Peggy Stanton’s Notes – Fourth Sunday of Easter

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

 

Para 553…Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter:“ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.“ The power of the keys, designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate, after his resurrection:“feed my sheep”.The power to “bind and loose” connotes the authority to  absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles, and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrustedthe keys of the kingdom.

Para 894… the bishops, as vicars and legates of Christ, govern, the particular churches assigned to them by their councils, exhortations and example, but over and above that also by the authority and sacred power, which, indeed they ought to exercise so as to edify, in the spirit of service which is that of their Master.

 

Para 896… The Good Shepherd ought to be the model and form of the bishop’s pastoral office. Conscious of his own weaknesses, the bishop can have compassion for those who are ignorant and erring. He should not refuse to listen to his subjects, whose welfare he promotes as of his very own children… The faithful….should be closely attached to the bishop, as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father.

 

Para 1465… when he celebrates the sacrament of penance, the priest is fulfilling, the ministry of the Good Shepherd, who seeks the lost sheep, of the good Samaritan, who binds up wounds, of the father, who awaits the prodigal son, and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge, whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign, and the instrument of God‘s merciful love for the sinner.

 

Para 2686… ordained ministers are also responsible for the formation in prayer of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Servants of the Good

 

Shepherd, they are ordained to lead the people of God to the living waters of prayer: the Word of God, the liturgy, the theological life, which is the life of faith, Hope and Charity and the Today of God in concrete situations.

 

Para 60… The people descended from Abraham would be the trustees of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare for that day, when God would gather all his children into the unity of the Church. They would be the root on which the gentiles would be grafted once they came to believe.

 

Para 606…On the sacrifice the Good Shepherd is willing to make for his sheep.

 

The the Son of God, who came down from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of him who sent him, said on coming into the world, “Lo, I have come to do your will, oh, God.” And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. From the first moment of his incarnation, the Son embraces the Father’s plan of divine salvation in his redemptive mission:“My food is to do the will of “Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” The sacrifice of Jesus“for the sins of the whole world“ expresses his loving communion with the Father. “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life,” said the Lord, “for I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.“

Para 614… the sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father, himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who, in freedom and love, offered his life to the Father through the Holy Spirit, in reparation for our disobedience.

 

Para 638…“We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this day he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus.

“ The resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, faith believed, and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by tradition; established by the

 

documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross:

 

Christ is risen from the dead!, He conquered death;

To the dead, he has given life.

 

Para 651…. “If      Christ has not been raised, then, our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.“ wrote Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. The Resurrection, above all, constitutes the confirmation of all Christ’s works and teachings. All truths, even those most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification, if Christ, by his Resurrection, has given the definitive proof of his divine authority, which he had promised.

 

Para 652… Christ’s resurrection is the fulfillment of the promises, both of the Old Testament, and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. The phrase “in accordance with the scriptures” indicates that Christ’s resurrection fulfilled these predictions.

 

Para 653… The truth of Jesus’ divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said: “when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.“ The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly“I am”, the Son of God and God himself. So St Paul could declare to the Jews: “what God promised to the fathers, this, he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also, it is written in the second psalm, “you are my Son, today I have begotten you. “Christ resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God’s Son, and it’s fulfillment in accordance with God‘s eternal plan.

Para 654… the Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin: by his resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in  God‘s grace, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we might walk in newness of life. justification consists in both victory over the death, caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his resurrection: “go

 

and tell my brethren.” We are brethren, not by nature, but by the gift of Grace, because that adoptive affiliation gains us a real share, in the life of the only son, which was fully revealed in his resurrection.

 

Para 649… as for the Son, he effects his own resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise. In Sunday’s Gospel, he affirms, explicitly: “I lay down my life, that I may take it up again… I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.”

“ we believe that Jesus died and rose again.“ says Paul to the Thessalonians.