Sermon for 4th Sunday of Easter – Year A Homily

00110_good_shepherdJesus, the Shepherd, is the Gate to Abundant Life  (Jn 10:1-10)
 Every year, the 4th Sunday of Easter is celebrated as the Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocations Sunday.  Each year, for the gospel reading, we hear one part of John 10. This year, being Year A, we listen to the first part of that chapter. We reflect on the ‘pastoral’ love (Shepherd’s love) of God made visible in Jesus, as we also pray for vocations to priesthood; priests are the ‘pastors’ of the church.
In the gospel text of today, Jesus makes two more of his “I am” statements: “I am the Gate” (Jn 10:9), and “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). Let us reflect on these two themes.
I am the Gate: This seems a strange analogy.  Let us look at it in some detail to get a deeper meaning of what […]

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Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Easter – Homily

From a Communitarian faith to a Personal Experience of Jesus
Today, as we conclude the octave of Easter – eight day celebration of this great feast – the Gospel passage of today concludes the series of events that we heard read on the morning of Easter, eight days ago.  John 20: 1-10 was the Gospel of the liturgy of the Easter morning.  It narrated to us how Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, found it empty and came to tell the apostles.  On hearing this Peter and the Beloved disciple ran to the tomb, they saw the empty tomb and the linen; and the Beloved Disciple believed in the resurrection. The following section of the gospel of John (20:11-18), the one about Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene was read during liturgy on Tuesday.  Today we heard read the remaining sections of […]

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