Reflection for Sunday 11th May, 2025

(4th Sunday of Easter)

I am a Mission (John 10:27-30)

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is called Vocations Sunday, a day of special prayer for vocations to service in the Church. The Gospel is about Christ the Good Shepherd.

In Jesus’ time, the shepherd would lead the flock from the front, not urging them forward from behind, with the aid of a sheepdog. Several different flocks would intermingle overnight in the same stockade.

Morning will present no problem in sorting out the flocks. Each shepherd has his peculiar call and straightaway his flock, and only his flock, will follow him. “The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.” It is a family relationship.

“The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”

False shepherds

Whose voice do I follow? Who inspires my beliefs, ideals, aspirations, standards, or fashions? Competing calls make it difficult to listen to the voice of the Divine Shepherd. Our physical health is greatly dictated by what we eat and drink. Spiritually, our attentiveness to God is only as healthy as our spiritual diet. Do I avail of inspirational reading? Or do I spend insipid hours before the television or internet? Am I aware of the huge influence of the modern mass media? People are seriously misled by false shepherds who have completely changed what is meant by truth. Truth has always been understood as the coordination of the mind with real facts. But the manipulators of the mass media regard truth as something pliable to whatever I want. So, we have fake news, slogans and conspiracy theories that play on the fears and anxieties of people. Pope Google is not a very reliable shepherd to follow when it comes to religion. Even a blatant lie is accepted when it is repeated over and over again. As we know today, truth is the first victim in every war. Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” but he did not wait for an answer.

The universal call to holiness

For centuries we had a Church dominated by clergy. Sixty years ago, at the Second Vatican Council a very significant change of direction was expressed in emphasis on the universal call to holiness. Every Christian receives a vocation to bring the light of Christ to others. It has been said that it takes a hundred years for the ideas of an Ecumenical Council to be fully implemented. All the popes since the Council have spoken of the vocation of all Christians but it appears that now is the time for the idea to take fire. It has been forced on us by the belated admission that clericalism facilitated the abuse and exploitation of people. This, in turn, was a factor in the rapid decline in the numbers entering the priesthood and religious life.

Vocation of baptism

For many years, on this Vocations Sunday, I preached about the vocation to the priesthood and consecrated life. I realise now my mistake in neglecting the vocation of all who are baptized. At the end of the ceremony of baptism, fire is taken from the Easter candle to light the candle of the new Christian. And at the end of Mass, we are sent out on a mission to love and serve the Lord.
Pope Francis issued a strong call to all Christians to be Spirit-filled evangelizers, fearlessly open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is not simply that I have a mission, but he says, “I am a mission. That is the reason why I am here on earth” (The Joy of the Gospel, 273). He invited us to participate in a worldwide synod to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading us to set the world on fire with the light of Christianity. A synod literally means walking together, gathering with others to talk and listen in a spirit of discerning where God is leading us. Listening to the diversity of cultures takes time. “If you want to walk fast, walk by yourself. If you want to walk far, walk with others” (Pope Francis). Let us trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Signs of Growth

It's not all bad news. There are springs of growth in several European countries. A record number of adults and adolescents were baptised in France this Easter. Generation Z, aged 17-35, are being attracted in huge numbers to Christianity. They have travelled many roads and played with many experiments but peace of mind has not been found. There is a God-shaped emptiness in the human soul: like the missing piece in a jigsaw. An inspirational new saint will be Carlo Acutis, a genius on computer, who died in 2006, aged fifteen. Sr. Clare Crockett, native of Derry, a wild teenager who became an active mystic, dying in 2006 aged thirty-four, will also be an inspiration.

Prayer

The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me along the right path, he is true to his name.