This Sunday’s Gospel brings us Jesus’ very familiar phrase, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.”
Fr. Benedict Groeschel had a favorite little story (one of thousands) about encountering actual shepherds while in the countryside somewhere. As a died-in-the-wool city boy, he was keenly interested. There were three shepherds each with their own flock. And as probably happens with sheep, they got to mingling and chatting (bleeting?) while munching on the turf. And soon, they were all mixed together. What amazed the young Fr. Groeschel was that when it was time to part ways, there was no feverish sorting of sheep, looking for brand marks, or checking ID’s, or anything of the sort. The shepherds just started calling to their sheep, each in their own way and the sheep followed their shepherd.
There’s no reason to think the sheep of the Gospel times behaved any differently (we haven’t really changed that much either, after all), and thus Christ’s analogy.
Each day – think of all the different voices in our life. Friends, family, coworkers, random encounters, internet personalities, influencers, advertisers. And then there is our own voice in our head. Not to mention the slippery voice of the enemy weaving in his messages.
In the midst of all the noise is the voice of Christ.
And that is what we’ll continue to reflect on in our follow-up messages, listening for Christ, Who is always near to us. As He himself said, “Behold, I am with you always.” (Mt 28:20)
Including right now.
Blessings on your journey with Christ –
Steve and Karen Smith
Interior Life
Postscript: John 10:27-30
Jesus said: “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.”