Acts 11:1-18 / John 10:11-18 (Year A)
The meat that we see in the supermarkets are neatly packaged and we consume the meat without thinking too much about it.
Not many of us have been to the slaughterhouse or abattoir, which is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food.
If we had seen how the pigs and sheep and cattle are killed in an abattoir, and how the meat is carved up, that might affect our appetite for pork chops or steak or rack of lamb.
In the 1st reading, Peter saw this vision of a big sheet with all sorts of animals and wild beasts and hearing the voice saying " Now Peter, kill and eat".
He refused, saying that nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed his lips because of his religious dietary prohibition, the reply he got was that what God has made clean, he had no right to call profane.
More than just saying that it is alright to slaughter animals for food, the vision is also stating that the Gentiles and the uncircumcised were not an unclean or profane people.
Hence they have every right to hear the Good News of salvation, and Peter and his people need to do a revision of their own thinking about cultural and religious practices.
In the gospel, Jesus said that there are other sheep that are not of the fold, but these He too will lead.
Because the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, whether they are of the fold or not.
So if we think that slaughtering animals for food is brutal and bloody, then how about Jesus being killed on the Cross to save us from our sins. At least that should make us turn away from sin.