Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Welcome to Sundays with Bishop Ken, a weekly podcast brought to you by the publishers of little books of the Diocese of Saginaw.
[00:00:22] Each Sunday of ordinary time, the gospel and Bishop Ken's homily are proclaimed by members of our faith community.
[00:00:32] During the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, our Sunday prayer time will be taken from the little book's reflections for that season.
[00:00:43] We are pleased to spend this quiet time with you today.
[00:01:03] Hi, it's April 21, the world day of prayer for vocations.
[00:01:19] Pope Francis quoted John's gospel when he said this of vocations no vocation is born of itself or lives for itself.
[00:01:32] A vocation flows from the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people.
[00:01:40] Did not Jesus say, by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
[00:01:51] John chapter 13, verse 35 lets turn now to some thoughts about todays first reading at Mass.
[00:02:12] In todays first reading, Peter talks about Jesus to the jewish leaders.
[00:02:18] This Jesus rejected by you. There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mortals by which we are to be saved.
[00:02:33] That text and others like it are used by evangelicals to teach that unless a person explicitly takes Jesus as their personal savior, they cannot be saved.
[00:02:49] But the Catholic Church's teaching, promulgated by the pope and the world's bishops at the Second Vatican Council, is that those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Jesus Christ can be saved.
[00:03:06] This text from Peter's speech isn't meant to confine salvation to a few.
[00:03:12] It's meant to expand our awareness of who Jesus is.
[00:03:17] There is no salvation in anyone else.
[00:03:21] Jesus is not just an interesting historical figure who said and did some good things. He is God, God of all people, God of the whole universe.
[00:03:34] Through him, all things were made.
[00:03:51] This is good news because when we think of all the great forces at work in our world, it can be frightening.
[00:03:59] We wonder if we aren't victims of out of control forces, black holes in the universe, crime and drugs swallowing up whole generations.
[00:04:12] We wonder if our future will be controlled by technology.
[00:04:17] We worry about nuclear weapons, chemical weapons.
[00:04:23] Will we clone human beings to harvest bodily organs, to try and live forever?
[00:04:33] In the face of all this, God gives us the good news that I am.
[00:04:41] I have the whole universe in my hands.
[00:04:45] I am a good God who loves you.
[00:04:49] You are made in my image.
[00:04:53] You have a destiny to be happy, safe, at peace.
[00:04:58] And I will see to that because I am the good shepherd.
[00:05:22] Thank you for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today.
[00:05:30] Please consider supporting this podcast by clicking the donate link.
[00:05:38] For more information and other prayer resources, go to littlebooks.org dot.
[00:05:46] May your day be blessed.
