4 Living Water - April 24, 201 5

PLEASE WEAR YOUR BLD ID EVERY FRIDAY

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

Life in the Spirit Seminar #31

Friday, April 24th - Transformation

Grand Reunion: Our Lady of the Assump-

tion Church Hall Saturday, TBA : 9:30 am – 3:30 pm

BLD Singles Encounter #18

Friday, May 8 – Sunday, May 10, 2015

Cost: $110.00

We invite all single (never been married) indi-

viduals ages 22 and up in 2015.

BLD 25th Anniversary

BLD Toronto is celebrating its 25th Anniversary on September 19, 2015 and we are coming out with

a souvenir program that will help defray the costs of our 25th Anniversary celebration and fund our

community’s various programs. Let’s hold hands, pray and rally together to solicit as many ads as

possible so we will reach our quota of approximately 34 pages per Apostolate.

We have early bird rates for those sponsors who will submit signed advertising agreement and art-

work before June 30, 2015.

You may contact Bert and Cecile Cruz at 416-298-4034 or e-mail cruzcecile@gmail.com for more in-

formation.

Solo Parents Encounter #14

A Weekend Experience of God’s Healing Love

WHEN: June 19-21, 2015

WHERE: The Valley of the Mother of God (Mono, Orangeville, Ontario)

WHO: Single parents, widows, widowers, divorced, separated

Please see SPE #13 class shepherd Cora Montilla or any member of SPE #13 class at the

registration table in OLA Hall before and after Praise & Worship every Friday, or any one of the

Solo Tricord: Linda Canaria, Nilda Villa and Vicky Nisce.

Youth Ministry Upcoming Activities

May 8-10, 2015 – Toronto Youth-assisted YLSS # 1 - GVO (Guelph)

May 16, 2015 – YLSS # 16 Grand Reunion, 9 am OLA Basement Hall

July 24-26, 2015 - Youth Encounter # 17, Mt. Mary Immaculate Retreat Centre, Ancaster

Living Water - April 24, 2015

April 24, 2015

BUKÁS-LOÓB SA DIYÓS • OPEN IN SPIRIT TO GOD

www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com

THEME

We seek what is above when we lay down our

lives for others.

WORD

Acts 4:8-12; Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29;

1 Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18

ORDER

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.”

(Ps 118:1)

“Take refuge in the Lord.” (Ps 118:8)

DIRECTION

Let us be conscientious in carrying out

our role as shepherds to one another.

Be mindful of the Lord's blessings and be

grateful in all circumstances.

REFLECTION

On the fourth Sunday of the Easter Season,

also known as the Good Shepherd Sunday,

Jesus declares: “I am the good shepherd. I

know my own and my own knows me, as the

Father knows me and I know the Father. Be-

cause of this, I give my life for my sheep” (Jn

10:14-15). To this day, Jesus remains the one

true and divine Shepherd of mankind.

And He wants to share this mission with His

chosen disciples. In the shepherds He sends us

He gives us visible and continuing signs of His

love and care for His people.

In the readings, Jesus exemplifies the true

shepherd, showing us how a good shepherd

should take care of his flock. The true (and

good) shepherd knows his flock, loves and

protects, guides and leads them to good pas-

ture and fresh waters. The good shepherd does

not mislead, or mistreat his flock. When we

Fourth Sunday of Easter-Good Shepherd Sunday

www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com

2 Living Water - April 24, 201 5

joined BLD, we made our choice to follow the

Good Shepherd. Given the freedom to make our

personal choice, our presence here affirms that

we opted to follow the Good Shepherd through

this community and work as his under-

shepherds. But how well are we doing in re-

sponding to our Lord’s call?

To be true to our calling, we should seriously

consider this week's theme:"We seek what is

above when we lay down our lives for others."

Like Jesus we need to die to ourselves, to our

selfish desires and self-indulgence, and devote

more time and attention to helping meet the

needs of people under our care. To lead, guide,

and protect our loved ones and those entrusted

to our care is not a matter of personal choice or

option, but a commitment and responsibility.

Though we ourselves may be struggling, Jesus

expects us to be like Him in shepherding the

flock entrusted to our care, be i our immediate

family members, or members of our community.

If we want to reap God's promises to us, we

have to follow His ways; there is no other way.

When we face our Good Shepherd and Divine

Judge at the end of time, our eternal happiness

will depend largely on how much we gave of

ourselves, and how we have loved and served

our brothers during our lifetime. Our God will

judge us on our sincerity, and by the love and

service we have given to his flock and by the

kind of life we lived.

