Monday, 13 May 2019
4th Week of Easter
1st Reading:
Acts 11:1-18
Gospel: John 10:1-10
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. But the shepherd of the sheep enters by the gate. The keeper opens the gate to him and the sheep hear his voice; he calls each of his sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, rather they will run away from him because they don’t recognize a stranger’s voice.”
Jesus used this comparison, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. All who came were thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. I am the gate. Whoe-ver enters through me will be saved; he will go in and out freely and find food.
“The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
When Jesus said that his sheep will always recognize his voice he had in mind an established “shepherd – sheep relationship” rooted in love. Only when this relationship is present will the voice recognition happen. Without this relationship, there is no discipleship to speak of and no obedience can take place.
This concept of voice recognition assumes special relevance to us on election day today. This election season tests our capacity to recognize the voice of Christ in the Church. God is in the ballot, the Church-based Dilaab Movement in Cebu reminds us. It’s a cool way of echoing the Church’s advocacy not only for a clean and honest election that reveres the sanctity of the ballot but also for a responsible exercise of the right of suffrage anchored on the moral principles of respect for life and for family. Are the people listening to this advocacy? It is easy to tell. Check if those topping the surveys are prolife and pro-family.
The Church has no police power. It can only morally persuade. While it will remain a staunch defender of morality, it will never violate human freedom. Nothing has changed of the Church’s advocacy on life and family, except that its voice is getting drowned because the world is getting noisier. There is hope, though, because despite the noise, the sheep that truly belongs to the fold won’t fail to recognize the voice of Christ in the Church no matter how faint. But can we count on all who have remained in the fold as real sheep of the Shepherd?- (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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