This week’s readings are full of imagery and evangelization. It is not always easy to share the gospel with others. Many times people put up walls or say things like “You believe what you believe, and I believe what I believe”. This makes sharing rather difficult. So what do we do? In our first reading from the book of Acts, we see that there are going to be times when people will simply not listen or actively try to sabotage what we are trying to say. This was happening to the Apostles, and so they took their message to the Gentiles. (A gentile is anyone who is not Jewish). The Gentiles received the message with joy. Sometimes it takes time for someone to come to the Faith. I often think of St. Monica who prayed for her rebellious child for over 30 years. At long last he came to the Faith and became a Catholic and one of our greatest Saints. He was the one and only St. Augustine. In our second reading from First Peter sees we see that as Christ suffered, we too will suffer for there can be no Resurrection without a cross in our lives. We are called and chosen to carry our crosses and to endure. He will give us the strength to make it through, not by our own power but through the graces and mercies of God. Here is something to consider. The Lamb is also the Shepherd! Isn’t that cool? There is something to meditate on. Finally, we have the gospel and our blessed Lord tells us that His sheep know His voice. How do we get to know His voice? We hear it in the scriptures, we can hear it throughout creation, but most of all we hear it in prayer. We all need to pray and talk to God. We also need to be quiet and listen to God as He speaks to our souls. It is not enough to read about prayer and meditation and contemplation, that is like reading about swimming. You can read all the books in the world but until you get in the water it won’t amount to much. So, this week take some time to pray and listen to the voice of the Shepherd. He will direct the way that you should go…Something to try and by the way, the water is just fine…May God richly bless you always…