Monday of the
Fourth Week of Easter
(Acts 11:1-18; John 10:11-18)
When Fr. Stanley Rother received a message threatening
his life, he refused to leave his mission.
“The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger,” he said. Fr. Rother was a priest from Oklahoma working
among indigenous people in Guatemala.
Eventually he did leave, but he could not stay away long. Urged by the words of today’s gospel, he
returned to the people he had come to love.
Not long afterwards, he was assassinated. As Pope Francis has declared him a legitimate martyr,
Rother will be beatified this September.
Jesus, the Son of God, will lay down his life for all
humans. His death will be neither suicidal
nor resisted. Rather it will manifest
sacrificial love for the good of sinners.
Jesus makes them holy – the first meaning of sacrifice – by acting as
their representative. On their behalf he
perfectly obeys the Father’s will that he immerse himself in the world. It is the world under the spell of the evil one
who has him crucified. God in the end
will raise him and those who join themselves to him from the dead.
We join ourselves to Jesus in Baptism and live this union
in our relationships with others. Mothers
exhibit Jesus’ sacrificial love when they care for a sick child through the
night. Children reflect his love when
they take their feeble parents to see the doctor. All of us show Jesus’ love when we care about
and support one another.
