Do not be afraid. They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading. He comes at night, without drawing attention to himself. Ive been in the coffee shop before and at a neighboring table the people were speaking a language I didnt understand. The gospel of John frequently refers to Jesus as light. Yet, the light of Jesus is not primarily a condemnatory light whose primary purpose is to expose evil. There is a need for different groups of people to take responsibility for different ministries. Jesus said: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. In their grief, the two disciples did not recognize the risen Lord present to them in the stranger. The very personal call that the Lord addresses to each one of us will always be a call to give of ourselves in some way to others, to give life to others by our loving service. It invites us to ask, Who shapes our lives? In the coming year of vocations, we pray that we would be attentive to that fundamental call of the Lord to each of us. It was as if Paul had to become like a little child, needing to be led, before the Lord could work through him with great power. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal. So they said to 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.. We appreciate it when someone listens to our story and takes it seriously and then, in response, shares something of their story with us. One of the questions that Jesus is often asked in Johns gospel is Where do you come from? When people ask that question they generally mean Where about in Judea or in Galilee do you come from? However, the attentive readers of Johns gospel will recognize that there is more to that question than those who ask it realize. In the gospel reading this morning, the people come to Jesus looking for more of the bread they ate when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish. In todays gospel reading we find two disciples heading away from Jerusalem having shared a very significant experience. As Saint Paul came to realize, the Lords power is often made perfect in weakness. We first come to Jesus in faith before we come to him in the Eucharist. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. Eventually, her father relented. He is not a stranger to his flock nor are they strangers to him. In calling us to himself he also sends us into the world afire with the flame of his love. That reflects the other image of Jesus that we find in the gospel reading today, the image of the shepherd who calls his own sheep, one by one, by name, and leads them out. In the gospel reading, Jesus, speaking as the good shepherd, says the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice. Through the practice of Lectio Divina, as individuals and as community, we leave space for God's Word to transform us so that we may begin to look upon our world as it were with the eyes of God and to love what we see with the heart of God. The story of Pauls conversion on the road to Damascus has captured the imagination of many people in the course of the centuries, including the imagination of many artists. We take hope and wisdom from St. Therese of Lisieuxs sayings and reflections from her Story of a Soul and other writings. While listed as an optional Memorial, today's liturgy honors the Blessed Mother in her role as patroness of the Carmelite tradition. The Bible is the Word of God which is always alive and active, always new. The risen Lord is the living sign of Gods enduring love. lives in me It was as if this brutal hatred gathered up every rejection of love there has ever been. Paul went on to make an important contribution to the life of the church in Antioch, and the church there, in turn, was a great support to Paul in his future missionary work.

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