“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called children of God. Yet so we are” (1 John 3:1).

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, or the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. As the readings this Sunday point out to us, as they do throughout the Easter season, we are called to think about what the Easter message means to us and how we are going to respond to this news.

St. Peter, our parish patron, summarizes the Easter message in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Asked by the leaders of the Jewish people by what power he had healed a crippled man, Peter responds that it was in the “name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name” (Acts 4: 10), that he had acted. As a result of God’s saving action in Christ, Peter makes the bold proclamation that summarizes our Christian faith: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” ((Acts 4: 12). Jesus’ authority rests in the fact that no one else can raise us from the dead. Continue reading →

“Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good;
His Steadfast Love Endures Forever.”

Have you ever noticed how people speak to one another when they fall in love? Once they have first gained the courage to tell the other person that they love him or her, they begin to use this expression quite frequently. As it begins to loose some of its impact, they begin to use expressions like “very much,” or “very, very much.” Ultimately, people who are in love tell the other person that they love the other so much that they will love them “forever,” or for “all eternity.” In fact, if the person you love ever tells you that they love you so much that they will love you until next Thursday, you can be pretty sure that your relationship is in trouble. Continue reading →