Hear His Voice

Some of us have our own pets, Pets that we take care of, pets that we love, pets that became a part of our lives.

Our pets, especially cats and dogs are very good in recognizing its master. They know and they feel the love and attention given by their master. They can easily recognize the voice of the master.

When Jesus tells us today that He is the shepherd and the sheep knows his voice, it is like us being the master of our own pets and our pets knows our voice.

Hearing his voice is just a result, because we experience the goodness of Jesus our good shepherd.

When He said, my sheep listens to my voice; he means that because the sheep heard his voice they also want to obey his commands.

My friends, the question that we must asks to ourselves today is, "Do we hear the voice of our shepherd? And do we follow him because we experience his goodness and love in our lives?"

In this world, there are so many voices that call us. And we need to choose from all of these voices, which is from our good shepherd. Most of the time, the voices of others are sweeter and attractive than the voice of Jesus. It is easy to accept the invitation of this world and not to the invitation of Jesus, because the moment you know Him you will witness not only his power and glory but also the crucified Jesus. And we are fearful about the life of sufferings and trials of a person who is willing to serve the lord. But the lord promise that whoever is willing to hear him and to obey him, there is eternal life awaits us, a life that is full, a life in abundance.

In our office, school and even at home, when decisions are needed to be made. Ask Jesus to help us and we must listen to what He will say.

When we have a project or something, we must consult the Lord. He wants to be a part of everything that we do. He wants to a part of every decisions that we make in our life.

Today, He also declares himself as the gate where we can find answers to our problems and where we can find a life that is full. But more than that, he asks us to be a sheep who recognize his voice, who listen to him and who follow him. We can only do that if there is a personal experience between us and our God of love.

It feels so sad when there are Christians only by name. Christians who were baptized, goes to church the personal relationship with God is not growing. That is why in times of trials, they can here so many voices that they don't recognize which voice is coming from Jesus.

Friends, the lord invite us to have a personal relationship with him. Let us know him more intimately and let us experience his love and care. Let us have moments of silence with him. Go to him in our moments of difficulties. It is then we will see that He is the gate that in the end will bring us to everlasting life.

In our country today, the Philippines, One of the most talks about issue is the Reproductive Health Bill.

The bishops of our country will not speak against it if they know that it will bring so much good to us. If our bishops and the church stand against it, it is because after they have read the bill and after the study that they make, the feel that it is not something that will bring goodness to our society.

Hopefully, before we speak, before we make our own commentary, as a member of the church and as a citizen of this country, let us read the bill, study it, and have a deep understanding for it. Then we might realize that the voice of Jesus can be heard from the voices of his shepherds in our country.

My dear friends, many times that most of us do not know the issue. Maybe that is our assignment, to know, study, and have a deep knowledge about the issue for us to hear and recognize the voice of our shepherds and the voice of our chief shepherd, Jesus. Who only desires our good and to bring us to eternal life.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash






(inspired by fr.mar)