From: John 10:27-30

Jesus and the Father are One

[Jesus said,] [27] My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me; [28] and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one
shall snatch them out of My hand. [29] My Father, who has given them to Me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
[30] I and the Father are one.”

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Commentary:

26-29. Certainly faith and eternal life cannot be merited by man’s own efforts:
they are a gift of God. But the Lord does not deny anyone grace to believe and be
saved, because He ‘wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the Truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). If someone tries to avoid receiving the gift of faith, his
unbelief is blameworthy. On this point St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “I can see,
thanks to the light of the sun; but if I close my eyes, I cannot see: this is no fault
of the sun, it is my own fault, because by closing my eyes, I prevent the sunlight
from reaching me” (”Commentary on St. John, ad loc.”).

But those who do not oppose divine grace do come to believe in Jesus. They are
known to and loved by Him, enter under His protection and remain faithful with
the help of His grace, which is a pledge of the eternal life which the Good Shep-
herd will eventually give them. It is true that in this world they will have to strive
and in the course of striving they will sustain wounds; but if they stay united to
the Good Shepherd nothing and no one will snatch Christ’s sheep from Him, be-
cause our Father, God, is stronger than the Evil One. Our hope that God will grant
us final perseverance is not based on our strength but on God’s mercy: this hope
should always motivate us to strive to respond to grace and to be more faithful to
the demands of our faith.

30. Jesus reveals that He and the Father are one in substance. Earlier He pro-
claimed that God was His Father, “making Himself equal with God”— which is
why a number of times the Jewish authorities think of putting Him to death (cf.
5:18; 8:59). Now He speaks about the mystery of God, which is something we
can know about only through Revelation. Later on He will reveal more about this
mystery, particularly at the Last Supper (14:10; 17:21-22). It is something the
evangelist reflects on at the very beginning of the Gospel, in the prologue (cf.
John 1:1 and note).

“Listen to the Son Himself”, St. Augustine invites us. “’I and the Father are one.’
He did not say, ‘I am the Father’ or ‘I and the Father are one [Person].’ But when
He says, ‘I and the Father are one,’ notice the two words ‘[we are]’ and ‘one’ ...
For if they are one, then they are not diverse; if ‘[we] are’, then there is both a Fa-
ther and a Son” (”In Ioann. Evang.”, 36, 9). Jesus reveals that He is one in sub-
stance with the Father as far as divine essence or nature is concerned, but He al-
so reveals that the Father and the Son are distinct Persons: “We believe then in
the Father who eternally begets the Son; in the Son, the Word of God, who is et-
ernally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the
Father and the Son as their eternal Love. Thus in the three divine Persons, “co-
aeternae sibi et coaequales”, the life and beatitude of God perfectly One supera-
bound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper to un-
created Being, and always ‘there should be venerated Unity in the Trinity and Tri-
nity in the Unity’” (Paul VI, “Creed of the People of God,” 10).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading	Acts 13:14,43-52 ©

Paul and Barnabas carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the Sabbath and took their seats.

When the meeting broke up many Jews and devout converts joined Paul and Barnabas, and in their talks with them Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful to the grace God had given them.

The next sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of God. When they saw the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. ‘We had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life, we must turn to the pagans. For this is what the Lord commanded us to do when he said:

I have made you a light for the nations,

so that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.’

It made the pagans very happy to hear this and they thanked the Lord for his message; all who were destined for eternal life became believers. Thus the word of the Lord spread through the whole countryside.

But the Jews worked upon some of the devout women of the upper classes and the leading men of the city and persuaded them to turn against Paul and Barnabas and expel them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in defiance and went off to Iconium; but the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Psalm	Psalm 99:1-3,5 ©

We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Alleluia!

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing for joy.

We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Alleluia!

Know that he, the Lord, is God.

He made us, we belong to him,

we are his people, the sheep of his flock.

We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Alleluia!

Indeed, how good is the Lord,

eternal his merciful love.

He is faithful from age to age.

We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Alleluia!

Second reading	Apocalypse 7:9,14-17 ©

I, John, saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. One of the elders said, ‘These are the people who have been through the great persecution, and because they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb, they now stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will never hunger or thirst again; neither the sun nor scorching wind will ever plague them, because the Lamb who is at the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.’

Gospel Acclamation	Jn10:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;

I know my own sheep and my own know me.

Alleluia!

Gospel	John 10:27-30 ©

Jesus said:

‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice;

I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life;

they will never be lost

and no one will ever steal them from me.

The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone,

and no one can steal from the Father.

The Father and I are one.’