SATURDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD, 20TH APRIL


1st Reading: Acts 4: 8-12
Responsorial Psalm 118: 1 and 5-9.21-23.26 and 28-29 (R. 22)
2nd Reading: 1 John 3: 1-2
Gospel Reading: John 10:11-18


 Angela Ocheme

My Reflection

Only the Lord Jesus Christ, is the true shepherd who can protect us His children, and followers from any harm. 
It will be disastrous to follow any other shepherd aside from the Lord Jesus. 
He is always there at all times to shield us from danger. 
He has shown us an example of protection by dying on the cross for us. 
What else do we want from such a loving and caring shepherd? 
Anyone who does not follow this shepherd is lost forever. 

My little contribution.




ChrisMarie Obi

My Reflection

Do not be dismayed when you experience rejection, Christ experienced the same.
Often time we have so beautiful ideas to communicate to our group, at one point you know you are doing well in your capacity; but unfortunately, those ideas of yours might not fly. Not because it's not good enough, or the people don't see it, perhaps, you are working with the wrong people. 

How do you handle rejection? Most times it destabilizes and weakens the zeal in us to work. Like Jesus, do not give up on your good work or kill your beautiful ideas just because you're not accepted. One day, your light will shine for everyone to see. Remember, *The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.* One day, your ideas will fly; your good work will show.

"Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." As a leader, you will have to endure; and never should you get tired of serving.
Serve your home.
Serve the Church.
Serve God.
Be a good server.

May the Lord bless His Word in our hearts through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.


Lady Stellamaris Nwaozuzu

My Reflection

"I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me"

 God made us in His image and likeness, He knows us intimately, even our unique thumbprints, our DNA, the number of hairs on our heads. Who else knows us better than us? 
God made us to be like Him, we should, in turn, be "good shepherds" to those under our care, those who look up to us, and those who see us as role models... They should see us and see Christ in us... Our words, our actions, and our lives should lead people to God.

May the grace of God be our guiding light always. Amen



Dennis Ukanje

MY REFLECTIONS

"I am the good shepherd", this is the assurance we have to believe and live with for the rest of our lives as Christians. As a good shepherd as Christ stated in the Gospel, does not abandoned his flocks to the wolves. Christ is the shepherd, we are the flocks and all the numerous problems we are facing are the wolves attacking us, but remember we have the good shepherd that can never abandon us to be destroyed by our problems, the wicked wolves attacking us. He will surely chess them away. Remember that there's no any other place we can run to with our problems that they can be solved, unless we bring them to Christ. Just as Peter stated in the First Reading that, " And there is no other name under the heaven given among men by which we must be saved." It's only Christ's name, and at the mention of that name every wolves in our lives will be destroyed. St John in the second reading reminds us about God's love, that we should be called Children of God. We are God's children and because we are his children, his love for us is everlasting. Let's give praise to Him as the Psalmist said, because his mercy open our lives and endures forever. Let's just believe and have faith and it shall be well with us.


Atori Jacinta

My reflection 

From the reading, we are called as Christians to put our trust in God no matter the situation we find ourselves.

Yes HE knows what we are going through and we will not be put to shame and that is why Psalm 3:5-6 says

Trust in the lord, with ALL YOUR HEART and lean not on your own Saturday of the word of God, in all your ways submit to him and He will direct your path.

For me, our trust as Christians should be solely on God not on man and not even on ourselves  because we are faced with too many situations that may shake our faith but the moment we leave it for God to take the lead as the Good shepherd, everything falls in place.

Our trust in Him should not just be in bad times but in all situation
In our decision making for that job, contract, career, life partner, relationship etc we should trust him 

I pray that we harken to words of God, knowing that on our own we cannot do it




Cathy-MarieJ OBAA

MY REFLECTION:  JESUS' PRIORITY - MY PRIORITY

Our top priority motivate us and drives us to win. We are driven to expend all our time, energy, and resources to succeed.

Our top priority guides our decisions, affects how we live, influences our relationships, and determines where we allot our time, energy, attention, and money.

Jesus had a central priority that influenced His life and ministry—it was to carry out the will of His heavenly Father. As Jesus said, “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (John 6:38).

Doing the will of the Father led Jesus to proclaim the kingdom of God, to preach the Gospel, to forgive sinners, to heal the sick, to embrace the outcast, to choose His disciples, and to call people to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind and to love their neighbour.

That priority motivated Jesus to be concerned for all the people he was sent to serve. For as he said, “This is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me” (John 6:39).

In the Gospel (John 10:11-18), Jesus chose the image of the “Good Shepherd” to describe Himself - the Good Shepherd have concerns for all the sheep that the Father had placed in His care.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd willingly laid down His life for the sake of His sheep. He was not like “a hired man, who … sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away … because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.”

On the cross, Jesus demonstrated His absolute concern for His sheep. He laid down His life so they might be saved from the “wolf” of sin and death that had been attacking humanity/sheep of His flock from the time of Adam.

The Gospel presents us/me with the beautiful image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who watches over His sheep and whose love for them is so great that He laid down His life to save them. I should make Jesus' priority my own priority and be committed to it to achieve my salvation and that of others.

I'm also to resemble Jesus - the Good Shepherd's image in being the sheep whose eternal welfare is the priority of the Good Shepherd.

We/I have to continue making every effort to win my salvation and that of others daily, by remembering and focusing on the efforts that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, made and continues to make through His Church to win our salvation. I am/we are His priority.

SATURDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD (13TH APRIL 2024)

LAITY Reflections on Third Sunday of Easter, Year B
1st Reading: Acts 3:13- 15.17 -19
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 4:2.4.7.9 (R. 7b)
2nd Reading: 1 John 2: 1-5
Gospel Reading: Luke 24:35-48

Philips Okoye

Greetings in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters, may we continue to be filled and sustained by the joy of the resurrection of Christ...Amen.

The first, second and the gospel readings, are questioning me about how well I live a life that bears witness to the resurrection of Christ.

After a pensive meditation on the readings, I learnt that the resurrection of Christ brought with it, joy and solace, because of the restoration of the lost hope, at His death.  

So, in thinking through how best to live a life that supports the resurrection as a christian, the following questions below, came across strongly to me :

- how well have I disposed myself to allowing the resurrected Christ, make Himself known to me like HE did to the disciples in the gospel ?

- what imparts am I making in preaching the gospel of the resurrected Christ, in words and in deeds ?

- do I truly live as one who is now inspired and driven by the freedom and zeal, birthed by the resurrection of Christ ?

On these, I must live as one who has a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ. As such, my christian life must be lived in uprightness with the commandments of God. And as I do, I must always remember that Christ's supreme price at His death and resurrection, has done its part. What is left is mine to do, which is preaching the resurrected Christ to all and sundry, in words and deeds.

In conclusion, brothers and sisters, I have a duty to continue preaching the good news of the resurrection irrespective of any seeming odds that come with doing it. Also, I must strive to sustain the efforts in getting others to have the same encounter with Christ, and experience the good news of His resurrection.

Grace and Peace of the resurrection we seek...O'Lord!!!
COMFORT MARY EDEOWOR

My Reflection on the Readings

Peter's address to the Jews, not just here but in other passages looked as though he was bent on making them feel the guilt of the crime they committed. This often scares me because I am able to see clearly the grave danger in living in ignorance, in particular in our relationship with God. Even though what happened was already foretold in the law and the prophets, the action of the Jews was based on lies and lack of understanding,even though God used them to accomplish his own good rpose. That is how many of us Christians fashion out our own our own selfish way of" pleasing "God and continue to live life on our own terms. Scripture says that light came into the world but men prefer darkness to light. Is it any wonder that the Jews chose Barabbas as against Jesus. I ften wonder how many wrong choices I have made in life and still making, as a result of the darkness at work in me. I pray that the good Lord grants me understanding and discernment to make choices and take decisions based on righteousness and a desire to align with God always.

Nathaniel Onwuasoegwu

The gospel acclamation is very instructive.Luke 24:32.

Lord Jesus, open the scriptures to us; make our hearts burn with love when you speak to us.

In those days Jesus taught them everything written about him in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms and their hearts burn with fire of love.

Do our hearts still burn with love after hearing the readings at mass.
How does the readings and the homilies relates to us when we hear them?

At mass during the readings and homilies Jesus speaks to us again and again preparing us for the Eucharistic meal.

We are privileged people the Easter people the resurrection and ascension people.If hear the word and allow it to impact us.
 
We are blessed with the menu and the meal.

Let's listen attentively to Christ again at the menu before settling to enjoy the Eucharistic meal.

Do our hearts burn with love at the hearing of the readings the gospel or do we close our minds?

Time and time again it has been proven that our hearts do not burn with love rather we preoccupied our minds with gadgets like earphones and other devices.

My sheep hear my voice I know them and they follow me John 10:27.

Like the 2 disciples to Emmaus let's listen to His voice always and invite Him to our eucharistic meals and other meals through Christ our Lord.

Lord may we never Harden our hearts when you speak to us.

EJAFU PERPETUA MARY

Good afternoon to all my brothers and sisters.

In the first reading, l see how truth is always bitter in the mind of the wicked but some of these wicked plans happened to be in the will of God hence Peter address the people of their evil deeds to Jesus Christ and reminded them at the end of the reading of ,"What God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled".

The psalm prays to God to lift up the light of His face on us. It is only when we have that light of God in us that we can have true repentance just as Peter urged us in the first reading.  
Evil deed is done in the dark but anybody with the light of God can not do evil, as the light of God in that person will be like a shield preventing him from doing any form of evil deeds.

Furthermore, in the second reading of the First letter of St John reading, we are reminded that we are all sinners but we have an advocate that reconcile us with the father in the person of Jesus Christ as an assurance that we have the right to do good and not evil if only we will allow our "Lord Jesus to open our minds to the scripture; to make our hearts burn with love whenever He speaks to us".
It is only then the gospel reading will be fulfilled in our lives. Just as the disciples eyes were opened at the time Jesus ate before them, may they Lord open our eyes and enlighten to hearts to bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ helping us to continue to have a total trust and hope in God. Amen. 
Bro. Michael Umande

LESSON 1️⃣ (ACTS OF THE APOSTLES)
From The First Reading (Chp. 3)
Who Will You Accept? (v. 13-15)

People tend to choose corrupt leaders who provide them with influence or affluence, rather than those who demonstrate honesty and morality. This is still true today, as the most effective leaders are not always the ones who get elected.

Peter addressed the religious authorities in the Jewish community with the unadulterated truth: They had rejected Jesus and accepted a criminal during Jesus’ trial. They had killed the Messiah and asked for a murderer to be released to them. But God raised Jesus from the dead, confirming his innocence and showing his power over death. This is the central message the apostles taught, and it should be our message today.

The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus not just because of his teachings, but also due to the threat he posed to their authority. When we identify a genuine and virtuous leader, we must abandon our personal ambitions and support that person unreservedly. Only by doing so will our communities and nations prosper.