4th
Sunday of Easter (Four
= 4) 17
April 2016
• Acts 13:14, 43-52 • Psalm 99 • Revelation 7:9,
14b-17 • John 10:27-30 •
Title:
“Can you hear me?”
[__01__] Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you?
In the Gospel this Sunday, we
read about Jesus as the Good Shepherd who is caring for his people, the sheep
of his flock, and speaking to them, to us.
Can we hear him?
[__02__] You and I have experience and training and
memory of voices. [All of us have vocal
and ear training… not just those who go to Juilliard, to music school, or sing
professionally.] That is, we naturally and logically respond to certain voices,
the sounds of certain people more than others.
This began with our
parents. We hear our parents’ voices.
And, parents themselves
tune their instruments, their ears to the voices of their children.
[It is also a blessing for
us to know, to hear, to see the presence and the voices of our children in
church … through whom we also know about God’s tender love for us as his family
and children.]
Yes, I can hear you.
This is a process of
discernment of distinction.
[__03_-“FREEDOM” _] Can you hear me? The shepherd – the shepherd in the field –
knowing that his sheep can hear him, would permit his sheep to move ahead to
run forward.
He does not have to be physically adjacent (right next to them) to them
at all times.
Can you hear me?
If the answer were YES, then
our mother or father might permit us to go into the next room, into the garden,
or the back yard.
Yes, I can hear you.
[__04_-SERVICE,
COMMITMENT_] Can you hear me? This is also a question of
commitment.
This is also a promise, a
commitment. Yes, I would come to you, come for you, if you were to call.
For example, in our
families, in marriage, we do not simply call to say “I love you”, but, rather,
when we receive an important call, we come over to show / demonstrate I love
you.
By the way, these days, we
are not only multi-sensory and multi-tasking.
We speak of “seeing” the call – on our caller ID …and not only hearing
the call.
Jesus also wants us to see
him and hear him.
[__05__] Can you hear me?
Several years ago, I was
staying with some friends on the water, on a small harbor or bay where the
water was very calm. At times, one of
us might be out on the boat, away from the shore, at 150 to 200 feet (60 to 75
meters).
How would we talk to each
other from such a great distance? I
observed that -- if it were quiet
outside – we could talk in our normal voices by standing at the water’s edge.
The surface of the water would conduct the sound waves back and forth and we
could hear each other very well. It was wireless, handsfree …and there were no
dropped calls.
[__06__]
Nature helped our voices to carry.
Can you hear me? This is also the message of Jesus, the Good
Shepherd, to you and to me. He also tries to use natural means, our
environment, and the people and experiences around us to conduct and carry his
voice to our ears, to our hearts.
He wants to be known to us,
to be heard, to be seen.
Jesus is also the Good Shepherd who invites us into the great outdoors.
[__07__] Our shepherds have encouraged us
to – spiritually – into the great outdoors.
In terms of Pope John Paul II, writing about love and relationships, John
Paul II reminds us that love calls us to seek a good together with others, with
another person … in other words, to go outdoors, to go out of ourselves.[1]
Pope Francis has expressed this as … “Lord, teach us to step outside
ourselves. Teach us to go out into the streets and manifest your love.”
(Twitter, @PONTIFEX, 2013-08-23, 3:03 am)
[__12__] To
work in God’s vineyard, we are called to sow and to plant his mercy and
compassion, to go out of ourselves, to go to the great outdoors.
The twenty-third psalm reminds us that the Lord is our
shepherd leading us to the water and to grass and pasture.
When we are in difficulty, or when we have been injured, we
also can be helped greatly by a person who is still, who is restful, who is
patient.
Francis de Sales writes that when we are excited and
injured – and anxious – we benefit by seeking out the company of those who are
not so excitable.
Jesus’ voice is
conducted - is carried – through such
persons to us.
[__13__] Jesus is our shepherd
inviting us to be with him. He is also
inviting us to form a community to form a church, to stay together as his
flock, as his people and to profess with one faith – each of us – “The Lord is
my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”
Yes, we hear you. [__fin__]
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