Listening To The Voice Of The Shepherd

Posted on:June 4th, 2017

7^TH MAY, 2017. FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR A)-GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY.

SCRIPTURE READING:

1. Acts 2:14a.36-41

Ps 23:1-3a.3b-4.5.6 (R.1)

1. 1 Pet. 2:20b-25; Accl; Jn. 10:14.
2. Gospel Jn. 10:1-10.

Preamble:

Dear friends please repeat these words after me;

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my mind, may your word never depart from me.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my ears, help me listen and obey your voice.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my heart, help me welcome you always.

Holy Spirit, rekindle in me the fire of your love. Amen.

THEME: LISTENING TO THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD.

One of the greatest ways of growing spiritually is the ability to cultivate the habit of silence. Silence is not the absence of talking but the stillness of the interior part of man, to be calm, to be recollected such that one can put his thoughts together, listen to the divine and follow in the direction of the Lord.

Spiritual masters of old cultivated the habit of silence such that they were able to compose sacred music, wrote great reflections that offers direction for right living today.

The great spiritual masters tell us that God is silence because he is spirit. He speaks through his prophets and his creation. It is only in silence that you can hear his message, really hear it. It is a still, small voice and you cannot hear it in noise and in mental confusion. That is why one of the great recommendations during this period of life in the spirit seminar is the cultivation of SILENCE.

Silence is that state of total listening. The silence of imagination and of the senses is full of intensity, of attention and recollection. It is always necessary to be and to live with God. Silence is the important condition of prayer. So, if you must achieve something excellent this days in which the church is journey in the life in the spirit, we must be silent-still-so that we can pray well and connect to our inner most being and then to God. It is the whole heart, the whole will and in fact, the whole man that is needed in this spiritual exercise. You cannot afford distraction during those sacred hours either through your phone, children, husband, wife or music or television or any form of distraction. The moment must be sacred and sacrosanct.

Jesus Christ advises us in Matthew 6, “When you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your father, who is unseen. And your father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.”

The prophet Elijah had an enlightening experience of the silent presence of God on Mount Sinai. He was tired and running away from his enemies who tried to kill him. “Go out and stand before me on top of the mountain,” the Lord said to him. Then the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks-but the Lord was not in the wind.

The wind stopped blowing, and then there was an earthquake-but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire-but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the soft whisper of a voice. 1 kings 19.

We cannot perceive God’s presence, understand his will, listen to his whisper in the midst of noise-noise without or noise within. We must let ourselves down into the relaxed, peaceful silence of God so that we recognize his whispering, even through our conscience.

Then from silence, filled by God, comes the voice of truth, and we can taste the beauty and the Good. The kind that the gospel passage speaks of which implies knowing the voice, understanding the voice and its message and following in obedience that silent voice of the good shepherd.

He says, I am the good shepherd. And I know my sheep (that is, I love them) ‘and my sheep know me.’ It is as if he said plainly: ‘Those who love me, obey me.’ For those who do not love the truth do not yet know it.

We need to ask ourselves individually-are you his sheep? Do you know him? If you do, can you recognize the light of truth? This recognition of truth by what means do you recognize it? Is it simply by faith or by love? I mean, do you recognize it not just by belief but by action. For John the apostle, whose words we have been discussing, also said: ‘He who says he knows God but disobeys his commandments is a liar.’

When Jesus said in John 10 vs 14-15 that is couple of verses away from the pericope of today; “…as the father knows me and I know the father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” It is as if he said straight out: ‘the proof that I know the father and the father knows me is the fact that I lay down my life for my sheep; that is to say, the love which leads me to die for my sheep shows how much I love the father.’

He goes on to add the following words concerning the sheep: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life.” in the preceding verses, he also said: “if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” That is to say, he will go in faith, and go out from faith to vision, from belief to contemplation, and he will find pasture at the everlasting feast in the kingdom of God.

To gain this eternal life which the Lord promises us as the eternal and faithful shepherd is that we follow the Lord with an undivided heart that is the only way the sheep that follows the Lord will find fresh and green pasture.

The pasture we are talking about is to find the deepest joys of the everlasting fresh pastures of paradise. For the pasture of the saints is to see God face to face; when the vision of God never fails, the soul receives its fill of the food of life forever.

