Homily: Fourth Sunday of Easter: 2007

Brothers and sisters, today we are confronted with the very fact that Paul and Barnabas were Jews, good Jews, and that "On the sabbath they entered the synagogue and took their seats." Now, that brings up a very important ecumenical question. Should we pray for the "conversion of the Jews"? I think that the very beautiful prayers we say on Good Friday say it all: "Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant." This implies that they may be saved by faithfulness even to the Old Covenant. In any case, we pray for their continued "love of His name" and their faithfulness. That does not mean that we don't preach the Good Word and invite them to the "fullness of redemption." After all, Jesus said, "I do not come to condemn the Old Law but to fulfill it." (Mat. 5:17)

And I think that dear St. John's vision of heaven in which the ones "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" should give us great hope for our Protestant brothers, who have such great love of the blood of the Lamb. Should we pray for the "conversion of the Protestants"? Well, the ecumenical answer to THAT is that we pray for the unity of all Christians and that "all our brothers and sisters who share our faith in Jesus Christ may be gathered and kept together in one Church." Amen!

Is that all we can glean from the first two readings? By no means! I think of all my people -- Gentiles all -- who would still be languishing in the darkness of paganism were it not for the sacrifice of Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the intrepidness of the apostles, who were determined to bring the light of Christ to them. Thank you God!

And what of the holy Gospel? What is the good news there? I like the old translation of the third to the last line there: "No one can snatch them out of my hand." It is just a little stronger way of saying what we heard today: "No one can take them out of my hand." "Them" meaning us, of course, the sheep in his fold. How comforting are those words! Because I think sometimes we are overly aware of the strength of our enemies and the wiles of our tempters: the world, the flesh and the devil. And despite the power of those we do battle against, none of them can snatch us out of His hand! You know, the devil can not possess us unless we invite him in in some way. (And even then he must leave when commanded in the name of Jesus, if it's done in the proper way, and we in the Catholic Church have this proper way.) The cares of the world are not enough to snatch us away from him . . . unless we let them. And we don't have to let them, brothers! Nothing will separate us from the love of God: neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor the sword. (Rom 8:38). So take heart, fellow sheep, this reading is good news incarnate.

Let us now profess our faith.