May 5, Tuesday Easter Weekday

All you nations, praise the Lord.-- Psalm 117:1

Mass readings: Acts 11:19-26 / John 10:22-30

Eternal Life

When our children were young, we liked to play word games using metaphors. Some of them could be quite silly, or as sappy as a greeting card. ''I love you like a butterfly loves flowers.'' ''Bring down the wall of China and talk to me.'' Or how about, ''If you were a frog I would give you my pad''?

Until the Feast of Pentecost we'll continue to read the symbolic and poetic Gospel of John. As lovely as I find the languages, I can become numbed by the writer's incessant imagery. I forget that sometimes the words are also quite literal. In today's passage Jesus plainly states, ''I give . . . eternal life.'' ''My Father . . . is greater than all.'' ''No one can take [my sheep] out of the Father's hand.'' ''The Father and I are one.''

Prayer: Wake up my senses, Lord, to hear, smell, see, and touch You today.