Easter 4 C - Liturgy
Notes. 1. Remember that today is the World Day of Vocations. What is said of Jesus is applicable also to the shepherds who take his place. Not that they are Jesus himself: they are only humble signs of Jesus, who should by their life and actions show people the way to him.
Those
who intend to have a special celebration for vocations this day or especially
during the week that follows please see the Sacramentary and Lectionary for
texts for Masses for vocations or the special Mass in this book.
Greeting
(See Second Reading)
The
Lamb on the throne will be our shepherd and will lead us to springs of living
water. God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. May this Lamb of God, Jesus
our Lord, be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction
by the Celebrant
I
Call Them by Their Name
It is
very reassuring to know that our guide or community leader knows us personally
and calls us by our name. It makes us say or think: He knows me and I know him.
This calls for deeper trust and loyalty and love. On the Sunday of the Good
Shepherd Jesus himself reminds us how he knows us personally. At the same time
the fact that we know him too, at least a bit, changes our whole life. For
knowing him, we know God. We experience in him God’s goodness and care and
close presence in everyday life. Would that we could also be near to one
another and Jesus’ pastors and shepherds could be close to their people.
The
Voice of the Shepherd
Who are
the pastors, the shepherds, whom people trust and listen to? As if
instinctively they entrust themselves to priests who do not preach themselves
but the Lord Jesus and his Good News. They listen to and confide in priests who
know them and who also take the time to listen to them and their problems and
hopes. For in them they recognize something of Jesus, the Good Shepherd and
model of all shepherds. Let us join our Good Shepherd in his thanks to the
Father.
Penitential
Act
“The
sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,” says our Good Shepherd. Have we
listened to him and followed him? Let us examine ourselves before the Lord. (pause)
Lord Jesus, you know us and you call each of us by name. Lord, have mercy. R/
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus
Christ, you reassure us that we will never be lost or deserted by you. Christ,
have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord
Jesus, the Father entrusted us to you and you give us life that lasts for ever:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have
mercy on us, Lord, and never let sin separate us from you. Forgive us, make us
follow you all the way and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening
Prayer
Let us
pray that we may truly know and love the Lord Jesus (pause)
Our
loving God and Father, you have let us experience how much you care for us by
giving us Jesus as our Good Shepherd. He knows us, for he carries us in his
heart. May we be ever close to him, so that we may know him too, hear his voice
and follow him without reserve. Like his love, may our care overflow on the
people you have placed on our way. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord.
R/ Amen.
First
Reading (Acts 13:14,43-52): Pastors Are Taking Risks
Jesus’
Good News was first to be brought to the Jews, but it cannot be restricted to
one group; it is destined for all. The conflict of Paul and Barnabas with the
Jews becomes the occasion to preach directly to the pagans.
Reading
1: Acts 13:14, 43-52
Second
Reading (Rev 7:9,14b-17): The Lamb Will Be their Shepherd
People
from every race, people and culture will follow the Lamb as their Shepherd and
be guided by him to eternal life.
Reading
2: Rev 7:9, 14b-17
Gospel
(Jn 10:27-30): Those Who Hear My Voice Follow Me
Jesus
is our Good Shepherd; he knows us personally, and leads us to the fullness of
life if we are willing to go his way.
Gospel:
Jn 10:27-30
***
Intercessions
Let us
pray to Jesus, the Lamb of God and our shepherd, that he may lead all to the
springs of life. Let us say: R/ Our Lamb and Shepherd, unite us all.
–
Lord, you call an immense crowd from every nation, race and language. May they
hear your voice and follow you. And so we pray: R/ Our Lamb and Shepherd, unite
us all.
–
Lord, those who recognize you are few. Let none of them be lost and keep them
faithful to you. And so we pray: R/ Our Lamb and Shepherd, unite us all.
–
Lord, many are still going through persecutions. May they keep serving you day
and night and be united with you in their trials. And so we pray: R/ Our Lamb
and Shepherd, unite us all.
–
Lord, too many suffer from hunger and many thirst for justice and truth. Let
the earth yield its fruit and let your people work for justice. And so we pray:
R/ Our Lamb and Shepherd, unite us all.
–
Lord, see the misery of those who suffer, wipe away all tears from their eyes
and bring them the joy of your and our love. And so we pray: R/ Our Lamb and
Shepherd, unite us all.
–
Lord, see the riches of heart of many who are willing to serve you and your
people in ministries of love and service. Call them and let them lead your
people. And so we pray: R/ Our Lamb and Shepherd, unite us all.
Lord
Jesus, call us by our names and unify us as your one people, for you are our
Shepherd and Lord forever. R/ Amen.
