Mass Reading: Sunday - 26th April 2026

First reading
Acts 2:14,36-41
'God has made him both Lord and Christ'

    On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd in a loud voice: ‘The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.’

    Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles, ‘What must we do, brothers?’ ‘You must repent,’ Peter answered ‘and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God will call to himself.’ He spoke to them for a long time using many arguments, and he urged them, ‘Save yourselves from this perverse generation.’ They were convinced by his arguments, and they accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number.

The word of the Lord.

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Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 22(23)

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

The Lord is my shepherd;
    there is nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are the pastures
    where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me,
    to revive my drooping spirit.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

He guides me along the right path;
    he is true to his name.
If I should walk in the valley of darkness
    no evil would I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff;
    with these you give me comfort.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

You have prepared a banquet for me
    in the sight of my foes.
My head you have anointed with oil;
    my cup is overflowing.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me
    all the days of my life.
In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell
    for ever and ever.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

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Second reading
1 Peter 2:20-25
You have come back to the shepherd of your souls

    The merit, in the sight of God, is in bearing punishment patiently when you are punished after doing your duty.

    This, in fact, is what you were called to do, because Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took. He had not done anything wrong, and there had been no perjury in his mouth. He was insulted and did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured he made no threats but he put his trust in the righteous judge. He was bearing our faults in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our faults and live for holiness; through his wounds you have been healed. You had gone astray like sheep but now you have come back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

The word of the Lord.

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Gospel Acclamation
Jn10:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my own sheep and my own know me.

Alleluia!

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Gospel
John 10:1-10
I am the gate of the sheepfold

Jesus said:

    ‘I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.’

    Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them.
    So Jesus spoke to them again:

‘I tell you most solemnly,
I am the gate of the sheepfold.
All others who have come
are thieves and brigands;
but the sheep took no notice of them.
I am the gate.
Anyone who enters through me will be safe:
he will go freely in and out
and be sure of finding pasture.
The thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come
so that they may have life and have it to the full.’

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 26th April 2026

 

ACTS 2:14A, 36-41; PS 23:1-3A, 3B4-6; 1 PT 2:20B-25; JN 10:1-10

Today’s readings on this fourth Sunday of Easter offer us a glimpse into the heart of our loving Savior. He is the Good Shepherd and we can confidently place our trust in Him as we live the stewardship way of life.

In both the first and second readings, we find Peter embracing his role as leader of the newborn Church. In our first reading from Acts, he exhorts the crowd, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” We then read that the ones who accepted his message were baptized that day. Peter simply proposed the Good News to them and then left them free to accept or reject the call to repentance and belief in Christ, which is ultimately a call from God.

We can find many parallels in this passage to the call to a stewardship way of life. We, too, are free to accept or reject God’s call to discipleship. We can keep our time, talents, and treasure for ourselves, purely to serve our own interests. We are free to make that choice.

Or, we can embrace the call to discipleship through the stewardship way of life. If we do so, we will find a path to freedom from “this corrupt generation” just as those first disciples found in the early days of the Church.

Our second reading, again featuring St. Peter, offers further motivation for embracing this way of life. Peter reminds us that Christ, “bore our sins in his body upon the cross.” And that, “by his wounds you have been healed. For [we] had gone astray like sheep but… have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of [our] souls.” Such an incredibly poignant description of the love our Savior has for us and the kind of relationship He desires to have with us — as shepherd and guardian of our souls.

This endearing image of Jesus as shepherd, and His personal love for each one of us, is expanded in our Gospel passage from John, through the words of Jesus Himself. Here we read Jesus’ description of Himself as the “Good Shepherd.” He says of Himself, “The sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.”

This aspect of our Lord’s tender and personal love for each one of us is yet another reason to embrace the stewardship way of life — in the offering of our time, talent, and treasure to Him, we can express our gratitude to Him for the incomprehensible love He has for us.

Embracing the stewardship way of life certainly requires trust on our part. But Christ has proven Himself worthy of our trust. He “bore our sins in His body.” He calls Himself our shepherd and He offers Himself as the guardian of our souls. He has withheld nothing of Himself and His goodness from us. He would never ask anything of us that would bring us harm.

On the contrary. Our Lord did not come to take from us, but to give to us. Again, we read His own words from the Gospel passage, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

This Easter season, let us resolve to freely give all of ourselves and our lives gratefully to Him.