Pastor's Corner: Do I own my faith, or does my faith depend on the faith of someone else

Happy Easter! I have not taken the opportunity to post any articles for a few months an so this is a chance to express some Easter greetings to you all.

We are celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Easter this weekend and the readings for Sunday are from Acts 4:8-12, Psalm 118:8-9,21-23, 26, 28, 29, 1 John 3:1-2 and the Gospel is John 10:11-18. In our tradition we call this Sunday "Good Shepherd Sunday" based on the Gospel reading.

In the Gospel reading Jesus calls himself the "good shepherd." He continues His talk saying, "A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep," and he compares his way of shepherding to that of a "hired man" who leaves his sheep when they are threatened because he (the hired man) fears for his own safety, because he does not own the sheep and is only concerned about his personal welfare.

In the first reading from the book of Acts we hear Peter's address to the Sanhedrin. The members of the Sanhedrin are demanding that Peter defend the actions he and his companion John have displayed for the last couple of days. A little backstory is necessary here. Peter and John had been approaching the gate of the temple, on their way to pray, as was their custom, when they were confronted by a paralyzed man who for years has sat at the gate of the temple and begged for alms. When this man asked Peter and John for alms Peter spoke up and said, "I have neither silver or gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus the Nazorean rise and walk." The man was healed and began to walk and leap around.

This healing in the temple area caused quite a stir and Peter and John began to preach to the people who had seen the healing. Peter's preaching condemned the people and their leaders (the Sanhedrin) for the crucifixion of Jesus and called them to repent, ask for forgiveness and believe in the name of Jesus which had just been used to heal the man paralyzed from birth who was also standing in front of them. When Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin to be reprimanded for their actions and words they did not back down from what they had said, in fact they doubled down on their accusation of the Sanhedrin and they said, "He (Jesus) is the stone rejected by you the builders, He (Jesus) has become the cornerstone," Psalm 118.

What caused this change in Peter? We have all read about the reasons for this change in Peter. The forgiveness of Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the opening of his mind to the Hebrew Scriptures which said Jesus must endure his passion, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven so we might all be saved. All of this helped Peter and John realize and accept the "love the Father has bestowed on us that we might be called children of God," 1 John 3:1-2. All of these things helped Peter own his faith. Peter had come to realize that while his faith was based on Jesus it had become his own personal faith. It was now Peter's faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - it had become a living faith that grew and became stronger the more he proclaimed it and gave it away. Peter was secure in his being a Child of God. Peter was no longer a hired hand who would leave the sheep in the face of danger. Peter had become a good shepherd - one who was willing to give his life for the sheep and as we know he did give his life willingly.

I believe very often we as Christians look at the life of Jesus and feel that what we must do is accept who and what Jesus was and is - savior and messiah - and say, "I believe" and that is not wrong. I wonder is this all God wants of us. If we take time to look at the growth and spread of Christianity over the centuries, we will notice that history is full of people, like Peter in today's readings, who owned their faith and accepted the roll of shepherd. Men and women old and young who allowed the belief they professed to alter the way they lived and they began to take on the responsibility and gift of sharing their faith, challenging the world around them to examine the reality that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of all humanity. As Jesus says in the Gospel "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock, one shepherd."

This then is our part; we must own our faith so that we can risk reaching out to all other folds. Give away our faith to all others, knowing that as we give it away, our faith will increase and empower us more completely to live as a child of the living God. Then we will realize that we are more than a hired hand. As a result of being a child of God we are part owners of the Kingdom of God and have been given the responsibility and gift of being a shepherd in God's fold.

Blessings

Deacon Tim Maroney

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church