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Fourth Sunday of Easter (A)

April 26, 2026

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Introit

Rite of Sprinkling

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
lead us to a share in the joys of heaven,
so that the humble flock may reach
where the brave Shepherd has gone before.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading Acts 2:14, 36-41

When the days of Pentecost had come. 14 Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. 36 “Let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 39 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added to their number.

Responsorial Psalm

Second Reading 1 Peter 2:20-25

Brothers and sisters: 20 If you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Verse before the Gospel

Gospel John 10:1-10

Jesus said to the Pharisees: 1 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Catena Nova

In our sickness we need a saviour, in our wanderings a guide, in our blindness someone to show us the light, in our thirst the fountain of living water which quenches forever the thirst of those who drink from it. We dead people need life, we sheep need a shepherd, we children need a teacher, the whole world needs Jesus! If we would understand the profound wisdom of the most holy shepherd and teacher, the ruler of the universe and the Word of the Father, when using an allegory he calls himself the shepherd of the sheep, we can do so for he is also the teacher of little ones….How bountiful the giver who for our sake gives his most precious possession, his own life! He is a real benefactor and friend, who desired to be our brother when he might have been our Lord, and who in his goodness even went so far as to die for us! (St. Clement of Alexandria)

Where are you pasturing your flock, O good Shepherd, who carry the whole flock on your shoulders? (For the whole of human nature is one sheep and you have lifted it onto your shoulders). Show me the place of peace, lead me to the good grass that will nourish me, call me by name so that I, your sheep, hear your voice, and by your speech give me eternal life. Answer me, you whom my soul loves. I give you the name ‘you whom my soul loves’ because your name is above every name and above all understanding and there is no rational nature that can utter it or comprehend it. Therefore your name, by which your goodness is known, is simply the love my soul has for you. … A greater love cannot be imagined, than exchanging your life for my salvation. Show me then (my soul says) where you pasture your flock, so that I can find that saving pasture too, and fill myself with the food of heaven without which no one can come to eternal life, and run to the spring and fill myself with the drink of God. (St. Gregory of Nyssa).

If anyone enters the sheepfold through me he shall be saved; he shall go freely in and out and shall find good pasture. He will enter into a life of faith; from faith he will go out to vision, from belief to contemplation, and will graze in the good pastures of everlasting life. So our Lord’s sheep will finally reach their grazing ground where all who follow him in simplicity of heart will feed on the green pastures of eternity. These pastures are the spiritual joys of heaven. There the elect look upon the face of God with unclouded vision and feast at the banquet of life for ever more. Beloved, let us set out for these pastures where we shall keep joyful festival with so many of our fellow citizens. May the thought of their happiness urge us on! Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveler who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going (St. Gregory the Great).

Christ said that the shepherd enters through the gate and that he is himself the gate as well as the shepherd. Then it is necessary that he enter through himself. By so doing, he reveals himself, and through himself he knows the Father. But we enter through him because through him we find happiness. Take heed: no one else is the gate but Christ. Others reflect his light, but no one else is the true light. (St. Thomas Aquinas).

O gentle gatekeeper! O humble Lamb! You are the gardener, And once you have opened the gate of the heavenly garden, paradise, you offer us the flowers and the fruits of the eternal Godhead. (St. Catherine of Siena)

I have read in the Gospel that the Good Shepherd leaves the faithful ones of His flock in the desert to hasten after the lost sheep. This confidence touches me deeply. You see He is sure of them. How could they stray away? They are prisoners of Love. In like manner does the Beloved Shepherd of our souls deprive us of the sweets of His Presence, to give His consolations to sinners; or if He lead us to Mount Tabor it is but for one brief moment . . . the pasture land is nearly always in the valleys, "it is there that He takes His rest at mid-day." (St. Therese of Lisieux)

Today, too, as in the time of Jesus, many put themselves forward as “shepherds” of our lives; but only the Risen One is the true Shepherd, who gives us life in abundance. I invite everyone to place their trust in the Lord who guides us. But he not only guides us: he accompanies us, he walks with us. Let us listen to his Word with minds and hearts opened, to nourish our faith, enlighten our conscience and follow the teaching of the Gospel.(Pope Francis).

Homily

Who do you think Peter had in mind? When he said, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation (I). Roman soldiers on the take? Temple authorities bribing Pontius Pilate? Unscrupulous tax collectors? The oppression of the Herod family? No doubt all of the above. Much like today's counterparts: inside traders, war profiteers, tax cheats, hedge funds, media moguls. Do you think the soldier arrested this week for making $400,000 on a bet he won by knowing of Venezuelan Maduro's immininet capture is the only person making money on Polymarket from inside information? Grifters one and all. And they're hard to escape.

So how could we possibly "save ourselves" from the toxins they produce in the steady stream of sewage we hear about every day in the news? From political figures, the entertainment industry, social media, the Epstein class, and even your favorite podcast? And from their effects on mental health, from their way of driving deeper and deeper divisions between people, from their corroding effects on basic human decency and goodwill — and now from assaults on the pope, even by Catholics?