Beloved in Christ, there is a general complaint about the silence of God in time of temptation, of trouble, of suffering, of illness even as we seek this green pasture. This silence at times makes it difficult to accept God’s existence, the existence of a good and merciful God. But the truth is that we cannot understand the mystery-God in complaints, agitations, worries, anxieties, and complaints owing to the trials and temptations we find ourselves in but only in silence.

The biblical man-Job, the good man who suffers total disaster, describes the dramatic situation of one in front of the silence of God, “what does Almighty God do to us?”

But the voice of God makes Job realize his limits? “Who are you to question my wisdom? Stand up like a man and answer the questions I ask you. Were you there when I made the world? Have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn?” Job 38.

And God invites him to give an answer. Then Job makes his confession, “you ask how I dare question your wisdom when I am so ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know-Job 42.”

In the presence of God, we find the wisdom to remain: in silence, in submission, in simplicity and in sublimation. And there are gains of silence;

Gains of Silence

In silence you grow in faith.

In silence you discover the greatness of God

In silence you discover yourself and resolve the mental confusion that has possessed you.

In silence you discover the beauty of nature and the great works of the Lord.

In silence you see yourself as you are, grow, and develop yourself.

Silence helps us see our bad attitudes and seek ways to work on them.

Silence kills negative thoughts-they die still born.

Silence helps us to control our negative emotions, such as pride, anger, envy, jealousy, hostility, prejudice which will arise in a person living under stress and having a crowded day.

Silence is necessary to educate and set free our positive emotions such as love, joy, hope, enthusiasm, zest.

Silence helps us to control and handle conflicts arising from a stressed day.

Beloved today is Good Shepherd Sunday also known as Vocation Sunday, a day we encourage our young ones who have the desire to become priest or religious life to feel free to talk to me about this and of course the Daughters of St. Paul will address us shortly on the importance of young girls embracing the religious life or we say the consecrated life. The vocation to the priesthood and religious life is the greatest gift of God to the world and men and women of courage have embraced it despite the challenges that come with such decision. It is a life of sacrifice, a life of prayer, a life of total self abandonment to the will of God.

Those who are in the priestly and religious vocations did not fall from the sky, they came from families-I encourage parents to talk to their children about vocation to the priestly and religious life-it is not a wasted life but a life gained. Let us pray for increase to the priestly and religious life.

We need to pray for our priests and sisters always for the work is an enormous one. Good priests do not fall from the sky they are products of the family and the fundamental principles and if we really want good priests, dear friends, brothers and sisters, we must make every effort to pray for increase in vocation and pray for the priests and religious who are working in the vine yard of the Lord. May the lord send us good and holy priests who will build our faith more and more. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28^TH MAY, 2017 SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR A).

SCRIPTURE READING:

1. Acts 1:12:14;

Ps 27:1-4.7-8a (R.13)

1. 1 Pet. 4:13-16; Accl; Jn.14:18
2. Gospel Jn. 17:1-11a

Preamble:

Dear friends please repeat these words after me;

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my mind, may your word never depart from me.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my ears, help me listen and obey your voice.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my heart, help me welcome you always.

Holy Spirit, rekindle in me the fire of your love. Amen.

THEME: Father, I desire that, as you and I are one, they also may be one with us.

Few days ago precisely on Thursday, we celebrated the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven, a celebration which makes great meaning for us as Christians today just as it did for the apostles of Old.

In the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his ascension homily in the year 2005 says that the feast of the ascension of the Lord does not mean that the Lord has departed to some place far from people and from the world. Christ’s Ascension is not a journey into space toward the most remote stars or space, Christ’s Ascension means that he no longer belongs to the world of corruption and death that conditions our life. it means that he belongs entirely to God. He, the Eternal Son, led our human existence into God’s presence, taking with him flesh and blood in a transfigured form.

The human being finds room in God; through Christ, the human being was introduced into the very life of God. And since God embraces and sustains the entire cosmos, the Ascension of the Lord means that Christ has not departed from us, but that he is now, thanks to his being with the father, close to each one of us forever. Each one of us can be on intimate terms with him; each one can call upon him. The Lord is always within hearing. We can inwardly draw away from him. We can live turning our backs on him. But he always waits for us and is always close to us.

