April 21,2013
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out
of my hand.” Jn: 27-28
In today’s Gospel I
vividly see an image of a loving, caring shepherd. The “Good Shepherd” who is
willing to lay His life for His flock. And His flock re not just the chosen
people. His flock are those who hears His voice. Those who follow Him. Even the
Gentiles (non-Jews) is His flock. When Paul and Barnabas spoke to the Gentiles:
“The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the
Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of
the Lord continued to spread
through the whole region.”
through the whole region.”
In Jesus’ time, to be a
shepherd is a low level job. Even in today’s standards, the shepherds are still
low level farm hands. Whole day you take care of nothing but your flock. That
could be boring and tiring. If you do not really care about your flock, they get
to stray away or is lost and you don’t do anything about it for what you care
about is just the pay you get from it. But Jesus is the “Good Shepherd. He
continues to show us that He is even willing to give up His life for us. The
Psalmist say “The LORD is good: his kindness endures forever, and his
faithfulness, to all generations. R. We are his people, the sheep of
his flock.” The question is do we know Him? Do we hear His Voice? Do we
follow Him? How?
I have been consistently attending the Light
Of Jesus Community for more than 4 years now. I attend the weekly gathering which
is aptly called “The Feast” at PICC. Weekly I get a dose of inspiration from
Bro. Bo Sanchez; the Spiritual Leader of the community. I have deepened my relationship
with our Lord through the love filled, and most often down to earth and funny
sharing of this wonderful person called Bo. It is where I learn to know more
about Jesus, hear His Voice through the sharing, and follow Him by doing what I
am inspired to do for my fellowmen. The disciples had Jesus as their Shepherd. The
Gentiles had Paul and Barnabas as their shepherd. I have Bro Bo as my shepherd.
Now, I am doing my best to be worthy to shepherd people too to the right path,
the greener pasture, to “springs of life-giving
water.”
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, we thank You and glorify You for
You have given us Your only begotten Son to be our “Good Shepherd”. May we
continue to hear His voice and follow Him in our day to day activities. May we know
Him more dearly so we can follow His example of being a good shepherd to our
own family, our friends, and our entire community, and most especially to
people who do not know Him yet. All this we ask in the mighty name of our Good
Shepherd: Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen!
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