May 12^th 2019.  Fourth Sunday of Easter
GOSPEL   John 10:27-30

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   John 10:27-30

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . This Gospel tells us so much about the spiritual life and about true discipleship! How are we to follow Jesus? How do we encourage others to follow Jesus? Should we give them a moral lecture, telling them all the norms that they need to observe? Should we frighten them into submission, warning them about the dangers of not following Jesus? All too often, our preaching has been of this sort! But in the Gospel for today, Jesus outlines a completely different way. He tells us that his sheep hear his voice. He knows them and they follow him. As a consequence, he gives them life, and this life leads them into communion with the Father. There is no imposition here or blind obedience! In fact, the Hebrew word for “obey” means “to listen”. Jesus speaks his word to us. If we are receptive to that word, then it penetrates within us and we feel known and understood by the Lord. This is what prompts us to follow Jesus! Of all the five senses, listening is the most important when it comes to receiving the Lord’s word. This listening leads us to be known by the Lord. To be known in Hebrew does not mean to have knowledge but to be in an intimate relationship. The foundation of my stability and security derives from my memories of the times when I have felt known and understood by the Lord. Let us cultivate our memory of these occasions! My weakness and my misery are not decisive! What is decisive is that the Lord has spoken his word to me, that he knows and loves me, and that he calls me to follow him in freedom.

Jesus is not looking for mechanical obedience from us; he is looking for true listening and openness to his word

The analogy of the sheep and the shepherd illuminates the relationship between God and us: the sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd and they find pasture by his guidance. So too for us the sense of listening is vital: for faith, listening is the most important of the five senses, since the relationship with the Lord is conveyed by the reception of his word. In Hebrew the verb "to obey" does not exist. Instead, the verb "to listen" is used, because true listening implies an authentic openness to what the other person is saying. But for Jesus this listening leads to the deepest level, that of "knowing", which in Hebrew does not mean having information about someone or something, but being in an intimate relationship with someone. Being known by Jesus means experiencing intimacy with him and it is this which leads us to follow him.

We are called to follow Jesus, not in the sense of superficially agreeing with some code of behaviour, but because we listen to him and are loved by him

How beautiful it is when someone understands us deeply! Love implies understanding and the ability to perceive what is in the innermost centre of the other, in his heart. Jesus knows us - even if we do not fully know ourselves - and it is He alone who knows how to reveal our true identity. We are Christians not because we are superficially in agreement with what Jesus says, but because we feel known to him. Following him flows naturally from listening to his word and experiencing the relationship with him, which is something indelible and which marks us in a permanent and beautiful way.

The Lord speaks his word to me. If I receive that word with openness then I will know myself to be visited and understood by the Lord. This is the foundation of my self-confidence. The eternal has visited me. My misery and weakness are no longer decisive

The stability of our existence derives from our memory of the occasions in which we felt visited and understood by the Lord. If we succeed in keeping alive in our hearts the memory of such moments, no one will be able to shake us, because we are those sheep who "will not be lost ". In fact, that which is eternal has entered us through the word we have heard and through what we have celebrated in the sacraments. That I am weak and miserable matters less than the fact that Jesus really loved me. No-one can erase this fact that is written in my heart.

The word that the Lord is speaking to us draws us into unity with the Father and with each other. We may be anxious sometimes, but if Jesus is our shepherd then no harm can befall us. We must stick close to him and he will draw us into communion with the Father

And there is more: to know Jesus is to know the Father, or He who is "greater". There is always a certain anxiety lurking in our hearts, but to be Jesus' sheep means, precisely, to experience the Father who "is greater than all", and no one can tear anything from the hand of the Father. Saint Paul says: "If God is for us, who will be against us?" (Rom 8:31). No power in heaven and on earth, including death, can separate us from God's love. How much we torture ourselves with useless anxieties! We are like sheep that move away from the shepherd to affirm our independence, but all we succeed in doing is reducing our existence to a great chaotic struggle. Instead, we are called to live united to the very simplicity of God, hidden in that grand final phrase - "The Father and I are one" - which opens to communion without limits and to complete unity. This unity is love and it is the secret of God. We were born to receive a word from the Lord that makes us feel known (“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me . .”). That word leads us to the union that only the love of God can create. Union with Him and between us.