Well, I believe the gospel has the answer: Whoever enters through me — the Gate of the sheep — will be saved, Jesus says (cf. G). So we might start with the imitation of Christ who left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps — remembering how he was himself a Victim of corruption and collusion between Temple and Empire, the power centers of his time and place. And how someone writing in Peter's name adds: When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. (II)

A justice confirmed when the old order was destroyed, a universe cast down was renewed and integrity of life was restored to us in Christ (cf. Easter Preface IV). Or as Jesus promises those who hear and recognize his voice and refuse to follow any other: I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly (G). And I know how that life is diminished whenever I succumb to those voices I mentioned earlier, even just condemn them. For exposure to corruption corrupts. Doesn't it?

But I also know we can't barricade ourselves behind locked doors like those first disciples did on that first Easter night, trying to keep the wolves at bay. Peter's Pentecost sermon seven weeks later shows the profound transformation they underwent as they emerged into the open bravely proclaiming the gospel — even at the cost of their lives. Which is why I think John may have joined the image of the Good Shepherd to that of the Gate. For while the image of Shepherd projects safety and protection — guarded from the thief who comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy (cf. G), the image of Gate suggests something more.

That second image tells us we're meant to go in and go out of the sheepfold. We can't always remain safe within its precincts. There's a world out there where, yes, we find pasture, but also risk danger from the wolves who prowl about. That's all part of following this Shepherd — including, by the way, those who serve as his vicars.

Hence, in recent weeks Pope Leo XIV has been attacked, death threats made against his brother, laughable defenses of war and cruelty offered up by members of the Church who should know better, along with the heresies and blasphemies spouted by false prophets.

Yet, a careful read of church history should serve as an object lesson to those who would take on the Bishop of Rome. As an old Italian proverb put it, chi mangia papa, crepa (" if you eat the the pope, you die"). So a question like Joseph Stalin asked after the Second World War — "How may divisions has the pope?" — has an interesting answer. An answer Stalin did not live to see — when a Polish pope helped bring down the Communist party in his native land. The right pope at the right time from a country no one expected him to come from. So the rumored statement put by a Pentagon official to the papal nuncio that the United States “has the military power to do whatever it wants” and that the Church “had better take its side” — well, what is it they say about those who don't know their history?

It seems, then, there's far more power in belonging to a humble flock who prays to reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before (cf. Collect) than all the weapons in the world can muster. An important thing to remember as we strive to recognize the only Voice worth following and leave the Strangers — the thieves and marauders — to lure whom they will.

Intercessons

For the Church: that we may allow Christ to bring forth abundant life within us and guide us in using our gift of life for God’s glory.

For a listening heart: that we, who have been called by name, may hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and respond confidently to God’s invitations.

For Pope Leo and all pastors: that they may faithfully imitate Christ in accompanying the people of God on their journey and encouraging their growth toward wholeness.

For all Christians: that we who have been called to follow Christ may lift to God those who cause us to suffer and refrain from threatening, insulting, and judging them.

For the grace of discernment: that all who are making major life decisions will open their minds and hearts to God’s movements, be open to the greatest good that can be done, and move forward with trust and confidence in God who loves them.

For healing in mind, body, and spirit: that the wounds of Christ will restore to wholeness all who are ill or suffering.

For all who are suffering from natural disasters: that God will be a shepherd to them, guide them to the assistance that they need, and sustain them as they recover.

For greater care for earth’s resources: that God will help each of us to care for God’s creation and to use earth’s resources prudently and respectfully.

O God, you never cease to call even those far away, for it is your will that all be drawn into one fold. Attune our ears to the voice of the Good Shepherd, who leads us always to you, that we may find under your tender protection life in all its fullness. We ask this through Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)

Offertory Chant

Offertory Hymn

I Am the Good Shepherd
I lay down My life for you
Enter in, enter in, enter in

I Am the Good Shepherd
As the Father knows Me, I know you
I know you, I know you, I know you

And no one can take you away
And no one can take you away

You are the Good Shepherd
You lay down Your life for me
Enter in, enter in, enter in

You are the Good Shepherd
As the Father knows You, You know me
You know me, You know me, You know me

And no one can take You away
And no one can take You away
And no one can take You away
And no one can take You away

Communion Antiphon

Closing Hymn (Cecil Francis Alexander)

He is risen, he is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice:
he has burst his three days' prison;
let the whole wide earth rejoice:
death is conquered, man is free,
Christ has won the victory.

Come, ye sad and fearful-hearted,
with glad smile and radiant brow!
Lent's long shadows have departed;
Jesus' woes are over now,
and the passion that he bore--
sin and pain can vex no more.

Come, with high and holy hymning,

hail our Lord's triumphant day;
not one darksome cloud is dimming
yonder glorious morning ray,
breaking o'er the purple east,
symbol of our Easter feast.

First Reading Acts 2:14, 36-41

Gospel John 10:1-10

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