Tuesday, April 19, 2016 4th Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 11:19-26 Gospel: John 10:22-30.
The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter.And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; 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.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.The Father and I are one.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Jews asked Jesus to settle the issue of his identity with finality, claiming that Jesus had kept them in suspense for quite a time. Jesus was surprised when they asked how long he’d keep them in suspense. He was always open to them about his origins. The problem was not who he was but what was keeping them in suspense about his identity. In Jesus’ analysis, it was their lack of faith that kept them in suspense. “But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep,” Jesus said. “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
All the baptized belong to Jesus’ fold. Yet most baptized do not listen to his words. There are many reasons. One is noise. There are many other voices in the world competing with the voice of the Shepherd. There is the noise of pro-contraceptives trying to sway our value system from the moral to the practical. There is the noise of politicians distracting us from our sacred duty of responsible exercise of suffrage with vote buying and other dirty electioneering techniques. There is the voice of modernists telling us to abandon the path to morality because the present generation calls for practicality.
If noise is the reason why we fail to recognize the voice of the Shepherd, something could be done at the personal and community level. At the community level we can intensify our loyalty to the Church and close ranks as a community of faith in defense of faith and morals. At the personal level we can cultivate inner silence by forming the habit of meditation. In that inner silence the Shepherd can speak to the soul and the sheep recognizes his voice. In this way Jesus can proudly say of us, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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