Posts Tagged ‘Jesus is our good shepherd’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: November 4, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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We give up too easily when challenges come or when we feel that we are all alone in our endeavour to serve the Lord and our brethren. We question why there are so many lukewarm ‘disciples’ in our church? Why is everyone else’s individual schedules more important then the one we have set for our Lord? St Paul reminds us today “Do not give up if trials come; and keep on praying.”

For if it is truly the Lord God’s will we have in our innermost desire to fulfil, then He will provide and send the right people for building His Kingdom. We only need to ‘let go and let God’ takeover. Indeed we all have been given different gifts according to the grace given us; but the real problem in many ministries and communities is that we do not recognise and affirm one another’s gifts. Which can only happen if we are praying community! ONE in body and mind and prayer who seeks to discern the Will of the Lord our God.  For our Lord will not only reveal the gifts He has provided for the growth of His Kingdom but increase it hundredfold.

O Good Shepherd my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, lead me in all things, body, mind and Spirit and I will gather Your flock unto You. Amen

First reading

Romans 12:3-13 ·

Use the gifts you have been given

In the light of the grace I have received I want to urge each one among you not to exaggerate his real importance. Each of you must judge himself soberly by the standard of the faith God has given him. Just as each of our bodies has several parts and each part has a separate function, so all of us, in union with Christ, form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other. Our gifts differ according to the grace given us. If your gift is prophecy, then use it as your faith suggests; if administration, then use it for administration; if teaching, then use it for teaching. Let the preachers deliver sermons, the almsgivers give freely, the officials be diligent, and those who do works of mercy do them cheerfully.

    Do not let your love be a pretence, but sincerely prefer good to evil. Love each other as much as brothers should, and have a profound respect for each other. Work for the Lord with untiring effort and with great earnestness of spirit. If you have hope, this will make you cheerful. Do not give up if trials come; and keep on praying. If any of the saints are in need you must share with them; and you should make hospitality your special care.

Gospel

John 10:11-16

The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep

Jesus said:

‘I am the good shepherd:

the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.

The hired man, since he is not the shepherd

and the sheep do not belong to him,

abandons the sheep and runs away

as soon as he sees a wolf coming,

and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;

this is because he is only a hired man

and has no concern for the sheep.

‘I am the good shepherd;

I know my own

and my own know me,

just as the Father knows me

and I know the Father;

and I lay down my life for my sheep.

And there are other sheep I have

that are not of this fold,

and these I have to lead as well.

They too will listen to my voice,

and there will be only one flock,

and one shepherd.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 26, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Following yesterday’s second reading where we were reminded that it was God our Father’s lavish love for us that He let us be called His Children and yesterday’s Gospel where Jesus clearly mentions He has other sheep not of this fold which He must lead; how then can we frown upon those who are different from us, say a foreign worker in our Country. Or someone of another ethnicity? Or someone who was brought up in a different religion or belief system? How is it that we fail to recognise a fellow sister and brother? A fellow child of God our Heavenly Father?

How then can we fully embrace today’s Gospel and understand that Jesus is for EVERYONE. It is through Him that we enter into sonship and daughterhood of God our Heavenly Father. Through Him we are safe and go freely in and out and are sure to find pasture. He is both Shepherd and Gate of the sheepfold.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Now and forever. Amen Alleluia!

First reading

Acts 11:1-18

God can grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life

The apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him and said, ‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them, have you?’ Peter in reply gave them the details point by point: ‘One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,’ he began ‘I fell into a trance as I was praying and had a vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. This sheet reached the ground quite close to me. I watched it intently and saw all sorts of animals and wild beasts – everything possible that could walk, crawl or fly. Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Now, Peter; kill and eat!” But I answered: Certainly not, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed my lips. And a second time the voice spoke from heaven, “What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane.” This was repeated three times, before the whole of it was drawn up to heaven again.

    ‘Just at that moment, three men stopped outside the house where we were staying; they had been sent from Caesarea to fetch me, and the Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going back with them. The six brothers here came with me as well, and we entered the man’s house. He told us he had seen an angel standing in his house who said, “Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon known as Peter; he has a message for you that will save you and your entire household.”

    ‘I had scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way as it came on us at the beginning, and I remembered that the Lord had said, “John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” I realised then that God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?’

    This account satisfied them, and they gave glory to God. ‘God’ they said ‘can evidently grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.’

Gospel

John 10:1-10

I am the gate of the sheepfold

Jesus said:

    ‘I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.’

    Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them.

    So Jesus spoke to them again:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

I am the gate of the sheepfold.

All others who have come

are thieves and brigands;

but the sheep took no notice of them.

I am the gate.

Anyone who enters through me will be safe:

he will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.’