'I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Easter Year A

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Murillo, c.1660, Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art]
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                 Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus said: "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
And the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Fr Noel O'Neill is a Columban priest from the city of Limerick in Ireland who has been in Korea for most of 60 years now. Fr Peter Woodruff is an Australian Columban who worked in Peru for many years. Here he tells part of the story of Father Noel. 
                                              Do you love me?
Fr Noel O'Neill with friends in Korea. 
Fr Noel O'Neill arrived in South Korea in 1957, four years after the Korean War ended in 1953. The whole country had been devastated by war and was still in the throes of reconstruction.

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