A THIEF COMES ONLY TO STEAL
At 11,1-18; Ps 41; Jn 10,1-10
23 APRIL
Not only the denounced by prophets. Let us listen about two of these condemnations: the first is cried out by Hosea, the second by Ezekiel. They spiritual, but also the material disasters caused in the flock by bad shepherds have always been offer a clear idea of the evils generated.
Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel, for the Lord has a grievance against the inhabitants of the land: There is no fidelity, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land. False swearing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery! in their lawlessness, bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everything that dwells in it languishes: The beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and even the fish of the sea perish. But let no one protest, let no one complain; with you is my grievance, O priests! You shall stumble in the day, and the prophets shall stumble with you at night; I will destroy your mother. My people perish for want of knowledge! Since you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from my priesthood; Since you have ignored the law of your God, I will also ignore your sons. One and all they sin against me, exchanging their glory for shame. They feed on the sin of my people, and are greedy for their guilt. The priests shall fare no better than the people: I will punish them for their ways, and repay them for their deeds. They shall eat but not be satisfied, they shall play the harlot but not increase, Because they have abandoned the Lord to practice harlotry. Old wine and new deprive my people of understanding (Hos 4.1-11).
Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, in these words prophesy to them (to the shepherds): Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep? You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured. You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; my sheep were scattered over the whole earth, with no one to look after them or to search for them. Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have been given over to pillage, and because my sheep have become food for every wild beast, for lack of a shepherd; because my shepherds did not look after my sheep, but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep (Ez 34,1-8).
What Jesus says about himself concerning the sheep: He is the door through which to go out and enter to find grazing, is valid for all the shepherds in Him and with Him. If the shepherd in Him and for Him becomes an autonomous door, independent of the door that it is Christ, he is the first to remain without any real pasture and always makes all the sheep entrusted to him stay without. The pastor must always be a door in the door of Christ. He leads to Christ, always bringing himself to Christ. If He does not bring himself to Christ, until he becomes one with him, even visibly, as Christ and the Father are one, no sheep will go to Christ and he will remain without true pasture and will not even enter eternal pastures. The rule of Jesus is perfect. He is a shepherd in him who is a door in him.
“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.
Christ is the life of the Father in his life for the sheep. The Pastor in Christ is the life of Christ in his life for the sheep. If he is not the life of Christ, never might he be life for the sheep.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make shepherds the life of Christ.