But they will not follow a stranger

SUNDAY 3 MAY (Jn 10,1-10)

God is the Shepherd of his sheep. This truth, affirmed by all Scripture, requires that it is illuminated by adding every other truth to it. The Psalm sings: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Sal 23 (22) 1-6). The first truth to be added reveals that God is a shepherd, but making use of the priests and kings, constituted by him, even if with different duties, shepherds of his people. But we know that these shepherds did not take care of the flock at all. Isaiah’s lament is one of the saddest in all Holy Scripture: “All you wild beasts of the field, come and eat, all you beasts in the forest! My watchmen are blind, all of them unaware; They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; Dreaming as they lie there, loving their sleep. They are relentless dogs, they know not when they have enough. These are the shepherds who know no discretion; Each of them goes his own way, every one of them to his own gain: “Come, I will fetch some wine; let us carouse with strong drink, And tomorrow will be like today, or even greater””  (Is 56,9-12). When the shepherd is disinterested in his people, it is the ruin of all the flock. The sheep becomes prey to the sheep. The most violent one uses its arrogance against the weak one.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises that he himself would have taken care of his flock. This prophecy is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the true shepherd of the Father. Whoever is not a shepherd in him, with him and for him, will also be a thief and a brigand, even if consecrated to be a shepherd of his flock. When is a shepherd a true shepherd in Christ, with Christ and for Christ? When he feeds the flock with the most pure Word of Jesus and feeds it with the Bread of the Word and the Bread of the Eucharist. To these divine and eternal realities, he must always add his daily suffering and concern. Pastoral charity that drive him to be consumed also physically for the life of the flock of Christ Jesus. Saint Paul reveals to us that this love is not of everyone: “I I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears” (At 20,29-31). Satan knows that if he conquers a shepherd, he conquered the flock and that’s why he tempts him in many ways.

“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 Christ Jesus, like the Father yesterday, uses his pastors who are the Apostles in their successors and the presbyters who live in hierarchical communion with the Bishops. What is the condition for being pastors according to the heart of Christ? Having every pastor the same hierarchical obedience of Christ Jesus towards the Father. As Jesus obeyed the Father it is necessary that the shepherds obey Christ the Lord.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every pastor obeys Christ the Lord in everything.