부활 제 5 주일 Fr. Don Webber 신부님 강론

5
Sunday of Easter – May 2, 2021

It is only through
the way we live that people will be inspired to follow our footsteps and 

discover what we have discovered: the joy of knowing God’s love that comes to us through

Jesus Christ.

Perhaps that is why
the apostle John wrote, in the second reading, “Let us love
not in word 

or speech but in deed and truth.” The first
reading is a good example of how love can express

itself. At the beginning of
his Christian life, Paul was very dependent on others to get 

started on his
missionary work. But when he first went to Jerusalem after his conversion on

the road to Damascus, the disciples were very slow to have anything to do with
him. “They

were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.” They related to him as the one

who, up until recently, had been
persecuting them. It was Barnabas who created an open door

for Paul to walk
through into the young church in Jerusalem. Barnabas was a respected church 

leader, and his strong recommendation for Paul was enough to calm everyone down
and allow Paul

to find a place within this new Christian community. We need
more people like Barnabas today!

Doors create openings
in buildings so that we can enter and exit. If our church had no doors, 

we would
not be able to gather inside it. In that sense, doors allow people to move from 

outside to inside or from inside to outside, or from one space to another
space. The people 

we encounter in life can sometimes serve a similar purpose to
the doors in our buildings. 

They can create openings for us, like Barnabas did
for Paul.. They encourage us to move from 

one space in our lives to another
space. They can open up a new horizon for us and can point

us towards it. We
look back to them with gratitude. Perhaps, at a crucial moment in our lives,

they opened a door for us into some new and more life-giving space. Parents
certainly open up

all kinds of doors for their children. Many of us will have
no difficulty recognizing that we 

would not be where we are in life today, if
it were not for the sacrifices made for us by our

parents. One of the qualities
of a good friendship is the mutual opening up of doors for one

another. Good
friend can open each other up to new places, new people, new ideas. Much as we 

might value our independence, we know in our heart of hearts how dependent we
are on others.

This is putting love
in action, the branch bearing fruit. If we are dependent on the Lord,

there is
a sense in which he is also dependent on us. In the gospel reading Jesus says, 

“Whoever remains in me… bears fruit in
plenty.” We would all consider fruit to be healthy; 

it is an important
source of nourishment. Lives that bear fruit in plenty are lives that 

nurture
others, that are life-giving for others, that open doors. The Lord depends on
us to 

feed each other with his love and his presence. He needs us to give
concrete expression to 

his love for others. We do this when we are connected to
the vine, when we are in union with 

the Lord.

Here are the seven “I AM” sayings of Jesus that I named in my talk last Sunday.
They are

metaphors that Jesus used to describe himself – his identity, vocation
and purpose. It might 

be fruitful to choose one metaphor, one that is most
attractive, and read the whole section

for your prayer and meditation.

1.  Bread     “I am the bread of life; he
who comes to Me shall not hunger….” John 6:35