The sound of the Shepherd's voice

Good News Reflection
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
April 27, 2010

Today's Saint: Zita
Pray for homemakers:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/Zita.htm

Today's Readings:
Acts 11:19-26
Ps 87:1b-7 (with Ps 117:1a)
John 10:22-30
http://www.usccb.org/nab/042710.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_04_27.mp3

The sound of the Shepherd's voice

In today's Gospel reading, there's a distinct difference between those who are the sheep of Christ and those who are not. By nature, we all want to follow the Good Shepherd. We were created in the image of God, and we instinctively want to be with the one whom we're most like. More than that, everyone wants a savior who will love them no matter what and who will rescue them from evil when no one else can. But many don't recognize his voice.

"If you are the Christ, tell us plainly," these people say.

Jesus answers, "I told you and you do not believe."

Why don't they believe? Well, why don't WE always believe? Our sins are evidence that sometimes we don't really believe that we should follow Jesus. If we always recognized his voice – and the love behind everything he says, teaches, and commands – we'd always follow him and never stray. But when we don't understand what Jesus tells us, we doubt it's really him. When we don't like a moral teaching of the Church, we doubt it's really Jesus speaking through the Church Magisterium. And then we listen to false shepherds who give us the words we want to hear, and we follow them.

However, we are the sheep of God's flock. We do know how to recognize the voice of Jesus. We know he is the Good Shepherd and we do want to follow him.

The problem is: We all have imperfect voice-recognition programs running in our ears. Unconsciously, we've been affected by the way humans have modeled (or rather, failed to model) Christ among us. No human person is perfect except Jesus; therefore, every person we've known has imperfectly loved us, imperfectly forgiven us, imperfectly shepherded us – and we project onto God what we've experienced from others.

The Jesus we think we know is very limited. Has a friend ever let you down? The result is that you probably see (unconsciously) Jesus as a shepherd who can mislead you. Did you grow up in a home where a parent was abusive or short-tempered or too quick to punish? Were you ever treated unfairly by a teacher or priest or policeman or other authority figure? To the extent that these representatives of God failed to convey to you what God is really like, that's the extent to which you believe in a god who is not God.

To discern the difference between false shepherds and the true Shepherd, we need to spend time consciously separating the imperfect image from the Divine Image.

Listen ... in your heart: Here's a Multi-Media Meditation that will help you with this: http://gnm.org/meditations/Listen.htm

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
This work is NOT in Public Domain and may NOT be copied without permission.
You may print one copy for your own personal use.
For PERMISSION and info on how to copy this reflection for sharing, see:
http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm

Seeking a past reflection?
Click this button to register for the searchable Archive Library of the Good News Reflections. One week access is free as a special gift to subscribers of these emailed reflections.

WAS THIS FORWARDED TO YOU BY A FRIEND?
To sign up for your own subscription, go to:
http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections


Why do I need you as a partner in my daily ministry?
Please help with a donation, including non-financial support. Good News Ministries affects countless lives around the world, including in countries where people have no Catholic Mass and where Christianity is persecuted. continue...

Join the cause on facebook and help spread the message!

Note: Good News Ministries is a non-profit organization that accepts donations as support for its ministries but does not charge for anything. Catholic Digital Resources™ is Terry Modica's publishing house providing professional writing services; the income from this will eventually support the future growth and projects of Good News Ministries. Please spread the word; tell your DRE, RCIA Director, pastor, etc. about what's available for parishes at Catholic Digital Resources™.

______________________________________________________________
This is the "Good News Reflections - American Edition" mailing list.
MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION:
Change your address
Unsubscribe