Prayer
over the Gifts
God,
our Father who cares, you set for us the table of life and offer us the cup of
joy of Jesus, your Son and our Shepherd. Let him make us more and more your
faithful people; and let him help us to proclaim by what we are and do that his
message of life and joy is destined for everyone everywhere in the world. For
he is our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction
to the Eucharistic Prayer
We
thank our Father for giving us his own Son as our Shepherd and guide. As Jesus
offered himself for us, we offer ourselves with him, that others might live and
be happy.
Invitation
to the Lord’s Prayer
The
Father has placed us in the care of Jesus. With our Good Shepherd we pray our
prayer of filial trust: R/ Our Father...
Deliver
Us
Deliver
us, Lord, from our factions and division and bring us together under the
leadership of Jesus, our Good Shepherd. Let us share in the peace of his caring
and forgiving love and save us from all anxiety, for we are sure that he will
bring us to the source of living water,
for he
is our Shepherd and Savior Jesus Christ:
R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation
to Communion
This is
the Lamb on the throne who leads us to the springs of life, that we may never
hunger or thirst again. Happy are we to be invited to the table of our Good
Shepherd. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer
after Communion
Father,
we have listened to the voice of your Son speaking to us here in this
Eucharist. May we keep belonging to him and following him wherever he leads us.
Let no fear or enticement ever overcome us to snatch us away from your love. As
he has given us himself as the bread of life, may we also give ourselves to one
another. Let our Good Shepherd lead us to the fresh pastures of your eternal
joy. Grant us this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
In this
Eucharistic celebration Christ has been with us as our Good Shepherd. May he
also stay with us in life and guide us through his Holy Spirit. May he make us
shepherds to one another, people who care, who support and uplift. May we thus
become to the world a sign of God’s caring, faithful love, with the blessing of
almighty God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us
go in the peace and the joy of the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.
****
Commentary
Global
Shepherds
Read: The Gospel is preached to the Jews, the
Gentiles, and to the ends of the earth. John presents the grand finale: people
from “ever nation, race, people, and tongue” are gathered in heaven before the
Lamb-Shepherd. Jesus declares himself as the Good Shepherd who gives eternal
life to his sheep.
Reflect: In the midst of acute shortage of vocations in a
country, one provincial assumes charge and thus addresses his members in his
inaugural homily: “Believe me. There is no shortage of vocations. There’s
plenty. It is all a problem of distribution, not of numbers.” How
true! God does raise up people to tend his sheep; but not always as,
when, and where we want him to! If we care to look
around, there are many youngsters willing to serve. Sadly, how many
congregations have died out in some countries due to the sheer refusal to
accept vocations from other regions of the world! What we need to do is to
adjust our mental lenses, break down the boundaries of tribalistic thinking,
and perceive the Church as one family without borders.
Pray: Pray for global readiness and global receptivity
to shepherds after the heart of the Master.
Act: Talk
to a youngster about discerning a shepherding vocation in the Church.
----------------------
When believers share their faith, “the Church becomes a mother church
that produces children (and more) children, because we, the children of the
Church, we carry that. But when we do not, the Church is not the mother, but
the babysitter, that takes care of the baby – to put the baby to sleep. It is a
Church dormant,” Pope Francis stated.
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Prayer
Reflection
“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” An Australian Aboriginal
Lord, we pray for those who work in community development. They often find that they cannot motivate people or get them to change their ways, and they think that what people need is to take courses or develop new skills. But Jesus taught us the secret of being shepherds: if people don’t feel that they belong to us they will not hear our voice, and unless they get the feeling that we know them they won’t follow us.
Lord we thank you for deep relationships: - a spouse, an
intimate friend, a leader to whom we entrusted ourselves, a priest who
ministered to us. We remember how the very first time we met we knew that we
belonged to them, and recognized their voice; we felt that they knew us through
and through, and spontaneously we followed them.
Lord, there are people in our country who are always talked
down to because they are considered uneducated or unintelligent. We pray that
at least in our Church communities they may know that they belong, that leaders
know them and accept them for who they are.
Lord, one of the frustrating things about being a teacher is
that we wonder if we are getting through to our students. But every once in a
while you send us someone who is your special gift to us, someone we know
instinctively belongs to us and follows us; we know they might stray for a
while, but they will never be lost or stolen from us.
Lord, when people we love leave us we become jealous: - our
followers turn to another leader; - a favourite child starts to show a
preference for the other parent; - a friend gets close to someone else. Even as
a Church we are jealous when members join another Church. Lord, at the root of
all jealousy is insecurity. If we were more like Jesus we would accept those
you give us with trust, knowing that if they are really your gift to us then no
one can steal them from us because you are greater than anyone and no one can
steal from you.
“Bind us with cords that cannot be broken.” Popular hymn Lord, we thank you for moments of deep prayer when we feel perfectly secure, so that we don’t need to ask for anything, to beg for forgiveness or to make promises. We know that in Jesus we and you are one and we are one with all creation, because everything is your gift and you are greater than anyone, and no power in heaven or on earth can steal from you.
