Homily for the Sunday Mass of April 26

Sunday, April 26, 2026
4nd Sunday of Easter – Year A
Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab

First reading: Acts 1:2,14a, 36-41
Psalm 22 (23):1-2ab, 2c-3, 4, 5, 6
Second reading: 1 Peter 2:2,20b-25
Gospel: John 10,1-1

This fourth Sunday of Easter time is therefore the Sunday of vocations where
We are invited to pray for vocations. But why should we?
Should she pray for vocations? This question already crossed Thérèse's mind. She
He confided in his sister Céline in a letter dated August 15, 1892:
Jesus once said to his disciples, as he showed them the fields of
ripe wheat: "Look up and see how the countryside is already
"White enough to be harvested" and a little later: "At the
In truth, the harvest is plentiful, but the number of workers is
little one; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth
workers. » What a mystery!… Isn't Jesus all-powerful?
Do not creatures belong to the one who made them? Why Jesus
He said, “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth
"Workers"? Why?... Ah! It's because Jesus has love for us.
so incomprehensible that He wants us to share with Him in salvation
souls. He wants to do nothing without us. (LT 135 of August 15, 1892, to
Celine)
Why should we pray that the Lord sends workers to his
Harvest? Why must we pray for religious vocations?
priestly, diaconal? Because the Lord wills it so, because the
The Lord wants us to work with him. He doesn't want us to be
only the beneficiaries of salvation: he wants us to be active participants with him.
This Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year, we hear
A passage from chapter 10 of the Gospel of Saint John. How is Jesus
Our pastor? How do we perceive his presence as a pastor in our lives?
Thérèse, looking back on her life, looking at what she has lived through, contemplates
this presence and she writes this in manuscript A:
I find myself at a point in my life where I can cast a
looking back on the past; my soul matured in the crucible of
external and internal trials; now like the flower
Strengthened by the storm, I raise my head and I see that within me are being realized
The words of Psalm 22. (The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not
I will want for nothing. He lets me rest in pleasant pastures.
and fertile. He leads me gently along the waters. He leads
my soul without tiring it… But even when I descend into
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
because you will be with me, Lord!…) The Lord has always
He was compassionate and full of gentleness for me… Slow to punish and
abounding in mercies!… (Ms A Folio 03)
While meditating on this Psalm 22 that we sang a moment ago, Thérèse sees
that this is indeed what is experienced in his life. We can do the same: we
We can each take up Psalm 22 and contemplate God's action in it.
our lives. Just as Jesus prayed with a loud cry and tears, offering his
supplication to God who could save him from death, and which was answered, tells us
the letter to the Hebrews (cf. Heb 5:7) — that is to say, he was raised from the dead, he did not
not been spared by death — likewise, in the midst of the trials of our lives,
we can measure how the Lord behaved as our shepherd
And even though we have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord has continued to be
with us. It is from this experience of Jesus the Good Shepherd, it is from
of this encounter with Christ the Savior, which Peter tells us about, as much in his
discourse in the Acts of the Apostles than in his first Letter, it is in
contemplating Christ and his presence among us, which can grow within us
hearts the desire to make it known… the desire, as Thérèse would write to several
repetitions, to love him and to make him loved. And this concerns all the disciples of
Jesus.
Thérèse, too, meditating on all those who, having known Christ,
Those who turn away from him, or those who don't know him, look at them without any
contempt, but with the very compassion of God. In one of the small rooms of
plays she wrote for the Carmel's recreation periods, a play entitled “the
"Angels at the manger of Jesus," she has the angel of the Holy Face speak at one point, addressing Jesus, and saying this:
Jesus, I also see even more souls who
They will distance themselves from you; like the prodigal son they will go looking for
happiness far from their Father!… Instead of remaining at peace under
With your crook, O Divine Shepherd, these poor sheep will stray into the
Thorns… But the ordeal will bring them closer to you, they will remember
that the Son of God did not come to call the righteous but sinners,
and that joy is greater in Heaven for a single sinner who does
penance only for ninety-nine righteous people who have not
need for penance… Like Madeleine, after having given you so much
Offended, they will love you very much… When these souls search
your face, as soon as they come to hide in the secret of your Face
Divine, invoking your blessed name, deign, O Jesus! by a single one of
Your gaze makes them brighter than the stars in the heavens!
(Angels at the Manger of Jesus, RP2, Folio 7r°
THE ANGEL OF THE HOLY FACE)
These are the words that Thérèse puts in the mouth of the angel of the Holy Face,
It is, in essence, her own prayer. She contemplates this world in this
God's compassion. Here too, how do we view our world?
How do we contemplate it with the eyes of God, if you will allow me?
this expression, to see it through this compassion of God, through
this merciful love of God for every human person, whoever
Is it his origin, his history, his sins? God's compassion for all.
Our vocation as baptized Christians is to live God's charity every day. And that is
this charity of God concretely lived with all those around us, who
is the first testimony given to Christ the Savior. Because I am saved, I
I don't need to defend myself in front of my neighbor: I can love him in the
the clarity of a love that doesn't let itself be taken lightly, but that sees
always in the other, the one for whom Christ gave his life (Rom 5:5). In this
a common vocation, and so that all the baptized may live this common life
vocation, it is necessary that some dedicate their lives to demonstrating that the
The Kingdom is already here: it is the consecrated ones, and in particular the
contemplative.
And then it is also necessary that men respond to the Lord's call
by receiving the sacrament of Holy Orders; and those whom the Lord calls to be
priests in the Latin Church, which is ours, he also calls them to dedicate themselves to
him in celibacy to be entirely given to Jesus.
We know that our dioceses in France are short of priests, but the
Priests are not born under cabbage leaves, nor are they brought by
Storks: they are born in our families. How do we pray in our
Families, so that there are vocations? How do we live in our families?
so that young people can respond to a call from the Lord?
How being a religious, nun, priest, permanent deacon is a beautiful
What does it mean to us? How do we talk about it? How can it become
Desirable? And if some of you carry this question in your hearts...
thinking to himself: but anyway, I certainly don't have the skills, I'm not
Not worthy, and then I'm full of flaws, and then I'm full of sin, etc.
etc.
Let's listen to Thérèse again; she writes this at the beginning of manuscript A:
Opening the Holy Gospel, my eyes fell upon these words:
“Jesus went up on a mountain and called to himself those he
This pleased him, and they came to him.” (Mark 3:13). That's all well and good.
the mystery of my vocation, of my entire life, and above all the
The mystery of Jesus' privileges over my soul… He does not call those
who are worthy, but those whom it pleases him, or as St. Paul says
—: “God has mercy on whom He wills and He shows mercy to whom He wills
to show mercy. Therefore, it is not the work of one who wills nor

of the one who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” (Epistle to the
Rom. chap. IX, v. 15 and 16). (Ms A Folio 02, r°)
When God's call resounds in a heart, it is always love.
The merciful one who calls.

Amen.