Tuesday, April 24, 2018
4th Sunday of Easter
1st Reading:
Acts 11:19-26Gospel:
John 10:22-30 “My sheep hear my voice and I know them; they follow me and I givethem eternal life. They shall never perish and no one will ever steal themfrom me. What the Father has given me is stronger than everything and noone can snatch it from the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life
Experience)
Last Sunday was Good Shepherd Sunday. We continue reading todayfrom the same Chapter of John on the Good Shepherd. In the Philippinecontext, there are two kinds of shepherds, namely the ‘magtutugway’ (fromthe Visayan tugway) and the ‘magpapastol’ (from the Tagalog pastol).
The‘Magtutugway’ takes the animal to a grassy place, ties it to a tree and leavesthe animal behind to graze by itself the whole day. The “Magpapastol”, onthe other hand, accompanies the animal to graze the whole day in themeadow.
Jesus is not a “magtutugway” but a “magpapastol” who neverleaves the sheep untended. Experts say that a sheep has a very short vision; it cannot see beyond itsimmediate vicinity. That is why sheep always gather in herds and aredependent on a shepherd. When the shepherd abandons the flock, they getlost. We are like short sighted sheep; we never see ahead the implications ofan evil deed. But Jesus is always there to shepherd us. Even when we assertour freedom and go our way, he looks after us ready with his open arms offorgiveness to accept us when we reform. The only circumstance that stopshim from looking for us is when we invoke our freedom to reject him. We cannot talk about Jesus the Good Shepherd without talking aboutpriests on this year declared as Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Life.Priests and Religious men and women concretize Jesus’ role of shepherding.Priests are fast decreasing in number in Europe although in the Philippines there are still a good number of them. The crisis of vocation in Europe won’thappen in the Philippines if priests improve their quality of witnessing. PopeBenedict XVI gives special focus on priests’ life of witnessing as generatorof vocations. He points out three aspects in the life of a priest essential for aneffective priestly witness. These are friendship with Christ through a life ofprayer, complete consecration of self to God by being ready to serve andeven to give up one’s life for the flock, and life of communion manifested bya readiness to forgive and to reconcile. Priests are the hands and feet of Jesus in his role as “magpapastol”. Letus support them with an environment conducive to a life of witnessing. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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