Sunday, April 30, is the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Mass readings: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 23: 1-3a, 3b4, 5, 6; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10.

Jesus says, “The shepherd of the sheep … calls his own sheep by name and leads them out … and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

Sheep have the remarkable ability to know their master’s voice and instinctively flee from others.

The goal for us is to be like sheep: to recognize the Lord speaking though his Church and fleeing every other voice.

Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. … I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

We are invited to enter through Christ, the gate, and to be baptized into Christ Jesus.

Jesus describes this entry as “being saved,” with the Greek conveying to be safe, rescued and delivered out of danger. God rescues us from the penalty and power of sin — bringing us into his safety and grace. The Lord feeds his faithful and brings them strength.

The Lord concludes by saying that he came so that we might have abundant life — that is, “eternal life.”

Looking heavenward, let us run to Jesus, fleeing every other voice, and stay in the sheepfold with Jesus the Good Shepherd.

This is an adapted post from 2023.