Gospel Reflections

Habemus Papam! His Name Is Leo XIV.

I started to write this reflection, hoping that the vote in the conclave on Thursday evening (Rome time), the world will see “white smoke” emerge from the Sistine Chapel. And it did. At 6:07 p.m., the world heard the long-awaited Latin phrase: Habemus Papam! Cardinal Robert Francis
Prevost was elected the new Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter, the new Pope. His first Sunday Mass as Pope will be very significant, as it falls on Good Shepherd Sunday.
Leon XIV opened his message with these words:
“Peace be with you!

My dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave his life for God’s flock.”

Yes! Jesus is the Good Shepherd; in today’s Gospel, we heard:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.”

What does that mean? The voice of the shepherd? The shepherd’s voice gathers his sheep, drawing them close because he desires to protect them. In other words, the voice of the shepherd signifies life. This reality creates a strong relationship between the shepherd and his sheep. By learning about the nature of this bond, we can better understand the following words
of the Gospel:

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?”

Could you imagine leaving ninety-nine sheep to search for one? This doesn’t make sense regarding productivity, but it does in terms of relationships. That is! Jesus, the Good Shepherd, seeks us!
When we reflect on our lives, we must ask ourselves, what do we really need? We realize that we need guidance in our darkest moments, protection when we experience fear, nourishment in our
weaknesses, defense from threats, and safety far from danger. Jesus offers us these things, but we need to recognize his voice.
How can we perceive the voice of the Good Shepherd? How can we distinguish the voice of this Shepherd from another voice? The voice of the Shepherd is a gift; it is essential to ask. Don’t forget it.
I invite you to pray for Leo XIV. Jesus has chosen him to serve His flock.

“Children, Have You Caught Anything to Eat?”

These seven Galileans —Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two others —are finally at their home, far from Jerusalem, where they lived through all the experiences of the cross; they are in Tiberias and feel safe. That Passover in Jerusalem was not easy; they still had many things to digest spiritually. Tiberias is the place where they have always lived, and they have many memories there. Perhaps they remember the time when Jesus walked along the shore and called them, how they left everything to follow him, and the occasion when Jesus used Peter’s boat to teach the crowd. They are where everything started.

I am sure many memories came to their minds, all these things: the sea, the boat, the nets, the seashore—the perfect environment to evoke memories of the moments when they, as disciples, shared time with Jesus. 

All those memories were more than remnants of the past;

they were taking on new meaning, illuminated by the Cross and the experience they had when Jesus appeared to them in that room with the doors locked. 

I enjoy this passage of the Gospel because I experience something similar when I visit my Tiberias, my “altars” (It is how I call the sites significant to me and my vocation) and revisit the moments in my life at those sites where I encountered Jesus and felt my first call. As a result, I renew my commitment to Jesus. 

Let’s return to today’s Gospel. It doesn’t just recount the past; the images prompt us to reflect on the beginnings of the Church and how to adapt it to our present.

When “Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” And his friends said to him, “We also will come with you.” That is exactly what the church is, that mission entrusted to it in the person of Peter: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” In a symbolic sense, he said, “I am going to fish,” and the entire church, represented by those disciples, responded, “We also will come with you.” Here we are, we also go with the entire church to respond to the mission to fish.

They spent the night trying to fish but caught nothing. This image of the night, the darkness, and the frustration of not catching anything, is compared to their recent experience in Jerusalem, but Jesus penetrated the darkness, and his voice reached the boat.

“Children, have you caught anything to eat?”

They answered him, “No.”

So he said to them,

“Cast the net over the right side of the boat

and you will find something.”

Those disciples at the Sea of Tiberias should again let the voice of Jesus guide them through the darkness, even in the certainty of having already experienced failure.

That is exactly what happens to us. Jesus’s word always penetrates the hardness of our nights. Let’s allow His voice to be received obediently in our lives.