The sheep hear his voice

22 APRIL (Jn 10,1-10)

The Book of Revelation tells us that Jesus is our eternal shepherd. He is the Lamb that was slain and risen, that leads his sheep to the pastures of eternal life. His Good Shepherd mission does not end with his death. He is the eternal Good Shepherd.

After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.” All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed: “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev 7,9-17).

Today, Jesus tells us that He is the only Good Shepherd of the sheep, and the door of the sheepfold. Those who are not pastors in Him, with Him, through Him; that is, those who do not enter through his grace, his truth, his Gospel and his eternal life into the sheepfold, are thieves and robbers. On the contrary, who enters through Him, who is the only real door of the sheepfold, this too will become a good pastor, will be the good shepherd of the sheep.

This truth reveals us how much it is necessary to a pastor to become one truth, grace, eternal life, word, mercy, piety, compassion and charity with Jesus Christ. The sheep know his voice only. If every pastor becomes the voice of Christ, the heart of Christ, the soul of Christ, the Body of Christ, in all similar to Him, the sheep listen to him, because they know how to listen to one Shepherd: Jesus the Lord. On the contrary, if differences, inequality, non-identity, not similarity reign, then never might the sheep recognize him, because in the pastor they do not see their Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

Today there is much separation between the sheep and the shepherds. The responsibility is not of the sheep. Instead, it is all of the shepherds, who are not true voice of Jesus. We know that the sheep hear one voice: that of their Good Shepherd. Either the shepherds become one voice with Christ, and therefore have to become one heart, one life, one body, one truth, one Gospel, one Word; or there will always be this lack of knowledge of their voice. For the sheep these shepherds will be strangers and never might they hear them. Our mistake consists precisely in this: in thinking of a pastoral for the sheep, forgetting that the pastoral must not be for the sheep, but for the shepherds. It is they who must conform to Jesus Christ. If they comply, the sheep will always listen to them, follow them and recognize them.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints give us good shepherds in Christ.