Catholic Ireland
Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 22nd April, 2024
Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Jesus and the Church are accordingly the sheepfolds spoken of as the sole and gateway to Christ,
the flock, the sheep and the shepherd.
FIRST READING
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 11:1-18
God can grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.
The apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God,
when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him and said,
‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them, have you?‘
Peter in reply gave them the details point by point:
‘One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,’ he began ‘I fell into a trance as I was praying and had a vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. This sheet reached the ground quite close to me. I watched it intently and saw all sorts of animals and wild beasts – everything possible that could walk, crawl or fly. Then I heard a voice that said to me,
“Now, Peter; kill and eat!“
But I answered: Certainly not, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed my lips.
And a second time the voice spoke from heaven, “
What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane.”
This was repeated three times, before the whole of it was drawn up to heaven again.
‘Just at that moment, three men stopped outside the house where we were staying; they had been sent from Caesarea to fetch me, and the Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going back with them. The six brothers here came with me as well, and we entered the man’s house.
He told us he had seen an angel standing in his house who said,
“Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon known as Peter;
he has a message for you that will save you and your entire household.”
‘I had scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way as it came on us at the beginning, and I remembered that the Lord had said,
“John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”
I realised then that God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ;
and who was I to stand in God’s way?’
This account satisfied them, and they gave glory to God.
‘God’ they said ‘can evidently grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 41
Response My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life.
Or Alleluia!
1. Like the deer that yearns for running streams,
so my soul is yearning for you, my God. Response
2. My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life;
when can I enter and see the face of God? Response
3. O send forth your light and your truth; let these be my guide.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain to the place where you dwell. Response
4. And I will come to the altar of God, the God of my joy.
My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp, O God, my God . Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 10:14
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord, I know my sheep and my own know me.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 10:1-10 Glory to you, O Lord
I am the gate of the sheepfold.
Jesus said:
‘I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way, is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.’
Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them.
So Jesus spoke to them again:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
I am the gate of the sheepfold.
All others who have come are thieves and brigands;
but the sheep took no notice of them.
I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe:
he will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.’
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Reflection Monday, Fourth Week of Easter John 10:1-10
In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares that it is only the one who enters the sheepfold through the gate who is to be given access to the sheep. Those who try to get into the sheepfold some other way, such as over the wall when no one is looking, are not to be trusted. Jesus then goes on to identify himself as the gate. Jesus’ flock, his disciples, are to be approached through him. We go towards each other through Jesus. In other words, our relationship with Jesus is the basis of our relationship with each other.
Jesus who says of himself in today’s gospel reading, ‘I am the gate’, elsewhere in this gospel of John says of himself, ‘I am the way’. There is a close relationship between the images of the gate and the way. When we go through Jesus, taking him as our way in life, then we are more likely to approach one another in the loving way that the Lord desires. We see that happening in today’s first reading. It was because of Peter’s close relationship with the Lord, nurtured by prayer, that he was able to respond in a loving way to the invitation of the pagan centurion Cornelius to come to his house. A law abiding Jew like Peter would not normally have entered the house of a pagan. However, because Peter had taken Jesus as his gate, as his way, on a daily basis, he knew that the Spirit was moving him to go with this little pagan group to their household. There Peter saw for himself the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, in response to his preaching of the gospel. Our relationship with the Lord will always move us and inspire us to relate to others, especially those very different from us, in the same accepting and welcoming way as he himself related to people during the course of his earthly ministry
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
