Newman clarified how logical argument seldom moves anyone to belief. Most often, he wrote, “informal inference” -- feeling, intuition, and unconscious motivation -- are necessary for one to accept the faith. Jesus certainly understood the need for non-rational motivation as he preached with vibrant images like the “good shepherd” and, what we hear today, the “gatekeeper.”
Sometimes preachers try to explain the roles of “good shepherd” and “gatekeeper” as the same, but the attempt is in vain. Jesus uses both images to indicate the different ways in which he is there for us. In the passage which begins in today’s gospel he will call himself the “good shepherd,” the one who leads his sheep to life. But now he refers to himself as the “gatekeeper” or “gate” with two functions. First, he only lets those shepherds whom he knows and calls – people like Peter – to care for his sheep. And second, he also allows the sheep to go out and pasture. He knows when it is safe to do so and when it is necessary to stay in the sheepfold under his watchful eye. In this way the sheep under his care will have abundant life.
Very few of us live in bucolic society, and even if we did, shepherding is not the same as it was in Jesus’ time. Yet these images resonate with us. We know that many wander through life without much sense of its purpose. Those who manage to clarify a goal sometimes get helplessly sidetracked. Accepting Jesus as our keeper and shepherd saves us from becoming so lost.
http://www.judeop.org/dailyreflections.htm
This is a moment almost as important as the conversion of St. Paul . One might call it the conversion of St. Peter! In the person of the leader of the Twelve, Christianity reaches a defining moment. Would this new faith remain a branch or sect of the diverse but geographically limited reality of Judaism? Or would it admit to the possibility of new believers who had never embraced Judaism? The equivalent question in our own time, even if it would sound a bit strange to us, might be: Must one be "born a Catholic" to be a Catholic? If the answer to that is "No!" as was the answer (not without hesitation) of the Jerusalem community, then what becomes of the practices that are so much a part of the religious background and history of the Jews who had come to believe the Jesus is the Messiah. Another way of putting the question might be: Is Jesus the messiah only of the Jews?
All of this arises from the confrontation with Peter in Jerusalem when he returns from a journey up the coast to Joppa! "You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them!" Peter then relates his vision about the issue of "clean and unclean foods." Of course, the matter is much bigger than diet! Cannot God give faith to anyone God pleases to? Peter asks a very important question when he says, "Who was I to be able to hinder God?"
That last question doesn't put an end to the matter, however! Even if the Jewish observance of the Mosaic law is not required of new converts, what should be required? That places a challenge to the "charter" or "cradle" believers? What can we ask that avoids putting a "hindrance" to God's gift of faith? To what are WE committed that new members should be asked to commit themselves? Now THAT is a bigger question than I have space for today! AMEN
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