9781644135945

The Easter Cycle
His wishes. He commanded her, “Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father” (Mt 28:19). The Church has conscientiously carried out this command of
the Lord. “This is My body. . . . This is the chalice of My blood. . . . Do this in commemoration of
Me.” This commission she fulfills faithfully in the daily celebration of the holy mystery of the
Eucharist. She receives His word, His teachings and admonitions, from the lips of His apostles
through the Gospels. She accepts them in humble faith and obedience.
“My sheep hear My voice.” Through baptism we become members of the flock of Christ,
and as members of His flock we listen to His voice and follow Him. We follow Him in His
commandments, in His love of poverty, humiliation, and suffering, and in His love of the
cross. We should examine ourselves in all sincerity to see if we have listened to His voice
in all things. We ask ourselves if we have been faithful to His will and His commandments,
or whether we have been listening rather to the voice of the world and arranging our life
according to its spirit, its principles, and its allurements. “My sheep hear My voice, . . . and
they follow Me.”
“And I know them.” He is concerned about all His sheep, about all those who are baptized.
He cares for them that He may not lose one of them, but that they may all have eternal life. “No
man shall pluck them out of My hand” (Gospel). Christ’s sheep are so dear to Him because they
have cost Him so dearly. He won them by much toil, by terrible suffering, by immeasurable
sacrifices. He sacrificed His life in order to win for them the grace of baptism. “I give them life
everlasting” (Gospel). “I know them”; I love them. I give them My merits, My satisfactions,
My blood, My life. “My deliverer from the angry nations, Thou wilt lift me up above them that
rise up against me. . . . I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my firmament, and my
refuge, and my deliverer” (Introit). “I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me, and
hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me” (Gradual).
Today is a day of earnest self-examination. “My sheep hear My voice.” Do we listen to His
voice? Are we numbered among His sheep? Does St. Augustine’s description of Christ’s sheep
apply to us?
The sheep of Christ are those who believe in Him; the sheep of Christ are those who follow
the shepherd; the sheep of Christ are those who do not turn away from the Redeemer, who
enter the sheepfold at the gate, who go out and find pastures; they will enjoy eternal life. . . .
They have entered by faith; they will go out by the door of death. In the same way we have
entered through the door of faith, and will in faith leave the body in order to find the heavenly
pastures, eternal life.
Today the Epistle is applied to the catechumens and to us: “I am the Lord. . . . Thou shalt
not calumniate thy neighbor, nor oppress him by violence. . . . Respect not the person of the
poor [to treat him unjustly], nor honor the countenance of the mighty; but judge thy neighbor
according to justice. Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people. . . . Thou
shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through
him. . . . Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord. Keep ye My laws; for I am the
Lord your God.”
This is a day of thanksgiving. Christ knows us and gives us eternal life through the ministration
of the sacraments of the Church. I “will compass Thy altar, . . . that I may . . . tell of all Thy
wondrous works” (Communion).
277