THE SHEEP THAT BELONG TO THE GOOD SHEPHERD

TUESDAY, Fourth Week of Eastertide

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3,43:3-4; Jn 10:1-10

The Sheep that belong to the Good Shepherd

The Jews who were prepared and drawn by the Father to Jesus Christ refused to come to him in faith because they did not belong to him. That is to say that they did not recognise the voice of the Truth because they hesitated and failed to commit themselves to him. They would rather have lies and readily accept lies than the truth that Jesus proclaimed to them. They fell into this state of falsehood by preferring themselves to the word of God. Hence, Jesus accused them many times of changing the word of God or its meaning to do their own will. The habitual putting of self before God and his word has rebranded them into children of evil. By continually preferring their will to God’s will, they tuned their ears and lives to lies and falsehood, such that they could not recognise Truth when they heard it. They demanded that our Lord tell them plainly if he is the Messiah. He told them many times, and they could not understand the Truth because it was unfamiliar. “I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness; but you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine.” They were not his sheep because they were unwilling to do the will of God. 

To belong to the flock of Jesus, we must spend time with him for our ears to tune to his voice. What happened to the Jews can happen to us if we are not prayerful and vigilant. Right from our upbringing, we are either trained to hear and obey the Truth or habituated to falsehood and lies. Those of us who are parents must be very careful about this. Children listen more to what we do than what we say. If we are not disciples of the Truth, we are slaves of falsehood and lies. By living a life of falsehood, one makes disciples of one’s children and close friends. As our Lord explained, the thief does not come in through the gate but crawls in through the window in the dark unnoticed. The evil one explores the weakness of our fallen human nature to corrupt and destroy a soul. Many of us grew up with such a lifestyle before we came to Jesus Christ. It takes some time to grow familiar with the voice of Truth, the voice of Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd. A daily reverent and prayerful reading of the scriptures is helpful for the reconfiguration of our conscious intentions. Alternatively, or in addition, a daily recitation of the holy Rosary and meditations on the mysteries therein, which are summaries of the Gospel truths, are invaluable for tuning our ears and hearts to the voice of the Good Shepherd. 

While some of the Jews were not among the flock of Jesus Christ, many Gentiles were among his flock. Our Lord informed us of this when he mentioned another fold not of Jewish stock. Thus, the sheep of Christ, drawn by the Father to him, are scattered throughout the world. They constitute the City of God, the Father brings to pasture on the holy mountain that is the humanity of Jesus Christ. “On the holy mountain is his city cherished by the Lord. The Lord prefers the gates of Zion to all Jacob’s dwellings. Of you are told glorious things, O city of God! Babylon and Egypt I will count among those who know me; Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia, these shall be her children and Zion shall be called ‘Mother’ for all shall be her children.” This prophecy in the responsorial psalm, was fulfilled in the first reading. The believers came to Antioch and started preaching to Greeks and other Gentiles. They were amazed they responded more readily to the Gospel than the Jews. They had so many converts that Antioch became the largest gathering of disciples of Jesus. The people called them Christians for the first time there. 

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to listen and follow the voice of your Son, the Good Shepherd, that we may make his voice resonate everywhere in the world for the salvation of souls and growth of the heavenly City.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GROWING IN COVENANT AWARENESS

Image
Friday, Fifth Week of Lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP Theme: Growing in Covenant Awareness What is necessary for us to grow in the awareness of our Covenant with God is having the word of God as the foundation of our life. In yesterday’s reflection, we distinguished between the physical Promised Land and the spiritual Promised Land. The former is for the physical descendants of Abraham, and the latter is for the spiritual descendants of Abraham, which include Jews and Gentiles alike. The latter is a spiritual reality and, therefore, accessible only through spiritual awareness and growth in the Covenant given by the word of God. We have come to understand that the word of is the foundation and essence of the Covenant. Hence, growth in attending to the word of God makes for growth in awareness of the Covenant. Since the word of God is the principle of spiritual life, we must each day employ it in our daily living and transactions of life to grow in the life it offers.
Read more

A NEW COVENANT IN HIS BLOOD

Image
Sunday fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nick Okeke, OP Theme: A new covenant in his blood God is love and does all things in view of our salvation. At the fullness of time, he came to our rescue with his love which has no limit. The fullness of time is considered with reference to us, and not with respect to God. Time and season have meaning only with reference to us. Thus, when God decided to make a new covenant with his people, he considered an appropriate time to pour out the fullness of his love for the salvation of human race gone astray in sin. The new covenant is to have the satisfaction of the demands of the Law by his Son, so that the merit of his righteousness would be applied to us sinners. What are the merits of the Son’s obedience to the Father’s will? “This is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive—it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they sh
Read more

The offsprings of the Old man and the New Man

Image
Monday, fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Offsprings of Old man and New Man To be able to live the new life within the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the old life must come to an end. The distinctive difference between the old man and the new man is the focus of desires. The old man and all who live by him have their desires focussed on the satisfaction of self. On the other hand, the new man and those living by him desires only to fulfil God's holy will. Thus, the old man and his offspring obey the law of sin and death. Living for self alone breeds sins, and sin causes death. So, the old man and all living by him are dead and harbingers of death to others. They are adept at manipulating the Law of God to perpetuate their interest and selfish desires. An example of this skill is the treatment the two old judges of Israel in Babylon meted out to Susanna, wife of Joachim, employing the Law of Moses as given in the first reading. “Two elderly men had
Read more