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As we enter the Fifth Week of Easter, the Gospels will be taken from the 15th, 16th, and 17th chapters of St. John’s Gospel. We will hear sections from these three chapters until the Solemnity of Pentecost. Today’s passage recalls the wisdom Jesus shared during the Last Supper. The Son of God uses images from creation to break open His hopes for how the disciples are to be in relationship with one another and with God. Today, He tells us, “I am the vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” Their followers, then, and now, are the branches.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday because in the three-year cycle of the Lectionary, the Gospel for each cycle is from the tenth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel in which Jesus teaches that He is the Good Shepherd.

During the Easter season, we hear how the disciples encounter the Risen Christ at different times and in different ways—all the while trying to understand the meaning of the Resurrection. In today’s Gospel from the Gospel of Luke, two disciples recounted their experience of the Risen Christ on the road of Emmaus and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread—an early understanding and connection to the Eucharist. We too are called to contemplate the implications of the Resurrection and consider how we see the Risen Lord in our lives. It helps us gather at Church, where we can seek the presence of Christ as we worship: in the assembly, in the ministers, in the Word of God, in the Holy Sacrifice, and in the Eucharist. This week let us pray that we may better discern the Lord in our midst.

As an Easter people we continue to celebrate the Good News of Jesus’ Resurrection— today, we celebrate God’s unparalleled mercy. Today is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. In the Acts of the Apostles, we witness the life-changing difference Jesus’ Death and Resurrection made for the first Christian community. They no longer cling to things they thought would bring them security—possessions, wealth, status, proof. When they received Jesus’ blessings of Peace from His own breath, saw the nail marks with their own eyes, and touched His wounds with their own hands, everything changed. Now, their mouths would carry Christ’s message of mercy to the ends of the earth. Their eyes would see one another differently. Their hands would heal and forgive, and they would be believed because they were “of one heart and mind.” Because of that community who committed their lives to one another in Christ, here we are. Because of us and how we commit ourselves to live together of one heart and mind in Jesus, others may also come to believe. For we belong to one another because all belong to Christ.