Whenever Jesus talks about sheep and shepherds I realise that I am listening to a “foreign language”.  I am a city boy, growing up in Chicago and attending a seminary in a near-by suburb.

Imagine you got the windfall of a lifetime. You’ve just won the top prize in lotto, which was worth millions of dollars. What would you do with this windfall?

As we draw closer to the end of the Liturgical Year the readings of the day invite us to be awake and alert for the coming of the end times. 

As we approach the end of Mission Month for 2017, having celebrated World Mission Sunday on October 22, it’s a good time to reflect on what impact, if any, this worldwide focus on Mission has had on us.

The SVD AUS Province celebrated Mission Sunday with gusto in parishes and communities, with a joyful multicultural focus, which is so much at the heart of who we are as Divine Word Missionaries.

The scholars of the Jewish Law at the time of Jesus continued to argue among themselves as to which is the greatest of the 613 commandments of God that they identified in the Jewish writings.

For this Sunday’s reflection upon the Readings for Mass, I would like to make the following suggestion for you in your own time and space.

There are two connected themes in today’s Gospel: don’t be afraid to witness to your faith in Christ – because God loves even the sparrows.

In the second reading in today’s Mass St Paul writes to the Ephesians: May he (Jesus) enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.

The very comforting words of Jesus in today’s Gospel give us some hope, dear friends, in our challenging world of today. The rapidly changing times and situations make us realise that nothing seems to be the same every day. 

In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus seems to be giving two pieces of advice to the Pharisees at the table with him.