We are saved by grace through Christ’s great

sacrifice on the cross. But we can lose this grace

by our hardness of heart in dealing with the peo-

ple around us, especially the lost, the least and

the last. We will be held to account for our fail-

ure to respond to His call to righteousness and

holiness. And just as there are false prophets,

there must also exist false shepherds who may

simply be going through the motions, appear-

ing to serve God, but are really ravenous wolves

interested only in lording over their lambs.

These false shepherds are unable to forego per-

sonal comfort and convenience. They are the

ones of whom the Lord says: "I myself will tend

my sheep ... I myself will give them rest ... I

will shepherd them in judgment" (Ez 34:11-16).

Properly shepherded, lambs will get to know

the mercy and compassion of Jesus, and will be

led to the pasture of eternal life, where there

will be no more pain, no more tears, no more

hunger, and no more thirst. For as the Lord

promised:"... they will hear my voice, and there

will be one flock, one shepherd" (Jn10:16).

Prayer

Lord forgive us, when we don't measure up to

the ideal of a good shepherd, like You. We

know Lord that you suffered and died, as the

Paschal sacrifice for us, your lambs. But for us,

we fall short of the small sacrifices required of

us when we leave the comforts of home and

undertake mission to help those whom we don't

even know. Grant us Lord, the spirit of self-

sacrifice and compassion that we may be more

and more like you, the Good Shepherd.

Lord, there are no words to thank You properly

for saving us from eternal damnation. Though

You are God, You befriended us. You treated us

as children of Your Father, brothers and friends

rather than slaves. You are our One True Shep-

herd who, in our daily life, untiringly leads and

patiently feeds us. You are the Guardian of our

way, the Shepherd of our soul.

Thank you for never giving up on us, for lead-

ing us and protecting us from harm, and above

all, for showing us the way when we were lost

Living Water - April 24, 2015

MAY LECTORS

May 1– First Friday Mass

Sponsor: Management Apostolate

1st reading………........Aldric or Loida Uchida

Psalm……...…….……..Allan Prollamante

Prayer of the Faithful--Roger or Merly Perono

Eucharistic Ministers…..Phoebe Ouano

..Ceasar Cabalatungan

..Ed Samson

Cruets ………………...Boni & Ludy Baltazar

Ciborium ……………..Ray & Ellen Lingan

Baskets ………………. Abel & Virgie Argoso

May 8

1st reading………………….....Angelo Reyes

Psalm..……....… Junjie & Pangging Cultura

2nd Reading ……….Armin & Irene Patricio

May 15

1st reading…………..Edmar Aquino

Psalm..…….…………Frank & Grace Gujol

2nd Reading …….….Felix & Linda Fullante

May 22

1st reading……………Monina Malolos

Psalm..…….…………..Willie & Viv Saguil

2nd Reading …….…...Bing & Emma Ongteco

May 29

1st reading…………….Bert & Cecile Cruz

Psalm..…….…………...Marife Capistrano

2nd Reading …...….….Gusty & Annie Andino

and leading us back to the fold when we went

astray. Amen. (Taken from WSC Weekly Reflections,

www.bldworld.org)

PROMISE

“They will hear my voice, and there will be one flock,

one shepherd.” (Jn 10:16)

Happiness...a choice?

My daughter would always ask me, “Why are

you not mad?”, whenever someone cuts in front

of me when I am driving, or whenever someone

acts irresponsibly. I would always respond to her,

“Would it help me or would it make the situation

better if I got mad at the other person? What

would I get out of it? See, if I get mad, I may get

miserable and it may ruin my entire day, and

maybe including that of everyone else I’d get in

touch with in the same day. Of course, I would

not want that to happen, would you?”

We should not let anyone or any situation control

us. We have the freedom to choose how to re-

spond to any stimulus or situation. We can

choose to respond reactively or proactively. We

have to remember, however, that we do not have

any freedom to choose the consequence of our

action. So before we act, we have to think proac-

tively what could possibly happen as a conse-

quence to our action.

Thus, it does not matter whether it rains or snows

outside as we are always free to choose our own

weather. We can opt to have a bright and sunny

day and bring it anywhere we go. Furthermore,

we can choose to count and appreciate what we

have rather than focusing on what we do not

have. Happiness could then be a choice, isn’t it?

By Loida Uchida