5th Easter Sunday -Year B -John 15:1-8

A man approached his parish priest and volunteered to join the parish team. He said he is a doctor of Philosophy and one of the best professors in one of the best universities in the country. The priest smiled and warmly welcomed him. The man asked what would be his position in the team. He said he could be the president of the team as he is highly qualified for any higher position. The priest smiled and gave him a broom instead. He asked the man to clean the church. The man became mad because of this. “I am a distinguished professor in a well known university and you want me to clean the church”, he said. “No way. I will serve the church no more”, he added. When the man left the church, the priest said to himself, “Oh Jesus, we do not need unchristian workers in the church. My dear friends, we are all Catholics here. But sometimes we do not know the essence of our being catholic. Some of us think that being a Catholic is being a member of one of the many religions. What we somehow overlook is that we are all followers of Christ. This is the truth why we are called Christians –we are nothing but only followers of Christ. And being a Christian, we have nothing to boast against the others. What capacity do we have to build a Christian community? The fact is we are in the church not because we can offer our superior intelligence or mega achievements. Our church is not founded on merely human strength or power. Rather, we are in the church to listen to God. In our first reading, Acts 9:26-31 our church is organized not by the power of men. It is said, “It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord, and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.” Our church does not depend on the greatness of man but on the guidance of God. If one is trying to build a community due to his own strength and power, then such community is not built by Christ. For the followers of Karl Marx, their community is known as the Marxist. For the followers of Mao Zedong, they are called the Communist Party of China. Vladimir Lenin called his followers the Bolsheviks while Julius Martov formed the Mensheviks. These are all man-made communities and if communities are founded on human strength, time will come that the human weakness will try to corrupt the said strength. Now, what kind of a community do we suppose to have if we are guided by God? What is the identity of our community when it is founded by Christ? Our second reading says, “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18-24). It means that are community is incorruptible or invincible because our strength is neither our intelligence nor social skills but love. Love and no other is what our community is made up of. Our church is known not because we have great men or intelligent priests but because we can show our love to one another in word and in deed. It is by the power of love that we can do great things. Without love, the community will not last. Our power, our strength is love and this kind of love comes from our faith in Christ. Jesus said, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1-8) This means that we do not need great men in the church but only those who can be humble before God and allow God’s love to be their strength and power in serving the church. If there is one requirement for being a priest, a catholic, a lector, commentator, catechist, etc. it must be love. If one does not know how to love in word and in deed, then he/she is deemed disqualified. Love makes a difference in serving and building the church. The absence or presence of love makes a difference in the community. In a little church in a small village in Yugoslavia, an altar boy serving the priest at Sunday Mass accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. The village priest struck the altar boy sharply on the cheek and in a gruff voice shouted, "Leave the sanctuary and don't come back!" That boy became Marshall Tito, the antichristian communist president of Yugoslavia in 1953 till his death in 1980. In the cathedral of Peoria, Illinois another altar boy serving the bishop at Sunday Mass also accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. With a warm twinkle in his eyes, the bishop gently whispered, "Someday you will be a priest." Do you know who that boy was? Archbishop Fulton Sheen. So how do we serve our church? Jesus has the answer in today’s gospel: With humility, abiding in him but most of all, with love. Let us serve the church with love and be great because we excel in the art of loving.

4th Easter Sunday -Year B -John 10:11-18

A Filipino nurse Jonathan Aquino was sentenced to 18 months in jail for mauling his patient Maria Worroll almost a year ago in Kentish Town, North London. Jonathan Aquino’s violent acts were caught in a video when Jane Carroll, Maria’s daughter, hid a camera in the bedroom after suspecting a maltreatment of her mother. The video showed Aquino hitting the 80-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in the face and then slapping her arms several times. He then hit her abdomen four times. Sentencing Aquino to 18 months in jail, Judge Henry Blacksell QC told the nurse he was guilty of a ‘dreadful breach of trust’. ‘It is distressing for anybody to have to watch what’s contained on the footage,’ he said at Blackfriars Crown Court, central London. ‘This poor woman had been transferred to this institution in the hope that she should receive proper care and attention. ‘Quite rightly, society in general is extremely concerned about the treatment of the elderly and vulnerable in institutions such as this. 'They should be able to expect better, and I am afraid those who are caught misusing their responsibility should be held to account.’ This is a sad story of a caregiver. Today's gospel, on the other hand, gives us a very different picture of caregiving. The gospel talks of Jesus as the good shepherd, a caregiver. The life of the shepherd in biblical times was one of personal self-giving and sacrifice –a great caregiver. His work was that of watchful care and closeness to the flock. There were two kinds of shepherds, caregivers. There was the hired hand for whom keeping the sheep was just the available job. He moved from flock to flock depending on the conditions of service and he would not risk his life for them. Jesus said that he is not that kind of shepherd. Then there is the shepherd-owner of the flock who grows up with the flock and stays with the same flock all his life. He calls each one by name and could tell you the personal story of each one of the sheep, when and where it was born, the problems it has had in life, its personal characteristics, etc. He is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Jesus is the good shepherd, a caregiver. He laid down his life for the flock, that is, we the church. In a general way he invites all of us to share in the work of care-giving for the flock in our own little ways. Parents are shepherds or caregivers of their children. A good spouse is a shepherd of his/her prodigal spouse. Doctors are shepherds of the sick. Lawyers are shepherds of the victims of unjust system. Teachers are shepherds of their students. Do we give our all for our sheep even if it is beyond our duty? Do we give care to others just like Jesus has taken care of us? Can we give more than what our job description requires?