FOURTH SUNDAY IN EASTER

[cappie]

JOHN 10:27-30 
KEY VERSE: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (v 27).

You do not have to look at statistics or study research papers to know that the number of people attending Sunday Mass has significantly declined over the past 50 years and the number of people who have distanced themselves from their Catholic Church has increased.

We know that from the empty pews at Mass and the closing of parishes, from the decrease in weddings and baptisms and from the teenagers who regard Confirmation as graduation from church, and from our relatives and friends who have taken a “sabbatical” from their Catholic Faith.

Many reasons have been given to explain this exodus from the Church. For example, the increasing secularism and materialism of our society, the media’s hostility to religion, the sex abuse scandal, homilies and liturgies that seem disconnected from life, poor experiences with religious authorities, and the list could go on. But perhaps there is another reason. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, offers a warning against the passive form of faith that we see at times: “Maybe the greatest threat to the church is not heresy, not dissent, not secularism, not even moral relativism, but this sanitized, feel-good, boutique, therapeutic spirituality that makes no demands, calls for no sacrifice, asks for no conversion, entails no battle against sin, but only soothes and affirms.”

By our preaching, our teaching, and our speaking about God we may have conveyed the idea that being part of Church, attending Sunday Mass, receiving the Sacraments, trying to live the Gospel are not necessary for salvation and for eternal life.

If that is only what people hear, then they can easily conclude that what a person does or does not do is of little consequence. We are like children on a sports team where win or lose, good player or bad, cooperative or not, at the end of the season, the coach gives everyone a trophy!

While that may be how many people see things that is certainly not the impression given in this Sunday’s Readings.

In our First Reading (Acts 13:14, 43-52), Paul and Barnabas speak of the consequences that await those who reject the word they preach. “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.”

In our Second Reading (Revelation 7:9, 14b-17), John has a vision where he learns that those in glory are the ones who have remained faithful to God despite persecution, “who have survived the time of great distress.”

In the Gospel (John 10:27-30) Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life.” Those who are blessed with eternal life are those who hear and obey the words of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and make them the guide for their lives.

Those readings indicate that gaining eternal life is not automatic, but rather is something given to those who strive to faithfully follow the word of God announced by Jesus.

Many who first heard Jesus’ claims to be one with God demanded evidence, signs that would demonstrate the truth of what he said. They wanted proof. Jesus gave them an answer when declared, “My sheep hear my voice … and they follow me.”

Hear. Follow.

First, we must “hear” Jesus. What better way to do that than by reading and absorbing his teachings in the scriptures especially in the Gospels and in the letters of Paul.

And then we must take up the most difficult task of all: We must follow. Not just worship. Not just praise. We must undertake the hard work of doing, of following.

Following Jesus means: to believe what Jesus believed, to love what Jesus loved, to defend the dignity of the human person as Jesus defended it; to be with the powerless and vulnerable as Jesus was; to be free to do good as Jesus did; to trust the Father as Jesus trusted Him, and to face life and death with the great message of Easter: Hope! Mercy and compassion.

When we listen deeply through meditating on God’s Word, then we will be motivated and strengthened to follow. The key goal of Catholicism, and Christianity in general, is evangelization.

How we live as followers of Christ, as members of his Church, does make a difference, an eternal difference.