I Jesus am your only Good Shepherd.

"I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep."  (John 10: 14 - 15).

Sunday 25th April 2021, in the 4th Week in Easter.

Jesus declares in the Gospel today that He alone is our Good Shepherd. He recognizes us His sheep and we recognize Him as our only Good Shepherd. Our experience has thought us that there are false shepherds. As it is said, they just want your votes. Once they get it, they bid you bye-bye. Not so our Good Shepherd. He is the Lamb who is also a Shepherd.

What does a Good Shepherd do?
He feeds His flock and leads them to rest when they are tired. He rescues us from vicious beasts, from hurricanes and flood.

Now that we know how tenderly our Good Shepherd knows, loves and cares for us ("Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father"), how do we respond to this revelation? A good example to cite here is St Mary Magdalene.

Mary has a heart that returns love for love. She never forgets a favor done to her. Jesus and His disciples received no salary, stipends or gifts for their ministry. How did they survive? Mary of Magdala headed a group of women who supplied the needs of Jesus and the disciples from their resources.
Mary Magdalene stood with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Apostle John under the Cross and witnessed the agony of the Crucified from the very beginning to the end. Love never forgets a kindness.

Let us remember that our Good Shepherd loves us with a human heart made of flesh and blood. He is thirsting for love like every human being. This is the whole message and meaning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion.

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com

To abandon Me and My Way is a Disaster.

"Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6: 67 - 69).

Saturday 24th April 2021, in the 3rd Week in Easter is the feast of St Fidelis of Sigmaringen (1577 - 1622), Priest and Martyr. Born in Germany, he achieved fame as Evangelist and Catechist in Switzerland where he was martyred for the faith.

The multitude that followed Jesus, many of them for the hope of eating free bread and fish were highly scandalized when Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. They protested but Jesus did not apologize but instead doubled down on the same idea. They abandoned Jesus and His ministry on the spot and went home preferring to forget the time they invested in Jesus as a worthless sacrifice.

"Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Those who did not abandon Jesus over His teachings on the Bread of life must know and believe that without Jesus, we can do absolutely nothing. Not a little. But nothing. I like the way Jesus put this in His locution to a Benedictine monk:

"Outside of Me there is nothing for you, and with Me, in My presence, is all that your heart desires.  Do not look outside of Me for anything to fulfil your heart’s desires. Instead, hide yourself in Me, as I hide myself for love of you in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar." (IN SINU JESU, Tuesday, September 20, 2011).

Do you nurse some hope that this world will fulfill the desires of your heart with regard to health, family, job, money and social and material possessions? Forget it.

Repeat with Peter in deep faith: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com

The source and summit of all the blessings of the Church is found in the Eucharist.

"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." (John 6: 56).

Friday April 23rd 2021, 3rd Week in the Easter Season is also the feast of St George and St Adalbert of Praque (+303; 956 - 997). George, the Dragon slayer was martyred under Emperor Diocletian. So popular was his legend that George is the patron saint of England, Portugal, Germany, etc.
St Adalbert of Prague, Bishop, was martyred for protecting a woman who ran into the Sanctuary to seek protection from her accusers who  wanted her dead.

We continue with the Bread of life Discourse in the 6th Chapter of the Gospel of St John where eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Jesus is the dominant theme of this Easter Season so far.

It has been said that the best interpretation of the Gospel is the Example of the saints who are faithful and true witnesses to Jesus and His Way. Let us read below how some of the saints bore witness to the truth of the Bread of life Discourse.

"Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration." (Mother St Teresa of Kolkata).

"From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian life and zeal to share that life with others."  (Pope St John Paul II).

"Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven." (Pope St Pius X).

"There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us." (St John Vianney).

"The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." (CCC 1324).

My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink says the Lord.

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com

I AM the Bread of life.

"I am the bread of life." (John 6: 48).

Thursday 22nd April, in the 3rd Week of Easter.

What does Jesus mean that He is the bread of life?
Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man will give us Himself as our Bread. Not just bread but Bread of life. What does the Church teach about the Bread of life?

"It [Eucharist] refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the "medicine of immortality," without which we have no life within us......The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive.  This also is our daily bread." (CCC 2837)

In the Eucharist, we receive who we are, the Body of Christ. Now we must become what we receive, the Body of Christ, St Augustine teaches.

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com

Jesus promises to help us deal with all the stuff that we don't need.

"So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." (John 6: 34 - 35).

Tuesday, 20th April 2021, in the 3rd Week of Easter.

Today's Gospel is part of the famous John Chapter 6 Bread of life proclamation. Jesus declared here: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." For 1500 years until the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the Church has always believed these words of Jesus to be true and to be taken literally. They are not metaphors.
Go to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and you will never hunger and thirst for material perishable stuff.

What infatuate the citizens of the world? Prestigious jobs, expensive cars, big homes with big TVs, overflowing and expensive wardrobes, etc. How do we get and enjoy this promise of Christ? Paul teaches us:

"Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes." (Romans 12: 2  TPT).

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com

Do not spend your money on what will not last.

"Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” (John 6: 27)

Monday 19th April 2021, in the 3rd Week of Easter.

Many of John Chapter 6 followers of Jesus care much for food, money, job, health, possessions and their future. They cared very little for the agenda of Jesus. Jesus had told them: "Man does not live on bread alone. There is life for him in every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4: 4). We can expand the teaching of Jesus on this: Man does not live on money, job, health, etc alone. Every word of God can nourish man and lead him to fulfillment.

Jesus expands on this teaching in our key Scripture for today. He teaches the bread loving crowd:
"Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” (John 6: 27).

What are the food that endures for eternal life? Consider faith, hope, charity and the Word of God. If I could purchase faith, hope or love with money, I will spend my entire stimulus check on faith, hope or charity. None of them will perish. A 75 inches super big screen television set will become obsolete in less than 7 years.

The interlocutors of Jesus impressed by His response asked Him:   “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

Jesus gave them an uncomplicated answer: Faith in Jesus who God sent for the salvation of humanity. Faith is greater than gold and silver. Faith is imperishable.

O God, give us faith. Increase our faith. Amen.

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com