I give them eternal life

21 APRIL (Jn 10,27-30)

The relationship between shepherd and sheep has always been problematic in Israel. This is one of the worries or concerns of the Lord, who through the prophets always manifested this precise will: finding good shepherds for his sheep.

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).

Return, rebellious children, says the Lord, for I am your Master; I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently. When you multiply and become fruitful in the land, says the Lord, They will in those days no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord!” They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another. At that time they will call Jerusalem the Lord’s throne; there all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the Lord at Jerusalem, and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness. In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers as a heritage. (Jer 3,14-18).

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel (in the land’s ravines and all its inhabited places). In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly.

As for you, my sheep, says the Lord God, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. Was it not enough for you to graze on the best pasture, that you had to trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? Was it not enough for you to drink the clearest water, that you had to foul the remainder with your feet? Thus my sheep had to graze on what your feet had trampled and drink what your feet had fouled. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now will I judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and butt all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them out, I will save my sheep so that they may no longer be despoiled, and I will judge between one sheep and another.

I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them, and rid the country of ravenous beasts, that they may dwell securely in the desert and sleep in the forests (Ez 34,11-25).

Today, Jesus says to Israel and to the whole world that there is perfect understanding between him and his flock. He speaks, the sheep listen to him, follow him, He knows them one by one. He wakes and watches over them. He gives them eternal life and they shall never perish, because never might anybody tear them from his hand. No one might because the Father who is greater than all wakes and watches over him. God is the all-powerful. The omnipotence of the Father is of the Son. Father and Son are one. This is the secret. Father and Son are one. The Shepherd and Christ must also be one. When you are not one with Christ, you are not good shepherds.

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us one with Jesus.