April 14, 2013 –– Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 5: 27-32, 40B-41; Ps 30: 2, 4-6, 11-13; Rev 5: 11-14; Jn 21: 1-19
Can there be a more specific instruction to us as stewards than “Feed my sheep?” Of course, Jesus was saying this to St. Peter, and the meaning behind these words was much broader than what it may be to us. However, the basic charge is the same.
The good steward recognizes that each day is a challenge to reach out to others, a call to each of us to represent our Lord in our dealings for and with everyone with whom we come in contact. Just as is the case in the readings for this Third Sunday of Easter, it is not necessarily easy. Peter, John, and the others were willing to be punished, prepared to sacrifice to be followers of Jesus.
What do we do to feed the Lord’s sheep? When we go to Mass, we are one of the sheep coming to be fed. It would seem that Jesus is challenging us to do more than that. If we view ourselves as stewards of the faith, as stewards of our families, as stewards of our neighborhoods and communities, it means that we are expected to do more, to give more of ourselves to assure that the flock is truly tended and fed.
We live in an extremely secular world, a world that constantly places barriers to us as Catholics and Christians. Just as Peter, John, and the others respond, we, too, need to realize that there are times when we must recognize that “We must obey God rather than men.”
