The Shepherd's Voice

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

I am the good Shepherd - John 10:14

Today, Jesus likens himself to a shepherd who calls out to hos sheep, who in turn recognize his voice and follow. They follow not just because they recognize the voice, but because they know and trust the one speaking.

Other voices are legion. Everywhere we turn another voice is calling to us, offering us a way, a gate into that life for which the voice knows we have been longing. "Here is the way to financial security." "Enter here for harmonious family life." "Tired of the rat-race? This way to peace of mind and your own little corner of sanity." Voices abound, and we, like sheep, can follow them.

A good shepherd always knows what is best for his flock

But the voice of the Good Shepherd has and altogether difference cadence. Rather than an offer of empty promises or easy answers, the voice of Jesus comes as an invitation, and one that can be trusted because he has staked his life on it. A life now freely shared with all. It is the voice that speaks from the baptismal font: "Your are my beloved, my very own."

"I am the gate, " Jesus says (John 10:7). The voice leads to a gate, but in contrast to a door that locks from behind, the gate that is Jesus is always open. Through him we "come and go and find pasture." The pasture is the abundant life the shepherd envisions for us, a life of freedom under the care of God's love.

In our lives of comings and goings, joys and disappointments, it may be easy to forget the promise of the voice. Nevertheless, the voice still sounds, begging us to take steps beyond the gates of our fears, to flock to the side of the One who has called us in baptism.

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