Fourth Sunday of Easter

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042615.cfm

          Today, in addition to being called the Fourth Sunday of Easter, is also designated as World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  This is a day in which the worldwide Church is encouraged to pray for vocations to the priesthood, religious life, and deaconate.   Many parishes pray for vocations before each Mass and I'm sure many of you have prayed for vocations at other times and places and maybe even on your own.  Today, the Universal Church joins together to pray for this cause. 

          Still another title that has been given to this Sunday is “Good Shepherd Sunday”.  We hear in the Gospel today how Christ declares Himself the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.  How appropriate that the day that we as a Church are encouraged to pray for vocations, is also the day that we reflect on Jesus as the Good Shepherd!  We are, after all, praying for shepherds to lead us when we are praying for vocations.  We all as Christians strive to model ourselves after Christ, but those in religious vocations particularly strive to be like Christ the Good Shepherd.  We strive to lay down our life for the sheep. 

          The Gospel is not the only reading that relates to the call for vocations.  Our first reading from Acts reminds us of how saying “Yes” to God's call means that we are opening ourselves to being transformed by Christ.  This reading actually refers to three transformations that take place.  The first transformation is that of St. Peter.  We all know what St. Peter said and did on the night of the Passion.  We can probably all think of at least one Gospel story in which St. Peter tries to be a loyal follower of Jesus, but ends up putting his foot in his mouth or making a fool of himself.  By the time we get to the Acts of the Apostles, however, Peter has experienced a radical conversion and transformation.  He speaks boldly and faithfully and becomes the great leader that God intended for him to be.  His speech that we hear in the reading today is a great example of this.  Here he is talking to the Jewish spiritual leaders about a miracle that has just taken place.  The reason the miracle was able to happen, he explains, is because of Jesus Christ.  He is boldly speaking about his faith. 

          The second transformation that is referenced here is for an unnamed crippled beggar.  The first reading for last Sunday also talked about him.  St. Peter and St. John were walking into the Temple area on the Sabbath (which was Saturday for the Jewish people) when they notice a crippled man who was begging for money.  The Apostles talk with him, but instead of giving him money or food, like other people were doing, they heal him.  In response he begins walking around, jumping, and praising God.  Imagine what joy that man must have felt in being able to walk and jump and run again!  This had to have been a truly incredible transformation for him.  As I already mentioned, St. Peter is now talking about this amazing miracle before the Jewish leaders, trying to explain to them that what they have just witnessed is not some sort of trick or something evil (as seems to be their big worry) but that it actually comes from God Himself.  This transformation happens not because the Apostles knew some magic or because the man was just faking his handicap for a long time.  It happened because both the man and the two Apostles had complete faith in Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead. 

          The third transformation that is referenced in our first reading is in regards to Jesus Christ.  We celebrate throughout these fifty days of Easter that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after three days in the tomb.  Christ's body had died: His heart was no longer pumping; His body was covered in wounds from all the beatings, scourgings, and floggings He received in addition to the wounds from the crown of thorns and the crucifixion.  He was executed as a common criminal.  His lifeless body is laid in the tomb.  Three days later, He emerges from the tomb, with a resurrected body.  One could say that this resurrected body has been transformed.  We read in the Gospels that He still has the nail marks in His hands and feet and the wound on His side where He was pierced with the lance, but other than that He is no longer bloody and beaten up. He is able to enter into rooms with locked doors and disappear and reappear in an instant.  His body is quite different from what it was before.

          These three transformations happened because the individuals responded to God's call for them: they responded to their vocation.  Jesus knew the will of God the Father and so followed the Father's plan of salvation by allowing Himself to die on the Cross and then to rise again.  He allowed His Heavenly Father to do what needed to be done.  Both the man who had been crippled and St. Peter were transformed because they put their faith in Jesus Christ.  They allowed Christ to work within them as they responded to God’s call for them.  Responding to God's vocation (whatever your vocation might be) means that Christ is going to transform you in incredible ways.  This transformation is not unlike His transformation from the tomb. 

          I know that it can sound a bit disconcerting and maybe even a little scary.  Not only do we have to believe and have faith in Jesus, but we also have to trust in Him that He will do what is best for us.  That brings us back once again to the Gospel reading of the Good Shepherd. 

          Christ the Good Shepherd is the one who takes care of us, provides for our needs and protects us.  The sheep trust the shepherd because they know that he provides protection and that he leads them to green pastures and plenty of water.  Just as a shepherd sometimes has to lead his sheep over some difficult terrain to finally find the food and water that they require in order to grow stronger and healthier, so also our Good Shepherd will be with us through some difficult times in order to help us to grow and be transformed so that we can respond to the calling God has for us.

          Be not afraid, but trust in the Good Shepherd.