Friends and friends:
On April 21st of this year, the first anniversary passed without Pope Francis, and I am glad that it coincides with the Gospel of the Good Shepherd that we will read this Sunday. Certainly Bergoglio was a good Shepherd, committed to many noble causes. Perhaps he did not raise the flag sufficiently for women’s rights in the Church, but his dedication and leadership are beyond question. Since his election, Leo XIV has continued on that same path, with a different personality and identical commitment. We heard it in the vigil for peace, where he put his finger on the wound with those prophetic words: “Enough of the idolatry of oneself and of money! Enough of the display of force! Enough of war!
Inside and outside the church, we celebrate that there are those who follow Jesus in his way of leadership through service. By contrast, how many leaders use power for their own benefit, regardless of the collateral damage of impoverishing citizens through embezzlement, of failing to defend those who suffer and in the worst examples, causing the loss of thousands of innocent lives. With their vanity, greed and/or perversity, they are not worthy of being called Shepherds. At most, little shepherds.
We have good news for readers in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil. We have launched “print on demand” in local printing houses. This way delivery times are shortened and security is increased by not depending on customs. As always, purchases can be made in the online store and in these cases, they are printed with identical quality in the aforementioned countries and shipped from there.
Gospel and commentaries on the Gospel
Jn 10, 1-10. Whoever enters by the gate into the sheepfold is the shepherd of the sheep; he walks before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Miguel Ángel Munárriz Casajús: The Gate. Gates are for entering.
José Luis Sicre: Four Titles of Jesus. Lord, Messiah, Model, Gate of the Sheepfold. Jesus presents himself as the gate through which the flock can exit to have good pasture and abundant life.
Enrique Martínez Lozano: Have Life or Be Life? We are not a self that has life; we are the same and only life, unfolded in the form of this self.
Fray Marcos: Jesus Achieved Fullness by Giving Himself to Others. Thus he marked the path of our fullness.
José Antonio Pagola: Getting the Gate Right. The Gospel of John presents Jesus with original and beautiful images. He wants his readers to discover that only he can fully respond to the most fundamental needs of the human being.
Fidel Aizpurúa Donazar: He Will Be Able to Enter and Exit. Jesus is a strange gate, a gate of freedom, through which one can enter and exit because it never closes to anyone. Christian faith must integrate the concept of freedom because obligatory faith is like obligatory love, a contradiction.
Carmen Notario: Whoever Enters Through Me Will Find Pasture. Jesus not only leads, he not only guides. He unmasks those who exploit and subjugate people, often in the name of God.
Selected Articles for the Week
Fernando Bermúdez: Politicization of Religion. Throughout history, the name of God has been used to destroy the adversary.
Jesús Lozano Pino: Leo XIV and the Prophecy from the Balcony: The Pope Who Came to Disarm the World with Peace and Disconcert Trump with His Coherence. To make a stir to achieve a disarmed and disarming peace, paraphrasing Francis and Leo.
Juan Zapatero: The Resurrection: Transforming Experience vs Pious Event. Paschal hope is neither naive nor passive; it is active, critical, committed.
Alfonso Núñez Chávez: The Possible Example. Christianity as a life that can truly be lived.
Gerardo Villar: Catechism of Adult Faith. Mutual exchange and dialogue is the way to enrich ourselves.
Koldo Aldai: To Heaven with Them! To provoke, to challenge limits, gives votes and the official television lineup fills up at night with “daring transgressors” who care nothing for commitment and transcendent meaning.
Religión Digital / Vatican News: In the Outskirts of Paris, “Women of Prayer,” as Muslims Say, Strengthen Bonds with Their Neighbors, Whoever They May Be. The fmm brotherhood “Tiberias” in Clichy-Sous-Bois, on the outskirts of Paris, is a faithful presence in a complex context in the face of the reality of multiculturalism and multinationality that is often a delicate subject in France.
Avelino Seco Muñoz: Christian Spain, Not Muslim Spain? How dangerous slogans are! They become imported thoughts, without passing through the rational sieve of personal conscience. Have those who chant this slogan reflected on what it means to be Christian or to be Spanish?
News of Significance. The UN calls to “seize the momentum” of the Pope’s visit to Cameroon for peace in the Anglophone regions.
For More Participatory and Current Eucharists
Acts 2, 14 and 36-41. On the day of Pentecost, Peter addressed words to them that pierced their hearts and they asked “What must we do?”.
1 Pt 2, 20-25. You were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your lives.
Florentino Ulibarri: Sometimes, Lord, Sometimes… My frameworks are broken, sometimes, Lord, sometimes, I only long for You to call me, and then, Lord, then, I follow You and go out into the world with eagerness.
Vicky Irigaray: 4th Sunday of Easter. Let us continue to be channels of life in the everyday and with those of each day. May we succeed in weaving bonds of justice, fraternity and peace.
Anaphora: The Gate and the Shepherd. Jesus is the gate to reach God and the model of devotion to others.
Benedictine Nuns of Montserrat. 4th Sunday of Easter.
Multimedia Material
What You Completely Accept Will Make You Feel at Peace. By Eckhart Tolle. One could say that surrender is the internal transition from resistance to acceptance, from “no” to “yes”…
We Have a God. By Ruah. Presented by Lenin Vladimir Cárdenas. Song – meditation, beautiful, full of tenderness and intimacy, to help us live close to the Father, enjoy it!!
Salomé Arricibita: Be My Shepherd. I really feel sometimes like a lost sheep, in need of a shepherd, of a friendly voice, that knows me, loves me as I am, waits for me and even goes out to find me. Be my shepherd, Jesus, be our shepherd. Give us refuge in your embrace.
Mother of Love. By Cristóbal Fones SJ. Presented by Lenin Vladimir Cárdenas. You beloved and favored by the Lord, you mother of innocence and love, You who ask how and not why, You who make yourself a servant of God… help us find the inspiration and strength to live our lives from devotion and Love.
Equipo Quiero Ver: Shepherds of Life. This visual narrative uses the ancient labor of shepherding as a reminder that every existence is a unique and unrepeatable miracle, and that true fullness is only achieved when we decide not to flee from that which unites us and makes us responsible for one another.
I Raise My Gaze. Official hymn for Pope Leo’s visit to Spain. This is the great theme that will accompany Pope Leo XIV during his visit to Spain from June 6 to 12. Madrid, the Canary Islands and Barcelona will be able to sing this hymn very loudly, composed in collaboration with Catholic musicians. In the simultaneous recording in the cathedrals of Madrid, Barcelona, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1,700 volunteers lent their voices. The result is impressive.
In the EFFA School we facilitate the link to the curriculum where all the available talks and bibliography are located, for those who have not been able to see them or want to review any of them again. The link may also be useful to access the latest videos that have been uploaded.
And, as I promised you, the letters will end with these three links: the letter of this week, the letter from last week and letters from other weeks. When someone loses—or has not received—the email with the news, they can use an old letter to access the new one.
A hug,
Inma Calvo
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