Salvation of souls is the supreme goal of the church’s ministry. Salvation is for all. Invitation is out with Christ’s resurrection. We must accept it or reject it. Salvation is never inherited. It is not own by any group of people, no birth right. This was the central message in today’s first reading (Acts 11:1-18).
Everyone is invited, both Jews and Gentiles. The Spirit told Peter to accompany his visitors “without discriminating.” “without discrimination”, yes, we are to do the work of God without discrimination. Have you discriminated in the past?
Peter did respond as requested by the Holy Spirit. He went on to baptize them and then he testified “If then God gave them the same gift, he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?
Who would like to “hinder God”? Who would like to discriminate?
In the gospel, (John 10: 1-10), we heard the discourse about Jesus the Good Shepherd and the Gate of the sheep.
Here what came to my mind are two words “access” and “response”
The thieves and robbers will use other means to get access to the sheep rather than using the Gate. They are intruders.
How did the sheep respond to these intruders? The sheep refuse to listen to or respond to their call, rather, the sheep responded to the call of the true shepherd, their master.
In our world there are distractions and many voices that would like to drown out God voice. How would you and I response? We are called to focus our attention on the true Shepherd. We are called to be vigilant and careful about the temptations or distraction out there.
Jesus is faithful. Jesus is our protector. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. We are called to seek out our faithful shepherd. We are to learn his voice, to hear his voice, and follow his command. May we be accustomed to the works and voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. May we develop the habit of listening to His voice?
Let’s work on this during this week and get used to it.
Have a wonderful week
