This year the Gospel passage is the central one from Chapter 10 of John and begins precisely with Jesus’ affirmation:
“I am the Good Shepherd”. This is immediately followed by the first fundamental characteristic: “the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). So, we are led straight to the center, to the summit of the revelation of God as the Shepherd of his people; this center and summit is Jesus, Jesus himself who dies on the cross and rises from the tomb on the third day, rises with all his humanity and thereby involves us, every man and woman, in his passage from death to life. This event — the Pasch of Christ — in which he completely and definitively fulfills the pastoral work of God, is a sacrificial event. The Good Shepherd and the High Priest therefore coincide in the person of Jesus who laid down his life for us. // But let us also briefly note the first two Readings and the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118 [117]). The passage from the Acts of the Apostles (4:8-12) presents to us St Peter’s testimony before the rulers of the people and the elders of Jerusalem after the miraculous healing of the cripple. Peter says with great candor: Jesus “is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner”; and he added, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (vv. 11-12). Then in the light of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, the Apostle interprets Psalm 118[117], in which the person praying gives thanks to God who has answered his cry for help and has saved him. This Psalm says: “the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps 118[117]:22-23). Jesus lived this very experience: being rejected by the leaders of his people and rehabilitated by God, placed as the foundational stone of a new temple, of a new people that was to praise the Lord with the fruits of justice (cf. Mt 21:42-43) Therefore the First Reading and the Responsorial Psalm, which is the same Psalm 118[117], vividly evoke the paschal context and, with this image of the stone rejected and re-habilitated, draw our gaze to Jesus dead and Risen.The Second Reading, from the First Letter of John (3:1-2), speaks to us instead of the fruit of Christ’s Pasch: our having become children of God. In John’s words you can still hear his great wonder at this gift; not only are we called children of God but “so we are” (v. 1). Indeed, man’s filial condition is the fruit of the saving work of Jesus. With his Incarnation, with his death and Resurrection and with the gift of the Holy Spirit he has inserted the human being into a new relationship with God, his own relationship with the Father. For this reason the Risen Jesus says: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20:17). It is a relationship that is already totally real but not yet totally revealed: it will be in the end when — if God pleases — we shall see his face without a veil (cf. v. 7).[…] Let us therefore return to the Gospel and to the Parable of the Good Shepherd. “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). Jesus insists on this essential trait of the Good Shepherd who is he himself: that of “laying down his life”. He repeats it three times and at the end concludes with the words: “for this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father” (Jn 10:17-18).This is clearly the qualifying feature of the shepherd, just as Jesus interprets it in the first person, in accordance with the will of the Father who sent him. The biblical figure of shepherd-king mainly involves the task of governing, keeping united and guiding the People of God. The whole of this regal role is totally fulfilled in Jesus Christ in the sacrificial dimension, in the offering of life. In a word, it is brought about in the mystery of the Cross, that is, in the supreme act of humility and oblative love. — from a Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, 29 April 2012
ST. GEORGE PATRONAL FEAST CELEBRATION: Join us in a celebrating our patron, St. George (whose memorial feast day falls on April 23rd each year) at our annual patron’s picnic after Mass on Sunday, 28 April! Our pastor, Fr. Walter, will be celebrating the Mass and blessing our parish feast. Bring your favorite side dish to share!
WELCOME & REJOICING: We wholeheartedly welcome Lisa Bendall, received into the Catholic Church on Easter Sunday. With great joy we also celebrate Easter sacramental Confirmations and first receptions of Holy Eucharist of Lisa and Allisan Bendall. And we share in the joy of our parish’s children who received first Holy Communion on Sunday: Calvin, Sebastian, Walter. May the graces they have received bring them great joy!
MASS READERS: 4/21 Karen/Michael, 4/28 Bill/Olivia, 5/5 Michael/Kelly, 5/12 Tanya/Tina, 5/19 Karen/Giulio
PLEASE PRAY FOR: Ina Freeman, Sue Gilbert, Lucia Matisinova, Charles “Mac” Maguire, Joe O’Rourke, Carla Sovocool, Margaret Reilly, Art Sovocool, Katie & John Smith, Christopher Tomaselli, Mary Weirich.
St. George Parish, c/o St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, 401 Alderman Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903. 434-293-8081