Because he wants to be close to us he had to make a priestly prayer for us so that we may experience abundant peace in his presence. It is this prayer that assures us of his ever close presence to us. To deepen this ever abiding presence, he promised the disciples his Holy Spirit.

Acts of the Apostles 1:8 “but when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This passage reveals to us that Jesus told his disciples everything, and God can give no more than himself. In Jesus, God gave us his whole self, that is, he gave us everything. As well as or together with this, there can be no other revelation which can communicate more or in some way complete the revelation of Christ. In him, in the Son, all has been said to us, all has been given.

The mission of the Spirit is to introduce the church, in an ever new way from generation to generation, into the greatness of Christ’s mystery. The Spirit places nothing different or new besides Christ, no second revel of revelation.

He will only reveal what he has received from the Lord-John 16:14. Christ says only what he hears and receives from the father, thus the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of Christ. He will have received from me. He does not lead us to other places, far from Christ, but takes us further and further into Christ’s light. Consequently, Christian revelation is both ever old and new. Thus, all things are and always have been given to us. At the same time, every generation, in the never ending encounter with the Lord-an encounter mediated by the Holy Spirit-always learns something new.

The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the power through which Christ causes us to experience his closeness. The acts of the Apostles chapter 1:8 speaks of …you will be my witnesses. The risen lord needs witnesses who have met him, people who have known him intimately through the power of the Holy Spirit; those who have, so to speak, actually touched him, can witness to him.

It is in this way that the church, the family of Christ, “beginning at Jerusalem” as Acts of the Apostles 1:8 says, spread to the very ends of the earth. It is through witnesses that the Church was built-starting with Peter and Paul and the Twelve, to the point of including all who, filled with Christ, have rekindled down the centuries and will rekindle down the centuries and will rekindle the flame of faith in a way that is ever new. All Christians in their own way can and must be witnesses of the Risen Lord.

When we read the Saints’ names we can see how often they have been-and continue to be-first and foremost simple people from whom shone-and shines-a radiant light that can lead others to Christ.

We too are called to emulate them in their brave and courageous act of witnessing to the Lord. we recall that many of them suffered terribly for the sake of Christ, but today they are wearing the crown of the saints because as the second reading of today taken from 1 Peter 4:13-16 tells us-they rejoiced in it because they shared in the sufferings of Christ and they glad because the Lord’s glory has shone upon them. it goes on to tell us that “if you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon you.”

What kind of suffering is expected of us who are called witnesses? This suffering must be a Godly kind of suffering one seen as bearing wrong patiently, teaching the ignorant not necessarily with too much words but with Godly attitudes, praying for the living and the dead, correcting the sinners, counseling those in doubt, consoling the sorrowful, and forgiving wrongs willingly-these are called the spiritual works of mercy and in such do we live out our Christian calling not a worldly kind of suffering filled with lies, deceit, been a murderer or a thief, or a wrong-doer, or a mischief maker all because one considers himself as suffering. The second reading makes it clear once again that our attitude should be that of not been ashamed but giving all glory to God.

We cannot do this on our own that is why the priestly prayer is much needful today as it was in the days of the disciples of old. We can only be true disciples if we see sufferings from the lens of Jesus. He has prayed for us and wants us to be one as he and the father are one. This oneness can only be possible when we are very attached to him. For he was attached to the father in every way and that was why he was able to endure the suffering to the very end.

There are benefits of this oneness between Jesus and his father of which we can also learn from. Oneness with the Lord brings strength, oneness helps us achieve more. Oneness with the Lord keeps us focused to the goal. Oneness with the Lord inspires and motivates us to keep moving. Oneness with the Lord keeps distraction away from us. Oneness with the Lord helps us discover our purpose in life, our path in life and meaning for our life. Oneness with the Lord keeps us healthy and strong.

Suffering is painful but it purifies us and helps us to partake in Christ’s suffering on the cross. It brings us closer to the paschal mystery of Christ. It was because he suffered he was able to win the crown of glory. On this premise, he asked the father for two things (1.) To be glorified so that the son may glory you in turn, and (2.) To be restored to his former glory, to his pre-existent exaltation.  won the crown of

Therefore the whole body with its head is the Son of man and the Son of God and God. This is the meaning of the words: father