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EASTER ENCOUNTERS 2008

The Sunday Gospel with daily meditations on the Gospel theme

-- encounters that define and illuminate our journey of faith

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The Fourth Week of Easter   -  April 13 - 20, 2008

I KNOW . . . I BELONG TO CHRIST

. THE SUNDAY GOSPEL: Saint John 10:1-10 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

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DAILY ENCOUNTERS:  I KNOW I BELONG TO CHRIST

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MONDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 4 – APRIL 14

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, shepherding them rightly. Ezekiel 34:22,14-16

TUESDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 4 – APRIL 15

Take heed: no one else is the gate but Christ. Others reflect his light, but no one else is the true light. John the Baptist “was not the light, but he bore witness to the light.” It is said of Christ, however, “He was the true light that enlightens everyone.” For this reason no one says that they are the gate; this title is Christ’s own.   Thomas Aquinas, 13th century

WEDNESDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 4 – APRIL 16

By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The cross is the glory of all the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the sanctification of the saints. By the cross we put on Christ and cast aside our former self. By the cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfolds of heaven.   Theodore, 8th century

THURSDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 4 – APRIL 17

What are the pastures of these sheep if they are not the deepest joys of the everlasting fresh pastures of paradise? For the pasture of the saints is to see God face to face; when the vision of God never fails, the soul receives its fill of the food of life for ever. And, dear brothers and sisters, let us seek these pastures and there join in the joy of the celebrations of so many citizens of heaven. Let their happiness and rejoicing be an invitation to us. Let our hearts grow warm, let our faith be rekindled, let our desires for heavenly things grow warm; for to love like this is to be on the way.   Gregory the Great, 6th century

FRIDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 4 – APRIL 18

What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy, and upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

Saint Luke 15:3-7

SATURDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 4 – APRIL 19

The church is…a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. It is also a flock, whose sheep, although watched over by human shepherds, are nevertheless at all times led and brought to pasture by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and prince of shepherds, who gave his life for his sheep. Constitution on the Church, Vatican