As we are well aware during these last few days, across the country protesters took to the streets to express anger over the death of George Floyd, a black man after a Minneapolis police officer kept his knee pressed to his neck for more than eight minutes. Peaceful protests have at times turned to violence. Racial tensions have exploded with the claim that promises of freedom and justice have not been met. May we invoke the wisdom and prayer of Martin Luther King Jr who said: “ I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus prayed for His followers. He prays that His Father consecrate them in truth. The truth he refers to is the truth of God’s love. To be consecrated in the truth means being consecrated or made holy in God’s love. God’s love is like the air we breathe – all around us, giving us life, sustaining us. When we do this, we may experience some of the resistance and hostility that Jesus experienced, but Jesus has promised that God’s Spirit will be with us and will never abandon us. This will enable us to be witnesses to God’s love even in a sometimes-hostile world. Let’s trust in that love as we come to the Table of the Lord in spiritual communion.
Happy Mother’s day to all mothers and those who provide a mother’s love. What would we do without you in our world? Your loving care emulates God’s love for us and for all of creation. You indeed are a blessing! It is fitting that readings today focus on God’s unconditional love and care for us and how we are all called to love and serve one another.
The fourth Sunday of the Easter Season is always Good Shepherd Sunday. This is how Jesus identifies himself: “I am the Good Shepherd.” As the Good Shepherd, Jesus comes to his sheep and is recognized by them. The sheep recognize His voice as He calls them by name and follow Him. We seek to recognize the voice of Jesus as our Good Shepherd and to follow him. Hearing and trusting and recognizing the voice of Jesus in our lives is our path of discipleship. In our Catholic tradition, our vocation is our response to the call of God in our lives. The root meeting of the word “vocation” goes back to the Latin word vocare which mean to call. Responding to God’s call is our vocation. This vocation we all have is never a solitary vocation; in some God-given way, we share in the mission of Jesus in leading others to become more aware of God’s love for them. Good Shepherd Sunday is also the World Day of Prayer for vocations. In discerning one’s vocation as a disciple, my first message is that all of us have a vocational story to discern. While I would like to consider how you discern God’s call in your life from the vantage point of three lenses, my hope is that you claim in one or more of these lenses your own vocational journey.